2009 Transportation Bill
Obama Admin Declines to Consider New Funding for Transportation
Having entertained legislators' own ideas about how best to fund future transportation spending, the House Ways and Means committee turned to representatives from the administration and key interest groups today to hear their thoughts on the matter.
July 23, 2009
Lawmakers Pitch Transport Funding Ideas, From VMT to Freight Taxes
Leaders of the House transportation committee, doggedly pursuing a six-year, $450 billion infrastructure bill this year, pressed their case this morning before Ways and Means Committee colleagues who must approve a new funding mechanism for their massive legislation.
July 23, 2009
Prospects for Oberstar’s Transportation Reauthorization Dimming
House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) has been fighting the good fight in trying to keep the hopes for a 2009 transportation bill alive, but the odds appear to be dimming by the day.
July 23, 2009
Cardin & Carper Bullish on Transit’s Prospects in Senate Climate Bill
Addressing a climate change forum this morning, two Democrats on the Senate environment committee said they are pushing for transit and other green modes of transport to get 10 percent of the revenue generated by the upcoming Senate bill regulating carbon emissions.
July 22, 2009
Oberstar to Request $3B Patch for Highway Trust Fund
House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) will ask his revenue-minded colleagues on the Ways and Means panel tomorrow to approve $3 billion to keep the nation's highway trust fund afloat until September 30, according to a report in today's CQ.
July 22, 2009
Senate Agrees on $26.8 Billion Highway Trust Fund Rescue
The Senate took a major step forward last night in its battle with the House over transportation funding, releasing a plan to give $26.8 billion to the dwindling highway trust fund and -- perhaps most importantly, for the long term -- to restore the fund's ability to keep the interest it earns.
July 21, 2009
Team Obama’s Transportation Chain of Command: ‘A Bit Complicated’
It's no secret that key leaders of the House transportation panel and the White House economic team don't get along -- from quips about shovel skills to a stimulus "shouting match," committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) and his top lieutenant, Rep. Pete DeFazio (D-OR), have become two of their party's leading Obama administration skeptics.
July 16, 2009
Understanding Washington’s Metro Crash
The House of Representatives subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia convened yesterday afternoon to hear testimony related to the tragic Washington Metro accident of June 22.
July 15, 2009
Lawmakers Cross Party Lines on Transpo Funding as Debate Rages
An 18-month extension of existing transportation law cleared the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today, but not before spirited debate on a proposal billed as a compromise with House members who remain strongly opposed to the Senate's stopgap.
July 15, 2009
Voinovich Joins House Dems in Saying No to Transpo Funding Stopgap
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will move tomorrow on a White House-backed extension of the four-year-old federal transportation law, but at least one of its members is already opposed.
July 14, 2009