Barack Obama
“Drill Baby Drill” Won’t Solve America’s Energy Problems
House Republicans are calling for offshore oil drilling as an answer to foreign oil dependency and high gas prices -- and they're not the only ones. President Obama recently announced his intention to cut oil imports by one-third by 2025, partly by increasing domestic production was the answer to the country's energy woes. In his speech announcing the plan, Obama barely mentioned transit and land use, even though more and more evidence points to these as real solutions for high gas prices.
April 11, 2011
Amidst Budget Impasse, GOP Tries and Fails to Gut Clean Air Act
With budget talks reaching a critical pass to avert a government shutdown, House Republicans have been busy passing an ideological wishlist, including an attempt to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from "raising taxes." H.R. 910, which they are calling the “Energy Tax Prevention Act” would undermine the EPA’s ability to restrict greenhouse gas emissions from industrial and manufacturing plants and gut the Clean Air Act.
April 7, 2011
House Transportation Committee Rejects Obama’s 2012 Budget Request
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is having its say about the president’s ambitious – and unpaid-for – budget request for transportation.
March 22, 2011
Poll: Voters From All Walks Support Transportation Improvements, Reform
Don't be fooled by the high-pitched rhetoric in Washington. The vast majority of Americans are united, at least when it comes to the topic of transportation.
February 17, 2011
Obama Admin’s Bold Transpo Plan Leaves Funding Question to Congress
The president’s six-year transportation plan [PDF], included as part of the administration’s FY2012 budget proposal, weighs in at a hefty $556 billion and lays out several policy reforms that, if enacted, could help the nation transition to a more multi-modal, less oil-dependent transportation system.
February 14, 2011
Obama Proposes Infra Bank, Livability Grants, Doubling Transit Funds
The White House has released a fact sheet on the transportation provisions in the President's budget. [PDF]
February 14, 2011
Obama Budget Proposes $556B, Long-term Transportation Bill
The White House hasn’t released its FY2012 budget request yet. What we know so far is that it’s a $3.7 trillion budget that would reduce the deficit from $1.6 trillion projected for 2011 to $1.2 trillion next year. President Obama “trims or terminates” more than 200 federal programs, according to the Washington Post, but has big plans for transportation: his budget envisions a $556 billion transportation bill. The Hill reports that the proposal includes "$50 billion in up-front investment that 'creates hundreds of thousands of jobs in the short-term.'"
February 14, 2011
What to Look For in President Obama’s Budget Request on Monday
On Valentine’s Day, President Obama’s heart-shaped box of chocolates to Congress will come in the form of his budget request for 2012. It will include the president’s proposal for a six-year transportation reauthorization.
February 11, 2011
Obama Finally Brings the Chamber a Fruitcake (It’s Called Infrastructure)
President Obama paid a visit to the Chamber of Commerce this morning, trying to make nice after a hot-and-cold couple of years.
February 7, 2011