Federal Stimulus
Wiki Wednesday: The Story of the Stimulus
Looks like the conference committee made quick work of the stimulus bill, with Harry Reid announcing that a deal has been reached much sooner than expected (perhaps a bit too prematurely). We'll have the specifics on transportation funding later tonight or early tomorrow. For now, relive the stimulus saga with StreetsWiki. Contributor DianaD has added some nice narrative chunks to the entry. Remember stemming the tide of Asphalt Age amendments in the Senate?
February 11, 2009
Stim Bill About to Enter Final Negotiations
Negotiators from the House and Senate are set to begin talks finalizing the stimulus bill at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon, Reuters reports. While a topline figure of $789 billion has apparently been agreed to in principle, the devil is in the details, and there's still time to speak up for investment in green transportation and livable streets.
February 11, 2009
Cartoon Tuesday: Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back?
Hat tip to David Alpert for this Tom Toles toon, which nails the disconnect between the brave green world we're supposedly entering and the dramatic cutbacks plaguing transit systems across the country. Click through for the punchline (I kind of gave it away already).
February 10, 2009
Obama: The Days of “Building Sprawl Forever” Are Over
This is encouraging. On the stump in Fort Myers, Florida to campaign for the stimulus bill, President Obama took a detour from his well-worn "roads and bridges" infrastructure spiel to deliver some brief remarks on transit and land use. Obama's answer came in response to a city council member who said she wanted funding for commuter rail in the recovery package. C-Span has the video (check the 55 minute mark) and Transportation for America has the transcript:
February 10, 2009
Senate Approves Stimulus Bill — On to Conference Committee
The Senate approved its version of the stimulus bill this afternoon by a 61-37 vote. Attention now turns to conference committee negotiations, where differences between the House and Senate bills will get ironed out. Politico has the scoop on who will be negotiating on the Senate side, and they're not exactly an urban bunch:
February 10, 2009
Senate Requires Environmental Approval For Stimulus Projects
The final draft of the Senate's economic recovery bill will require all projects funded by the stimulus to
have approval under the National Environmental Protection
Act, or NEPA. Sponsored by Barbara Boxer, the NEPA amendment (full text after the jump) was adopted late Thursday following
Republican attempts to exempt highway projects from environmental oversight.
February 9, 2009
Stimulus Update: Senate Compromise Unlikely to Raid Transit Funds
According to a list posted by Politico, the Senate left transit funding untouched in the stim bill compromise brokered yesterday. For now, it appears safe to take a break from contacting your senators about this particular point of concern.
February 7, 2009
Senator Jim DeMint Wants to Eliminate Bike Stim Funds: Take Action!
Senator Jim DeMint, the South Carolina Republican who said that directing stim funds toward bicycle and hiking infrastructure
will not help the economy or create jobs, has gone too far. He and
Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma have just proposed an
amendment that would kill all stimulus funds for bike and hiking
trails.
February 6, 2009
Urgent Action: Billions for Transit in Jeopardy
A Senate amendment full of spending cuts would strip $3.4 billion in transit funding from the stimulus package, Greg Sargent reports. One of the few areas that might get a spending increase in the amendment is highways. The amendment, sponsored by Republican Susan Collins and Democrat Ben Nelson, is seen as a bipartisan compromise that will likely clear the way for the whole bill to pass. There is time to prevent the amendment from including these steep cuts in transit funding, which would drop the total for transit almost in half.
February 6, 2009
Where Does Stimulus Cash Go From Here? TSTC Explains.
While we've been focusing on the stimulus action in Washington this week, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign has kept an eye on the region's state DOTs, which will dispense billions for transportation infrastructure. On Wednesday Tri-State filed suit to prevent the New Jersey Turnpike Authority from widening the Garden State Parkway, a project the agency intends to fund in part with stimulus cash. Tri-State has also kept the pressure on Connecticut's DOT -- which never made its wish list public -- to invest in transit, bike, and pedestrian improvements.
February 6, 2009