Federal Stimulus
Biden Says High-Speed Rail Money Ignored Politics — Was He Right?
During yesterday's Tampa event awarding $8 billion in federal rail grants, Vice President Joe Biden pointed to the two states receiving the biggest share of stimulus money for true high-speed train projects: Florida and California, both run by GOP governors.
January 29, 2010
One More Reason to Dig TIGER: Transit and Roads on the Same Footing
Being D.C.-bound, Streetsblog Capitol Hill could only watch with interest as the U.S. DOT kicked off a transportation "listening tour" this week with four senior lawmakers in Minnesota, which has become a transit hotspot of late with the imminent construction of a new light rail line.
January 27, 2010
Transit Riders Launch Grassroots Lobbying Push in Dire Political Climate
Advocates for urban transit riders in 14 metro areas climbed the Hill today to pitch lawmakers face-to-face on the need for extra federal transit operating aid, a grassroots lobbying effort that could face considerable challenges even as Democrats craft a new jobs bill with a focus on infrastructure.
January 27, 2010
Senate Weighs $14B for Roads, $7.5B for Transit in Jobs Bill
Senate Democrats huddled behind closed doors this afternoon to assess their options for a new job-creation bill, with one option of around $80 billion making headlines even second-ranked leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) warned that no details are set in stone.
January 26, 2010
Democrats Learning to Love the I-Word — But Will Words Bring Action?
The White House is re-centering its message around economic and fiscal concerns ahead of tomorrow's State of the Union address, with a new package of job-creation measures expected to vault to the top of the agenda and a three-year "spending freeze" pitched to deficit-wary conservative Democrats.
January 26, 2010
What if America’s Urban Economies Were National Ones?
The U.S. Conference of Mayors released a report this week with some dire conclusions for the nation's cities: Even the payroll growth that many prognosticators anticipate this year won't make a dent in double-digit urban unemployment. Half of the 363 biggest metro areas won't return to their pre-recession jobs levels until 2013 or beyond.
January 21, 2010
Dodd and DeLauro Vow to Get Infrastructure Bank Done This Year
Supporters from every corner of the transportation universe joined Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) today at a press event aimed at jumpstarting a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB), which the two Connecticut lawmakers vowed to steer to passage this year.
January 20, 2010
CBO Echoes Obama’s Candor on the Pitfalls of ‘Shovel-Readiness’
During last month's White House jobs summit, President Obama carved out some common ground with critics of his first stimulus law's $47 billion in infrastructure spending -- which was distributed mainly by the book through state DOTs. "The term "shovel-ready," let’s be honest here, doesn’t always live up to its billing," he acknowledged.
January 19, 2010
Could a Green Bank Hitch a Ride on the Jobs Bill?
Fans of a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) that would help leverage private-sector funding for transportation projects are still hoping for Hill action after the House declined to add the idea to its $154 billion jobs bill. But the NIB isn't the only new financing strategy on the table, as Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) reminded President Obama yesterday.
January 15, 2010
Enviro Group Sees State DOTs’ Transport Predictions — and Raises Them
Just before New Year's, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Washington voice for state DOTs that's often dubbed the "road lobby," counted down 10 hot topics for 2010.
January 15, 2010