Government Organizations
Republican Senators Threaten to Slow Extension With Backward Amendments
Just as it seemed like a transportation extension was on the fast track to passage, a Tea Party senator from Utah is gumming up the works -- and the top Republican on the EPW Committee might have a plan to help him.
July 17, 2014
Dems Grudgingly Approve House Transpo Extension’s Disastrous Timeline
Yesterday, during the one-hour debate period over the House proposal to extend transportation funding through May 31, lawmaker after lawmaker stood up to condemn the bill. America needs a long-term transportation bill, they said. A short-term stopgap only creates more uncertainty.
July 16, 2014
House, Senate Take Different Paths to Prop Up Transportation Funding
This morning, the House Ways and Means Committee passed its plan to prop up the Highway Trust Fund -- which pays for transit and bike/ped infrastructure in addition to roads -- until May 2015. A few hours later, the Senate Finance Committee approved a plan of its own, with no deadline attached.
July 10, 2014
House Proposes 8-Month Transpo Bill In Hopes for a Republican Senate in 2015
While a six-year Senate transportation bill languishes in partisan purgatory, the House Ways and Means Committee has proposed an eight-month patch that would backfill the Highway Trust Fund until May 31, 2015. That would punt the transportation bill debate until a new Congress takes over -- one that’s expected to have Republican majorities in both chambers.
July 9, 2014
Why the Federal Funding Emergency Matters for Transportation Reform
Why does it matter if state departments of transportation get less money?
July 7, 2014
With No Transport Funding Fix, USDOT to Cut Payments to States Next Month
State transportation departments could see the federal funding they receive pared back as early as a few weeks from now if Congress doesn't come up with a transportation funding solution.
July 2, 2014
Senator Pat Toomey Fights to Spare America From Safe Streets
You know the Senate is close to passing transportation legislation when someone introduces a hare-brained amendment to ban bike and pedestrian programs.
June 25, 2014
And So Begins the Long Slog to the Lame Duck
The push for a long-term transportation bill is slowly giving way to the reality of an utter lack of consensus around a funding mechanism. The chair of the Senate Finance Committee, which is charged with finding that consensus, indicated today that the job just isn’t possible right now. The Hill reports that Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) has a bill in the works for a short-term extension to keep MAP-21 alive and funded, at least, until the end of the year.
June 24, 2014
Senators Murphy (D) and Corker (R) Propose 12-Cent Gas Tax Increase
There are several proposals on the table to stave off the impending insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund (which pays for transit, biking, and walking projects too) in two months. Just now, two senators teamed up to announce one that might actually have a chance.
June 18, 2014
Study: Corrupt States Spend More on Highways
A new academic study helps explain the enduring political popularity of expensive transportation boondoggles like Birmingham's $4.7 billion Northern Beltline and Kentucky's $2.6 billion Ohio River Bridges.
June 6, 2014