U.S. Senate
Send in Your Transpo Questions for the 112th Congress
The new Congress has been sworn in and John Boehner has been elected Speaker of the House, 241-173. Nancy Pelosi has handed him the (strangely over-sized) gavel and he just took the oath of office. In his acceptance speech, he stressed fiscal discipline and spending cuts.
January 5, 2011
And the Streetsies Go To…
Happy 2011! May this year bring peace, harmony, and a six-year transportation reauthorization.
January 3, 2011
Senate Vote Will Give GOP a Crack at the Transpo Bill Sooner
A few weeks ago, members of the House threw up their hands and voted for a year-long extension of the 2010 budget. It included an extension of the transportation reauthorization. The Senate didn't vote on it in time, so then the House voted for a three-day extension to give the Senate a few more days after the current extension expired.
December 21, 2010
CA Mayors Ask Sen. Barbara Boxer for a 21st Century Transpo System
Sixty-five elected officials representing a number of California cities are urging California Senator Barbara Boxer to push a new federal transportation bill that reforms spending and puts a focus on public transit, walking and biking, or "21st century needs." Boxer, as chair of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, could play a key role in the long-term re-authorization of the federal surface transportation act.
December 16, 2010
Transit Benefit (Wrapped in Tax Cuts) Clears the Senate
The Senate voted 81-19 to support President Obama’s plan to extend the Bush tax cuts this afternoon. Some of those Senators probably didn’t even realize that they were also voting to extend equal tax benefits for transit commuters, on par with parking credits.
December 15, 2010
Earmark Ban Goes Down to Defeat in the Senate
The Senate just voted down the Republican proposal to ban earmarks.
November 30, 2010
Obama Admin Will Make Its Transportation Push… During the Next Congress
President Obama is “going to throw his support behind a six-year reauthorization of the transportation program” in Congress. That was the word today from Roy Kienitz, who represented the Transportation Department today as he testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
September 28, 2010
Barbara Boxer Questions Need for Infrastructure Bank
California Democrat Barbara Boxer, chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, expressed skepticism about one of the centerpieces of President Obama's infrastructure plan today. As she tries to stave off an election challenge from the right, Boxer seems reluctant to embrace the creation of a national infrastructure bank to finance transportation projects.
September 28, 2010
Report: Investing in Transit Could Create 180,000 Jobs, for Free
Between calls for renewed stimulus on the one hand and for deficit reduction on the other, Washington, D.C. is stuck. A new report by the Transportation Equity Network, however, shows one easy way to put people back to work without increasing federal spending: shifting our transportation investment to transit.
September 3, 2010
Will GOP Senators Acknowledge the Fiscal Sense of Livable Communities?
Last week, the Livable Communities Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee, a milestone for legislation that would fund local efforts to plan for growth while curbing sprawl. But the 12-10 party line vote raised the prospect that the bill might also encounter unified Republican opposition in the full Senate, where the threat of a filibuster has become the norm.
August 10, 2010