Streetsblog Capitol Hill
Dodd Vows to Pass Livability Bill Amid Skepticism From Rural Senators
Even as the Obama administration ramps up its work on a sustainability initiative that treats transportation, housing, and energy efficiency as interconnected aspects of development policy, the effort remains without an official congressional authorization -- a situation that Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) vowed to fix yesterday.
March 9, 2010
House Set to Pass Jobs Bill With Changes, Prompting Another Senate Vote
The House has just begun voting on the Senate jobs bill, which includes a $20 billion reprieve for the nation's highway trust fund and an highway expansion of Build America Bonds -- but though the legislation is expected to pass, it won't be headed to the president's desk yet.
March 4, 2010
LaHood Faces Off With GOP Senator Over High-Speed Rail, Livability
When Cabinet secretaries appear in front of Congress' appropriations committees, which control the annual budgets for each federal agency, the proceedings tend to be dry affairs dominated by local concerns and arcane fiscal debates.
March 4, 2010
Moody’s Gifts Fossil-Fuel States With Positive Credit Outlook
Credit-rating agencies -- particularly Moody's and S&P, the nation's two premier shops -- wield significant influence over the financial health of private companies. But state and local officials are often equally dependent on good credit ratings to borrow money for transportation and infrastructure improvements.
March 4, 2010
Senate Starts Work on New Transport Bill, With House Version as a Guide
The Senate today took its first steps towards voting on a new long-term federal transportation bill, with environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) vowing to take up a successor to the 2005 infrastructure law before 2011 and indicating she would use the House's already-introduced version as a framework.
March 3, 2010
New Dem Campaign Brands Stimulus Critics as ‘Highway Hypocrites’
As more media outlets note the phenomenon of GOP lawmakers who voted against the Obama administration's economic stimulus law before seeking -- and taking credit for winning -- a share of its infrastructure money, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is seizing an opening to tag its opponents as two-faced.
March 3, 2010
Bunning Throws in the Towel, Congress Restores Transport Funding
Workers at the U.S. DOT and on transportation projects around the country are back on the job today after Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) lost his politically hazardous battle against a 30-day extension of federal infrastructure law and unemployment benefits.
March 3, 2010
TCS: Disputed Transport Provision in Jobs Bill Rewarded Political Clout
A provision in the Senate jobs bill that would distribute $932 million in 2010 transportation funding based on existing earmarks is in line for a quick fix, thanks to a deal struck on Friday between House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) and Democratic leaders in the upper chamber.
March 2, 2010
EPA Declares Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal a Superfund Site
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today named Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal a Superfund site, putting the waterway on the list of the nation's most polluted waste areas and paving the way for a years-long cleanup process that could upend city officals' plans to redevelop the neighborhood.
March 2, 2010
Transportation Filibuster Update: Bunning Won’t Yield to Fellow GOPer
Federal infrastructure funding and many U.S. DOT workers remain in limbo today as Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) continues his one-man filibuster of legislation extending the 2005 transport law, turning himself into a Democratic target and a poster child for Washington gridlock.
March 2, 2010