Streetsblog Capitol Hill
The Case For a Merit-Based and Front-Loaded Infrastructure Bill
Even as much of official Washington pauses for the holiday weekend, the congressional winds keep shifting in favor of a job-creation bill that aims to front-load infrastructure spending between next year and the 2012 election.
November 25, 2009
Streetsblog Capitol Hill Q&A: Four Questions For Mike McKeever
America's transportation and infrastructure policies affect literally
everyone who moves from place to place in the country, but often they
are under-discussed and over-simplified by the mainstream media. To
help broaden the debate, Streetsblog Capitol Hill runs a Q&A series called "The Four Questions."
November 25, 2009
Consumer Group: White House Left Fuel-Efficiency Savings on the Table
The Obama administration's proposal to raise auto fuel-efficiency (CAFE) standards to 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 could have gone even further in order to reap the maximum environmental and economic benefits of cleaner cars, according to a new analysis [PDF] released today by the Consumer Federation of America.
November 24, 2009
New Report: Road Funding From Non-Road Users Doubled in 25 Years
The myth that U.S. roads "pay for themselves" thanks to user fees is a subject that's likely familiar to many Streetsblog Capitol Hill readers -- but just how much of the nation's highway funding is provided by charging drivers?
November 24, 2009
DeFazio, Perlmutter Drafting New Version of Wall Street Transport Tax
Reps. Pete DeFazio (D-OR) and Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) are working on a broader version of the former lawmaker's plan to pay for U.S. infrastructure investment by imposing a small tax on stock transactions, despite a note of caution sounded last week by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
November 24, 2009
Senate Health Bill Holds Onto Grants For Healthier Transportation
Back in June, when the Senate was in the early stages of its marathon health care reform debate, several Republicans blasted the proposed legislation for including a grant program aimed at encouraging construction of local infrastructure to promote healthier movement.
November 20, 2009
Higher Gas Prices Alone Won’t Make Cleaner Cars a Reality
It's a storyline that the media and the auto industry have embraced: Higher gas prices are the magic ingredient that U.S. carmakers need in order to sell more fuel-efficient vehicles to consumers.
November 20, 2009
Just How Regressive is America’s Federal Housing Policy?
(ed. note. Please welcome contributor Chris Bradford, author of the economics blog Austin Contrarian.)
November 20, 2009
Carlyle Group’s New Infrastructure Public-Private Partnership: Donuts
As the federal deficit squeezes the Obama administration's options for financing ambitious new infrastructure projects, public-private partnerships (PPPs) are gaining currency as a possible solution. And in an illustration of PPPs' potential, the $86 billion private-equity firm Carlyle Group yesterday struck a deal with the state of Connecticut to run ... 23 highway rest stops.
November 20, 2009
Is the Stimulus Working For Cities? Not So Much, Mayors Say
As the Obama administration today faced new criticism of its methods for tracking jobs created or saved by the $787 billion stimulus law, a bipartisan quartet of mayors was weighing in at the Brookings Institution about the recovery effort's impact on their local economies.
November 19, 2009