Talking Headways: You’ve Got to Fight for Your Right to Party Politics

Has the stupor worn off yet? Election Day was last Tuesday, and we’ll be living with the results for years. But Beth Osborne, a former Hill staffer and U.S. DOT official now at Transportation for America, says the changes on the Hill are no big deal: Nothing was getting done anyway.

So Beth, Jeff, and I examine the prospects for a new transportation bill. The next bill is due in May, and a Republican House and a Republican Senate will draft it. Will lawmakers suggest that the Highway Trust Fund should just be used for highways? Of course they will! But the conversation won’t end there.

Does a long-term bill have a shot in this Congress? Even short-term extensions of the current transportation bill aren’t as easy as they used to be, but that could actually make the politics of a long-term bill a little easier to manage. And while some people blame the end of earmarks for the difficulty passing a bill (you can’t buy votes with pork anymore), Beth makes the point that you can’t very well turn a transportation bill into a Christmas tree for every member of Congress when there’s absolutely no money.

We don’t have a crystal ball, but here’s everything you need to know to make an educated guess about how the next six months will play out — this, and our coverage of the ballot initiatives, governors’ races, Senate leadership shakeup, and the new top transportation Democrat in the House.

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