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Two Infrastructure Jobs Bills Die in Senate
Two competing versions of a transportation-related job creation bill went down yesterday in the Senate. The first, the Rebuild America Jobs Act (S.1769), was a Democratic proposal, modeled on President Obama's job creation bill, to invest $50 billion for infrastructure and another $10 billion as seed money to create a new national infrastructure bank.
November 4, 2011
How Will the House Answer the Senate’s Transportation Funding Bill?
The full Senate passed a major appropriations bill yesterday, including funding levels for transportation and housing. The Senate put the kibosh on Sen. Rand Paul's attempt to strip bike/ped funding from the federal transportation program, as we reported yesterday. Here's the lowdown on the bill as a whole.
November 2, 2011
Bike/Ped Funding Intact as Senate Rejects Rand Paul’s Amendment
Bike/ped funding is pitching a perfect game in the Senate after Republicans swung (and missed) at the popular Transportation Enhancements program for the third time in two months. The final strike came this morning, when Kentucky Republican Rand Paul's amendment to divert all TE funds to bridge repair failed spectacularly, garnering only 38 votes in favor, with 60 senators voting against.
November 1, 2011
Senate Panel to Vote on Transportation Bill Next Month
While a House transportation bill still appears to be a long way off, the Senate is prepared to move forward on its version. EPW Committee leaders announced yesterday that they’ll be marking up their two-year bill November 9.
October 21, 2011
USDOT Tries to Resuscitate the HSR Dreams Congress Wants to Bury
High-speed rail has had a rough go of it lately. The House refused to give it a dime for next year, while the Senate only managed to allocate a fraction of what the president wanted. President Obama stuck some money back in via his jobs package, but it already seems clear that the package won’t pass as proposed, and we know high-speed rail is the always first for the chopping block.
October 5, 2011
Dealbreaker: Senate Rejects House Budget Due to Lack of Car Subsidies
What's keeping Congress from passing an extension to the federal budget? Democratic protection of automobile subsidies.
September 23, 2011
Senate Saves a Sliver For High-Speed Rail
President Obama had sought $8 billion for high-speed rail in 2012. The House-passed budget had exactly zero. The Senate bill approved by the Transportation subcommittee Tuesday followed suit. But the full Appropriations Committee yesterday put $100 million back into next year’s budget for the president’s signature transportation initiative.
September 22, 2011
Senate Strips High-Speed Rail Funding
The Senate's transportation budget proposal is still under wraps, but we're getting some clues about what's in it.
September 20, 2011
Federal Support for Smart Planning Is on the Line Today
A Senate panel will vote today on two budget bills for FY2012, one of which is for transportation and housing programs. The draft of the bill isn't available until after the subcommittee markup today, but Smart Growth America is calling attention to the fact that it's important to make sure the bill includes funding for the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, the partnership between USDOT, the EPA, and HUD.
September 20, 2011
Last-Minute Deal Preserves Bike/Ped Funding. But For How Long?
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has relented on his push to strip Transportation Enhancement funding from the six-month surface transportation extension, clearing the way for Senate passage last night and a White House signature today.
September 16, 2011