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McCain & Coburn: Let’s Make Roads Safer — by Slashing Safety Money
A report released today [PDF] by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Tom Coburn (R-OK), timed to coincide with debate on a $7 billion highway trust fund fix, accuses their fellow lawmakers of "raiding" the fund for transportation "pet projects."
July 30, 2009
A Make-or-Break Week for Transportation Begins on the Hill
After weeks of uncertainty and tension, the congressional impasse over long-term transportation funding is headed for resolution this week -- but the reprieve may be temporary.
July 27, 2009
Senate Agrees on $26.8 Billion Highway Trust Fund Rescue
The Senate took a major step forward last night in its battle with the House over transportation funding, releasing a plan to give $26.8 billion to the dwindling highway trust fund and -- perhaps most importantly, for the long term -- to restore the fund's ability to keep the interest it earns.
July 21, 2009
Transportation Reform Is Health Reform
During the Washington budget debate earlier this year, a phrase widely attributed to White House budget director Peter Orszag was rolling off many a reporter's keyboard: "Health reform is entitlement reform."
July 17, 2009
Five Down, Five to Go: Plan Linking Transit to Climate Bill Wins Sponsors
Streetsblog Capitol Hill reported this week that the Obama administration -- which often talks about reducing transportation-based emissions -- is staying mum on a bill that would devote a guaranteed share of revenues from carbon regulation to transit, bike paths, and other green modes of transport.
July 17, 2009
Lawmakers Aim to Bring ‘Sustainable Communities’ From Talk to Action
When three agencies in President Obama's Cabinet -- DOT, Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency -- banded together to promote "sustainable communities," the initiative sounded promising but somewhat lacking in concrete ideas.
July 8, 2009
The Imminent Irrelevance of Randal O’Toole
Two things were clear at this morning's hearing of the Senate Banking Committee concerning green investments in public transportation. First, transportation experts and leading legislators are very much in agreement on how transportation spending should change. And second, Randal O'Toole's days as anything other than an anachronism are numbered.
July 7, 2009
Senate Starts Climate Push With Nods to Jobs, Energy and Transportation
The Senate is taking its first public steps toward combating climate change -- and while the U.S. DOT was absent from this morning's hearing, the chiefs of the Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency reminded lawmakers that transportation must play a key role in any emissions reduction plan.
July 7, 2009
Cities See Population Gains — But What About Political Power?
The Census Bureau has just released new data showing a resurgence of the nation's cities, with New York leading the way and Chicago reversing five years of population decline.
July 1, 2009
Boxer and Inhofe Agree: Transportation Policy Reform Can Wait
Green transportation advocates are pressing Congress to refuse any new spending that's not tied to reform of the existing system -- a call that influential senators in both parties ruled out today.
June 25, 2009