Today’s Headlines

By Elana Schor
Jul 9, 2009

House Ways and Means Committee joins the Senate in shutting the door on Rep. Jim Oberstar’s (D-MN) push for a new transportation bill (The Hill)

The field-testing of a future alternative to the gas tax kicks into high gear (AP)

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) calls for a second stimulus that’s targeted to infrastructure … (The Hill)

… as a new report shows that national infrastructure will drop this year, stimulus cash aside (Land Line)

Transit loses to polluters in the battle for congressional climate subsidies (Washington Independent)

Is more money for nuclear power the trick to coaxing a climate bill through the Senate? (Grist)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

The 2009 Capitol Hill Streetsies: And the Nominees Are …

By Elana Schor | Dec 29, 2009

The year-end Streetsie Awards are a time-honored tradition at Streetsblog — check out New York’s first round of honorees, hot off the presses today — and Capitol Hill certainly has provided plenty of material. Without further ado, here are the nominees for Washington’s brightest and bleakest moments of 2009. Winners will be announced on New […]

One More Sign That the Stimulus Traded Infrastructure for Tax Cuts

By Elana Schor | Dec 2, 2009

The independent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an economic analysis of the Obama administration’s stimulus law this week, and one chart in particular (see below right, or a larger version here) is getting a lot of attention from bloggers, including Ezra Klein and Ryan Avent. (Image: CBO) The chart’s message, simply put: the elements of […]

Republicans Deem Transpo Stimulus — 6% of Total Spending — a ‘Failure’

By Elana Schor | Jul 10, 2009

Republicans on the House transportation panel held a press conference today to deem the economic stimulus law a failure, citing low infrastructure spending in the nation’s highest-unemployment states. Rep. John Mica (FL), the committee’s senior GOPer, and six colleagues displayed a chart (depicted at right) that used estimates of stimulus money spent so far by […]

Transport Debate Still Stalled As Oberstar Decries ‘Lack of Political Will’

By Elana Schor | Oct 16, 2009

Halfway through the extra month that Congress gave itself to resolve a long-simmering dispute over funding the nation’s transportation system, Democratic leaders remain deadlocked over whether — and how long — to wait before debating a broad reform of federal infrastructure policy. The Transportation Secretary and the president have a stalemate on their hands. (Photo: […]

Stimulus Spotlight: Delaware Town Boosts Bike-Ped Access to Bus Stop

By Elana Schor | Sep 11, 2009

The new Route 43 bus in Middletown, Delaware, stops at many popular places: the local high school, the retail shopping district, and the Methodist church, to name a few. But the park-and-ride that helped riders access the bus was clogged with cars, which the state DOT attributed to higher transit demand. The Middletown park-and-ride, before […]

NY and CA: How Did They Spend Transportation Stimulus Money?

By Elana Schor | Dec 7, 2009

In an economic recovery report released today by New York Gov. David Paterson (D), the state broke down its plans for the estimated $31 billion it received as part of the Obama administration’s first stimulus law. New York spent more than half of its transport stimulus money on transit. (Photo: PlanetWare) A chart of New […]