Today’s Headlines

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

NBC Nightly News spotlights the national transit budget crisis .. (see above video)

… as New Jersey becomes the latest state to weigh double-digit fare hikes (Daily Finance)

Rep. Mica (R-FL) urges Tampa officials to make sure that the region’s future high-speed rail line can connect to local transit (TB Online)

Governments around the world are said to be spending $500B a year subsidizing fossil fuels, according to a raft of a new Obama administration-directed study (Climate Progress)

The fatal June accident on D.C.’s rail network will cost the local transit agency $25.5m (Examiner)

"Buy American" rules for federal stimulus spending are getting waived to help install energy-efficient road and crosswalk lighting (NYT Blogs)

Ed Glaeser takes on the "anti-urban bias" in federal policymaking (Globe)

One U.S. DOT aide makes a write-in case for LaHood as an enviro "change agent of the year" (TreeHugger)

Senate Democratic leaders depict an aviation bill as part of their jobs agenda … (Roll Call)

… as Republicans move towards a second attempt to filibuster the still-unsigned $15B jobs bill (NYT)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Following ‘Cash for Clunkers’ with ‘Riches for Rail’

By Elana Schor | Aug 4, 2009

(Photo: Washington Post) Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, began his hearing on transit today by displaying the above cartoon by Pulitzer prize-winner Tom Toles. The senator’s message parallels Toles’: In a world where the auto industry can get $2 billion more in one week, what’s to be done about […]

McCain’s Transit Hit List: Get the Details

By Elana Schor | Sep 14, 2009

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a self-styled foe of what he labels wasteful government spending, has launched a broadside against transit projects in the U.S. DOT’s 2010 spending bill, which is slated for a vote this week in the upper chamber of Congress. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) (Photo: Scrape TV) McCain had proposed more than 20 […]

Today’s Headlines

By Elana Schor | Dec 28, 2009

The transportation security fallout from Christmas Day plane-bombing attempt (NYT) Transit saw a 3.8 percent drop in ridership during the first 9 months of 2009 … (NYT Blogs) … but not in San Francisco (SF Gate) Siemens among the manufacturers poised to drive a future U.S. high-speed rail boom (Reuters) While the Obama administration pushes […]

Texas widened I-10 in Houston to cram more car commuters onto the highway system, not to facilitate national trade. Photo: Socreate76 via Creative Commons

The GOP Case for Cutting Transit Funding Isn't Principled -- It's Tribalism

By Angie Schmitt | Apr 3, 2017

The insistence that transit is a local priority while highways are a national concern has become an article of faith in the world of right-wing think tanks. But today highway spending mostly serves the same type of trips that Republicans purportedly believe are inappropriate for federal funding.

Trump’s Budget Takes an Axe to Transit

By Angie Schmitt | Mar 16, 2017

The Trump administration has released its budget blueprint, and it's a bloodbath for everything that's not defense spending. In keeping with the budget's general hostility to cities, transit would be hit especially hard.

Today’s Headlines

By Elana Schor | Dec 14, 2009

Obama administration pressing governors to ensure minority and female contractors have equal access to transportation stimulus aid (McClatchy) Battle heats up over federal approval for tolling on Pennsylvania’s I-80 (Times-Herald) North Carolina transit taking a $470m hit during the recession (News-Observer) Senate clears hurdle towards approval of massive transportation-centric spending bill… (Politico) … which includes […]