Today’s Headlines

  • LaHood puts his health-reformer hat on for the administration .. (Tribune)
  • … days after making a surprise appearance at the National Bike Summit (Streetsblog SF)
  • Oberstar supports House ban on for-profit earmarks — but he doesn’t consider the transportation bill’s "special projects" to be earmarks (The Hill)
  • Could San Francisco become a model for transit financing through local fuel fees? (NYT)
  • Rep. Mica, the House infrastructure committee’s top Republican, makes the case against executive-branch earmarking (The Hill)
  • D.C.’s transit agency faces a make-or-break debate over how to close its budget gap (WaPo)
  • GM planning to follow the Volt with a range of purely electric, engine-less vehicles (AllCarsElectric)
  • Maryland outlines its request for federal street cleanup aid following last month’s Snowmageddon (Balt. Sun)
  • One Dallas-area skeptic of transit-oriented development outlines his frustrations (Morn News)
  • New York members of Congress meet with LaHood on bringing high-speed rail money upstate (WKTV)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Congress Reluctant to Shine Light on Transportation Earmarks

By Elana Schor |
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is about to unveil a massive bill that will re-authorize federal transportation programs for the next six years. The bill will also include funding for a large number of "earmarks," the congressional pet projects that can include everything from bike trails to Bridges to Nowhere. Earmarks grew largely in […]

Transit Stimulus Bill Needs Co-Sponsors in Senate

By Ben Fried |
Two weeks ago, Hillary Clinton introduced a bill in the Senate to provide emergency funds for local transit agencies. Since then, the rest of the delegation from New York and New Jersey appears to have lined up behind the legislation. "We believe that Senators Schumer, Lautenberg, and Menendez support it," says Larry Hanley of the […]

Rep. LaTourette Tells Transit Advocates to Ask Congress for What They Need

By Tanya Snyder |
Transit officials spent the day on Capitol Hill yesterday, meeting with Congressional offices as part of the American Public Transportation Association’s legislative conference. Transportation Committee Chair John Mica suggested they ask members for a six-year bill. Secretary Ray LaHood urged them to ask for support for President Obama’s “big, bold vision” for transportation. Rep. Steve […]

House GOP Yanks Transportation Earmark Requests — For How Long?

By Elana Schor |
When House Republicans voted recently to renounce all earmarks for this year, the move appeared to one-up Democrats’ pledge to forgo earmarks to for-profit entities in 2010 — a vow that would not extend to transportation projects. Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH) (Photo: Cleveland.com) In fact, the congressional newspaper Roll Call reported today that GOP members […]