Today’s Headlines

  • The details on that post-Toyota auto safety reform bill that Congress is drafting (Free Press)
  • Sen. Graham (R-SC) tells Ezra Klein that White House’s vehement rejection of carbon fees as a "gas tax" helped push him away from the negotiating table on climate change
  • Green Buildings Council, Congress for the New Urbanism, and the Natural Resources Defense Council release a new guide to sustainable neighborhood design (USGBC Press)
  • LaHood advises North Carolina’s various metro planning orgs to "speak with one voice" in order to get a greater shot at winning federal transportation funding (W-S Journal)
  • Treasury Dept. defends its fuzzy math on General Motors’ bailout loan repayment (SF Chron Blogs)
  • American Lung Association reports that six in 10 individuals living with polluted air (AP)
  • Oberstar takes aim at EPA for blog post on the benefits of vegetarianism (Star-Trib Blogs)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Mica Won’t Say Where Transpo Funding Will Come From; LaHood Defends TE

By Tanya Snyder |
House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica (R-FL) said this morning that getting permission from Republican leadership to find more revenues to fund the transportation bill was a “major breakthrough” but still won’t say where the money will come from. Mica told an audience at a Washington Post-sponsored forum on transportation that passing yet another extension […]

Transport and the Tea Party: How Conservatives Talk About the Gas Tax

By Elana Schor |
The passage of health care legislation this week, while elating Democrats, has proven an equally potent motivator for conservatives advocates of states’ rights. Appearing on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show last night, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) was asked about the viability of the legal challenge to the health bill filed by 14 mostly conservative attorneys […]

Today’s Headlines

By Elana Schor |
More coverage of yesterday’s release of transit and road projects "ready to go" for Congress’ jobs bill (WSJ, Det. News, WashPost, Free Press, Politics Daily) A crucial footnote in the debate over using bailout money on infrastructure: $1 for TARP isn’t $1 for budgeting purposes (Ezra Klein) Maryland governor cheers the prospects for a new […]

LaHood: Gas Tax Increase in Congressional Hands

By Elana Schor |
As Congress maneuvers to end the political impasse over the next long-term national transportation bill, lawmakers are going to have to debate an increase in the federal gas tax, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said today. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (Photo: Getty Images) In his remarks at a Fort Worth transportation meeting, first reported by the […]