We at Streetsblog have been saying that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will be a key player in the transportation debate this session, counterbalancing the conservative House as they, together with the administration and the Senate Banking Committee, craft a six-year reauthorization. The EPW could play a key role in tempering House attempts to cut infrastructure spending to the bone and prioritize traditional highway projects over urban transit, intercity rail, or metropolitan planning. We've already seen debates within EPW on the role of bike facilities in an infrastructure bill.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, chair of the full committee, stood up for biking as a mode of transportation in that hearing, it's worth noting. And yesterday she issued a statement in support of the president's ambitious transportation budget.
Today, the committee announced the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee members for this session. Montana Democrat Max Baucus returns as committee chair.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus has reportedly found the $12 billion needed to make the EPW reauthorization proposal possible. Photo:##http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/09/16/2009-09-16_sen_max_baucus_proposal_senates_10year_health_fix_would_cost_united_states_856_b.html##Ghanbari/AP#
Democrats: Senator Max Baucus (MT), Chair Senator Thomas R. Carper (DE) Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (NJ) Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (MD) Senator Bernard Sanders (VT) Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) Senator Tom Udall (NM) Senator Barbara Boxer (CA) (ex officio)
Republicans: Senator David Vitter (LA), Ranking Member Senator John Barrasso (WY) Senator Jeff Sessions (AL) Senator Mike Crapo (ID) Senator Mike Johanns (NE) Senator John Boozman (AR) Senator James M. Inhofe (OK) (ex officio)
The lineup isn't very different from the last session, with Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) returning as chair. Baucus is a rural highway guy. At an EPW hearing last month, he bragged that Montana has "more federal highway miles per capita than any other state." He didn't say anything about transit, nor did he take sides on the bike path issue. But he did say, "We love our highways and we need them."
The Republicans on the subcommittee are overwhelmingly from rural states -- Barrasso from Wyoming, Sessions from Alabama, Crapo from Idaho -- and Ranking Member David Vitter of Louisiana has long advocated for highway building and against environmental measures.
Tanya became Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor in September 2010 after covering Congress for Pacifica Radios Washington bureau and for public radio stations around the country. She lives car-free in a transit-oriented and bike-friendly neighborhood of Washington, DC.
It's infuriating that a person who was entrusted to help keep the public safe was reckless enough to take her eyes off the road while driving to pick up a phone, with tragic consequences.