Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Federal Funding

With Contraception Vote Over, Senate Can Finally Get to Transpo Issues

4:10 PM EST on March 1, 2012

Image: ##http://www.c-spanvideo.org/appearance/601350783##C-SPAN2##

The U.S. Senate voted 51-48 today to reject an amendment to their transportation bill that would overturn measures in President Obama's signature health care law dealing with contraception coverage. The vote clears the way for the Senate to finally begin considering actual transportation issues rather than dealing with delay tactics.

The so-called "conscience" amendment, proposed by Missouri Senator Roy Blunt, was one of two that recently drew the ire of Democrats Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid for delaying the approval of the underlying bill.

The other amendment, proposed by Rand Paul of Kentucky, would withhold aid to Egypt until the American NGO employees there were allowed to leave the country -- and today, they were.

Attention can now turn to the meat of the Senate's transportation proposal. Without missing a beat, 17 environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club and Republicans for Environmental Protection, have just sent a letter to the Senate outlining the best -- and worst -- of the remaining amendments:

Facing the expiration of the current transportation authorization on March 31, some have tried to attach unrelated, environmentally damaging provisions, such as permitting the dirty and dangerous Keystone XL pipeline (Hoeven SA 1537) and rolling back existing clean air standards to reduce toxic pollution from industrial boilers and cement plants (Collins SA 1660, Barrasso SA 1618)...

As this legislation moves forward, we encourage you to support amendments that will further reduce oil consumption in the transportation sector and provide Americans with access to clean, affordable transportation choices such as transit, biking and walking.

The letter contained an outright endorsement of several amendments, including the Cardin-Cochran proposal to give metro areas greater control over bike-ped funding.

Other supported amendments include making congestion mitigation and air quality improvement (CMAQ) a required part of state transportation planning, and offering financing for local governments to build public infrastructure around transit nodes.

The letter also called out two amendments, both proposed by Utah Republican Orrin Hatch, for being particularly damaging. "These amendments would deepen our addiction to oil by linking infrastructure funding to increased oil drilling in our nation’s wildest places, such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and rescinding funds from the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing loan program, which helps automakers retool to manufacture cleaner, more efficient vehicles," the letter reads.

T4America is also maintaining its amendment tracker page, which after today's action will finally have changes to track.

Read the full text of the environmental groups' letter after the jump.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Distracted Off-Duty Cop Jumped Curb and Killed Chicago Woman On Sidewalk

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.

December 8, 2023

Friday’s Headlines Include Transit

An International Association of Public Transport study found that many countries are neglecting transit in their plans to combat climate change.

December 8, 2023

Calif. Using“Auxiliary Lane” Freeway Widening Loophole for Non-Aux Lane Projects

Beyond just using harmful loopholes legally, Metro and Caltrans deceptively bypass environmental regulations in order to keep on widening freeways.

December 8, 2023

Talking Headways Podcast: Sausage Making and the ADA

"It is fundamentally inappropriate to keep charging disabled people twice as much," our guest Ron Brooks says.

December 7, 2023

The Real Reason Assaults Against Transit Workers Are On The Rise

Hint: it's not just because service has been slashed.

December 7, 2023
See all posts