Federal Funding
Basics
Boxer Tests Out “America Fast Forward” at Senate Committee Hearing
With House GOP leadership making it abundantly clear that they would be pleased to return federal transportation policy to the 1950s, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works met today to get serious about the who, what and how of funding a 21st century transportation system.
April 6, 2011
GOP Budget Would Slash Transpo Spending, Entrench Oil Dependence
With the release of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's budget proposal yesterday, right wing calls for massive cuts to transportation spending are now enshrined in the GOP leadership's fiscal plan. Ryan singled out transportation as an area particularly ripe for cuts, criticized the use of gas tax revenues for projects that aren't highways, and called for transportation spending levels to barely cover half of what President Obama requested in February.
April 6, 2011
House Members Make Their Case for Transpo Investment (and Earmarks)
While House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan grabbed headlines with the release of a fiscal plan that would severely constrain the federal transportation program (more on that later), the theme of the day at the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee was the desperate need to invest in infrastructure, as members of Congress provided their own proposals to the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
April 5, 2011
A Call to Plan Cities for Tomorrow, While Bracing for Transit Cuts Today
USDOT Deputy Secretary John Porcari kicked off the Transportation Equity Network’s “One Nation, Indivisible” conference yesterday with a call to think long-term. By 2050, he said, we can expect the U.S. population to grow by 100 million people, and nearly all of them will live in large urban centers. Problems like crumbling infrastructure, inadequate transit systems, grinding traffic and pollution will be much worse then if we don’t start acting today.
April 5, 2011
In the Budget Debate, Scarcely a Mention of the Word “Transportation”
So Congress hasn't resolved the 2011 budget impasse yet, and already there are bigger budget battles about to consume Capitol Hill.
April 4, 2011
Houston Planners Will Spend All Their Federal Air Quality Funding on Cars
It looks like the Houston region still has a long way to go in balancing the needs of cyclists and pedestrians with those of drivers. The region's Transportation Policy Council came down largely on the side of auto infrastructure Friday in deciding how to allocate tens of millions of dollars in federal funding. On the bright side, an all-out push from local cycling and pedestrian advocates successfully preserved a chunk of funding for biking and walking that had been under threat.
March 31, 2011
Strange Bedfellows Unite for Infrastructure Investment, Financing Tools
The “Tom and Rich Show” continued on Capitol Hill yesterday. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue and AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka joined up for yet another event to show that business and labor, which don’t agree on anything, agree on a major infusion of federal investment for infrastructure.
March 31, 2011
House Transportation Committee Rejects Obama’s 2012 Budget Request
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is having its say about the president’s ambitious – and unpaid-for – budget request for transportation.
March 22, 2011
House Passes Three-Week Budget Extension
The House just voted 271-158 to extend the FY2010 for three more weeks while the two houses of Congress try to reconcile their respective ideas about spending cuts. It wasn't a party-line vote: 54 Republicans voted against the resolution and 85 Democrats voted for it. The bill cuts $6 billion over its three-week life.
March 15, 2011
Cyclists Descend on Capitol Hill, Ask Lawmakers to Preserve Bike Funding
Every year, the cyclists that gather in Washington for the National Bike Summit meet with hundreds of Congressional offices to ask for expanded bike funding. This year, they’re just asking lawmakers not to cut it.
March 11, 2011