House of Representatives
Basics
House Approves Transpo Spending Bill After Stripping Out $ for Livability
The House of Representatives passed its 2011 appropriations bill for Transportation and Housing and Urban Development yesterday, significantly increasing the amount going to both highways and transit while decreasing spending overall. A fight over $200 million in funds for the Obama Administration's new livability initiatives, however, showed that substantive changes in federal transportation policy will remain difficult to achieve until Congress tackles the long-term transportation reauthorization bill.
July 30, 2010
Bipartisan Ped Safety Amendment Hitches a Ride on House Auto Bill
The House Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday advanced an auto safety bill aimed at strengthening U.S. DOT regulators' hands in the aftermath of Toyota's recall debacle. Despite Republican complaints that the legislation would impose too many new costs on the car industry, bipartisan support emerged readily for an amendment focused on pedestrian safety.
May 27, 2010
Obama Aide Defends Transit Safety Plan as Different from Rail Rules
Federal Transit Administration (FTA) chief Peter Rogoff today mounted a defense of the White House's transit safety plan, assuring some skeptical members of Congress that he does not want to "replicate" inter-city rail safety rules that have taken flak for impeding the development of viable U.S. train networks.
April 21, 2010
Feds’ Record on Transport Public-Private Partnerships Prompts Skepticism
When it comes to creative transportation financing in an age of rising red ink, public-private partnerships (PPPs) are one of the most popular ideas on the table in Washington. Rail planners in Denver and Dallas are exploring the strategy to speed progress on new lines, and the White House's proposed $4 billion infrastructure fund could provide seed money for PPPs all over the country.
April 14, 2010
Oberstar Stays Optimistic About New Transport Bill in 2010
House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) today renewed his call for action on a new federal infrastructure bill before year's end, using a hearing on the Obama administration's stimulus law to urge passage of long-term legislation as well as a second round of short-term investment in roads, bridges, and rail.
March 26, 2010
New Stimulus Data: Road Funds 77% Under Contract, Transit at 74%
As of the end of February, nearly $5.4 billion of transit stimulus money, or 74 percent, was under contract for projects in the 50 states and D.C., according to a Streetsblog Capitol Hill analysis of data released today by the House transportation committee.
March 26, 2010
House GOP Yanks Transportation Earmark Requests — For How Long?
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.
March 22, 2010
New House Jobs Bill Dominated by Direct Aid to Cities
Soon after the Senate signed off yesterday on a $150 billion package of tax extenders and unemployment benefits that was promoted as a job-creation measure -- a bill that lacked dedicated new funding for transportation -- Democrats on the House education and labor committee were releasing their own jobs legislation.
March 11, 2010
House Moves to Repay U.S. DOT Workers Furloughed by Bunning Filibuster
The House voted today to compensate nearly 2,000 U.S. DOT workers who were forcibly furloughed last week when Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) mounted a five-day blockade of legislation extending federal transportation spending for the month of March.
March 10, 2010
Transportation Filibuster Update: Bunning Won’t Yield to Fellow GOPer
Federal infrastructure funding and many U.S. DOT workers remain in limbo today as Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) continues his one-man filibuster of legislation extending the 2005 transport law, turning himself into a Democratic target and a poster child for Washington gridlock.
March 2, 2010