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Basics
UPDATE: Where Did the Senate Get the Extra Money to Pay For Its Bill?
UPDATE: The final bill contained a $2.4 billion transfer from Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund to the Highway Trust Fund in June 2012 and three transfers from the General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund, totaling $18.8 billion. They were: $6.2 billion to the Highway Account of HTF in October 2012; $10.4 billion transfer to Highway Account of HTF in October 2013; and $2.2 billion transfer to Mass Transit Account of HTF in October 2013. They dropped the car tariffs change and the gas guzzler transfer. They replaced those smaller transfers and offsets with the pension provisions and a tiny bit from the roll-your-own-cigarettes change.
June 26, 2012
Boehner Masks GOP Attack on Safe Streets By Opposing Flowers
House Speaker John Boehner spoke to reporters yesterday morning. His message: "Republicans Relentlessly Focused on Jobs."
June 22, 2012
Making Lawmakers Answer For Pedestrian Deaths In Their Districts
Rep. James Lankford, a Tea Party Republican representing Oklahoma City, probably wasn't responsible for any of the 118 pedestrian deaths in his district between 2001 to 2010. And it's unlikely Rep. Steve Southerland of Panama City, Florida was behind the wheel when any of the 164 people were killed while walking in his district during the decade.
June 21, 2012
Boxer and Mica Release Vague Reassurance of Progress
Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. John Mica just released this statement:
June 21, 2012
Deal Imminent?
We're hearing reports that a deal on the surface transportation bill is imminent. We'll let you know when we hear more. Could it be that the Walz Motion to Instruct lit a fire under the conferees?
June 21, 2012
386 to 34: House Instructs Conference to Get It Done By Friday
There's no excuse for dilly-dallying.
June 20, 2012
House to Vote on Firming Up the Conference Deadline
UPDATE 3 PM: The text of the MTI doesn't mention forcing a vote on the Senate bill.
June 20, 2012
Extension(s) Imminent — a Reflection on Neverending Transpo Gridlock
For the past six months, I have had the enviable task (seriously) of tracing the path of federal transportation legislation through Congress. And look how far we've come! When I first took the editor's chair in January, transportation funds were drying up, the deadline for a new bill was fast approaching, and none of the news made Congress look good. Today, essentially, nothing has changed, except everything is somehow even worse.
June 19, 2012
Boxer Changes Her Tone, Adopts a Fighting Stance
The transportation bill conference committee negotiations have been difficult and contentious, by all accounts -- all except Senator Barbara Boxer's account. The EPW chair has been optimistic when others have been bitter, consistently focusing on how much the two sides agree rather than the places where they're still far apart.
June 14, 2012
Where Is John Mica as Congress Takes Transpo Programs to the Brink?
Over the past month or two, I couldn’t help noticing that Rep. John Mica, chair of the Transportation Committee in the House, seemed completely consumed with fingerpointing at federal agencies. While the country’s transportation programs neared a crisis point -- and indeed, there is no other way to describe the current deadlock over a transpo bill -- the top dog in the House was barking up a whole other tree.
June 12, 2012