Reauthorization

During the current push for multi-year transportation bill, the Senate has been known more for its spirit of bipartisanship than any visionary policy advances. Now that the bill has hit the Senate floor, however, it's getting a little ugly.

First, John Boehner split his transportation bill into three smaller bills that deal with transportation, oil and gas drilling, and government employee pensions separately. Now, it looks like the transportation component won't be voted on until after the President's Day recess, according to Politico:

The White House issued a statement yesterday that spelled out President Obama's opposition to the House transportation bill, also known as H.R. 7. The administration's statement of policy, which coincided with the House Rules Committee hearing on H.R. 7, takes a stand in defense of transit, safety, and the environment:

With more and more Republicans coming out against provisions of the House transportation bill, the GOP leadership has opted to split their massive bill into three parts to be debated and voted on separately, Politico reports. The thinking, as Larry Ehl writes, is that members will be allowed "to go on record voting 'yes' on sections they strongly support, and 'no' on sections they strongly oppose." One bill would deal with transportation reauthorization (including the Ways & Means Committee's transit "fix"), one with energy production, and one with federal pension reform (yes, all of that was included in the same bill until today).

We mentioned it briefly last week, but the amendment to the Senate transportation bill from Maryland Democrat Ben Cardin and Mississippi Republican Thad Cochran is a critical one to track. The amendment would give local governments, rather than state DOTs, access to most federal bike-ped funding.

The House GOP bill, drafted with significant input from Speaker John Boehner's office, would eliminate mass transit's dedicated funding stream, first signed into law by Ronald Reagan in 1982. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former House Republican, has called it "the worst transportation bill I’ve ever seen during 35 years of public service."

Did John Boehner and and John Mica overreach with their proposal to strip dedicated funding for transit, cycling, and walking in the House transportation bill? That's the question observers have been asking since House GOP leaders sprung this politicized legislation in committee last week.

The Senate picked the right day to make themselves look good by comparison.

The transportation-plus-drilling bill that John Boehner and company are trying to ram through the House is an attack on transit riders, pedestrians, cyclists, city dwellers, and every American who can't afford to drive everywhere. Under this bill, all the dedicated federal funding streams for transit, biking, and walking would disappear, leading to widespread service cuts and more injuries and deaths on American streets. But to hear the Republican-controlled Transportation and Infrastructure Committee tell it, they're not harming anyone. In a statement, committee spokesperson Josh Harclerode told Transportation Nation earlier this week: