Reauthorization
Basics
House GOP Takes the Plunge, Unveils Transportation and Energy Plan Today
UPDATE 12:00: Leaders did not introduce a bill, but outlined their plan in rather vague terms. More to come.
November 17, 2011
Mica Warns Boxer on Highway Trust Fund; House Plans Hearing on “Drill Bill”
“I want to congratulate you on your Committee’s approval of the ‘Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act,” begins House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica’s letter yesterday to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee.
November 15, 2011
Senate Bill May Weaken Smaller Metros, Empower State DOTs
In Indiana, the state DOT wants to build a 142-mile extension of Interstate 69, but the Bloomington metropolitan planning organization won’t allow it – the group had written the road out of its three-year transportation plan and members are standing firm, refusing to write it back in. The MPO in Charlottesville, Virginia, similarly, long fought the construction of a $245 million, six-mile bypass the state plans to build to accommodate freight traffic.
November 14, 2011
Nine Reasons For Bike/Ped Advocates to Take Heart: The Senate Edition
Now that the dust has settled, we have a few more notes on the Senate transportation bill that passed the EPW committee yesterday. Bike and pedestrian advocates are understandably shaken at seeing some major changes to the primary programs that fund their work. But here are some reasons to take heart:
November 10, 2011
Two-Year Transpo Bill Moves on to Full Senate Without Bike/Ped Protections
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted unanimously this morning to pass a two-year transportation reauthorization bill, moving the bill one step closer to passage by the full Senate.
November 9, 2011
Senate’s Draft Transpo Bill Ends Earmarks But Weakens Bike-Ped Programs
Last Friday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee released its draft transportation reauthorization bill. With the GOP-controlled House contemplating a national transportation policy designed for maximum fossil fuel consumption, the best opportunities for reform reside in the Senate.
November 7, 2011
Coming Soon: Super-Partisan “Oil-For-Infrastructure” Transpo Bill
“In the coming weeks, House Republicans will formally introduce an energy & infrastructure jobs bill, and hope to move the legislation through the House before the end of the year,” House Speaker John Boehner announced yesterday.
November 4, 2011
Senate Panel to Vote on Transportation Bill Next Month
While a House transportation bill still appears to be a long way off, the Senate is prepared to move forward on its version. EPW Committee leaders just announced that they'll be marking up their two-year bill November 9.
October 20, 2011
Lessons From the Former Chairman: Oberstar on Ending the Interstate Era
Streetsblog had a chance today to ask the former Democratic chief of the House Transportation Committee, Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota, about life since the 2010 election, when he lost by a hair to Republican Chip Cravaack. He said he's spending his post-Congress time traveling to France, getting paid to say things he used to say for free, and telling his four kids and seven grandkids the story of his wife, who succombed to breast cancer 20 years ago.
October 14, 2011
Mica Won’t Say Where Transpo Funding Will Come From; LaHood Defends TE
House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica (R-FL) said this morning that getting permission from Republican leadership to find more revenues to fund the transportation bill was a “major breakthrough” but still won’t say where the money will come from.
October 14, 2011