Transportation Policy
Basics
LaHood Faces Off With GOP Senator Over High-Speed Rail, Livability
When Cabinet secretaries appear in front of Congress' appropriations committees, which control the annual budgets for each federal agency, the proceedings tend to be dry affairs dominated by local concerns and arcane fiscal debates.
March 4, 2010
Moody’s Gifts Fossil-Fuel States With Positive Credit Outlook
Credit-rating agencies -- particularly Moody's and S&P, the nation's two premier shops -- wield significant influence over the financial health of private companies. But state and local officials are often equally dependent on good credit ratings to borrow money for transportation and infrastructure improvements.
March 4, 2010
Senate Starts Work on New Transport Bill, With House Version as a Guide
The Senate today took its first steps towards voting on a new long-term federal transportation bill, with environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) vowing to take up a successor to the 2005 infrastructure law before 2011 and indicating she would use the House's already-introduced version as a framework.
March 3, 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
Could a New Kind of Fuel Tax Help Break the Senate Climate Deadlock?
Even before the Senate environment panel pushed through a GOP protest to approve its climate change bill, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and John Kerry (D-MA) were working behind the scenes on a so-called "tripartisan" plan that can win enough votes in Congress' upper chamber to make nationwide emissions cuts a reality.
March 1, 2010
Federal Transportation Law Expired Over the Weekend: What’s Next?
A new month begins today without rules in place to govern federal transportation programs, thanks to an objection by Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) to quick approval of a short-term extension of existing law.
March 1, 2010
LaHood Backs Feingold’s Plan to Cancel Unspent Transport Earmarks
When a member of Congress earmarks transportation money for a local project, the funding isn't always spent in a timely manner. The Bush administration's final budget proposed to cancel road earmarks that had sat largely unspent for 10 years, a move that would have freed up $626 million, according to Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI).
February 26, 2010
The Big Question: What is the Purpose of Federal Transportation Spending?
With the White House's agenda crowded by high-profile debates that remain unresolved after lengthy talks with Congress -- think health care, financial regulation, even unemployment benefits -- only a handful of lawmakers are publicly engaging with the dominant issues surrounding the next long-term federal transportation bill.
February 26, 2010
Deja Vu Again: One-Man Senate Filibuster Imperils Federal Transport Law
A familiar script for Washington infrastructure watchers began to unfold last night on the Senate floor, as House-side resistance to a 10-month extension of existing federal transportation law prompted Democratic leaders to seek a quick deal on a one-month stopgap -- the fourth such short-term move in six months.
February 26, 2010
What Voinovich Wants From the White House: A New Politics for Transport
Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), a longtime supporter of quick action on a new federal transportation bill, helped give Democrats a major victory this week when he voted for the Senate's jobs measure after securing a promise for transportation votes in the upper chamber this year.
February 25, 2010