Reauthorization
Basics
EPW Big Four Announce Plan to Maintain Status Quo for the Next Transpo Bill
Last year, while the House flailed in partisan misery, the Senate passed a transportation bill 74 to 22. When the bill was signed into law, it was considered one of the few real achievements of a deeply divided Congress. Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer got tremendous credit for enacting legislation three years in the making. And yet, it left a lot of good provisions on the cutting-room floor. While MAP-21 included some modest reforms, lawmakers missed an opportunity to prioritize transit, biking, and walking -- modes that are gaining popularity and help achieve national goals like congestion mitigation and air quality improvement.
April 10, 2014
Shuster “Encouraged” By Obama’s Transportation Funding Announcement
Bill Shuster is still digesting yesterday’s twin funding proposals from President Obama and Ways and Means Chair Dave Camp, but he’s “encouraged” by what he’s heard. Both proposals rely on corporate tax reform to plug the hole in the highway trust fund. Camp's proposal would raise about $125 billion; Obama's, $150 billion. Neither has yet released details on how their plans would work.
February 27, 2014
Will Obama and the GOP Align on Plan to Fund Transpo With Tax Reform?
Today, both President Obama and Republican House Ways and Means Chair Dave Camp unveiled plans to pay for transportation with corporate tax reform. Few details have emerged about exactly how Camp plans to do this, but Politico has heard from Capitol Hill staffers that it would push $100 billion to $125 billion to transportation over an unspecified time frame.
February 26, 2014
Live-Blogging Obama’s Transportation Announcement
3:59 p.m.: Obama says funding for these projects is going to be in jeopardy unless Congress passes a new transportation bill. Doesn't go into details. "God Bless the United States of America," and we're out.
February 26, 2014
Obama to Propose Four-Year Transpo Bill Funded By “Business Tax Reform”
President Obama will unveil a proposal for a $302 billion, four-year transportation bill during a speech today in Minnesota, according to an announcement from the White House. A fact sheet from the administration indicates the proposal would increase dedicated funding for transit more than funding for highways.
February 26, 2014
The Next Transpo Bill: Can Congress Solve the Funding Problem?
It's that time again. Just 18 months after the passage of the latest federal transportation bill, known as MAP-21, Congress has to get serious about the next one. The first hearing on the bill that will replace MAP-21 took place today in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
January 14, 2014
Eleven Things to Look for in the Passenger Rail Reauthorization
Now that the surface transportation bill fight is over -- at least for the moment -- transportation reformers are eying the expiration date of another key piece of legislation later this year. The reauthorization of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA) could be a chance to make some needed changes to jump-start progress in the passenger rail system. Or it could be the next partisan battleground, making it a process as unnavigable as the lead-up to the passage of MAP-21.
March 13, 2013
Suburban Voters Wisely Reject Proposals to Withdraw from Regional Transit
Job markets are regional. So in order to serve a metropolitan region's workers and by extension the local economy, transit must also be regional, seamlessly serving both central cities and their suburbs, whose share of employment has grown. Almost everyone recognizes that.
November 8, 2012
Will Transportation Investments Keep Up With the Way Americans Travel?
Phineas Baxandall is a senior analyst at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
October 22, 2012
Will MAP-21 Require Thousands More Dangerous Stroads?
An obscure provision of the new federal transportation bill is sparking concerns that it could erode walkability and bikeability in communities around the country. The so-called "Enhanced National Highway System" provision would require all major arterial roads to be folded into the national highway system. That could provide greater pressure for local entities to comply with AASHTO's often highway-inspired standards, like wide lanes and shoulders that encourage car capacity at the expense of pedestrian safety.
September 18, 2012