Reauthorization
Basics
House Transpo Conferees Set, First Committee Meeting Scheduled for May 8
Last night, the names of the House delegates to the transportation bill conference committee were released. The 33 members -- 20 Republicans, 13 Democrats -- will join the 14 Senators already named to the panel, and will be tasked with hammering out a compromise before transportation policy expires on June 30.
April 26, 2012
Getting to Know the Senate Conferees
The Senate unveiled its list of conference committee delegates yesterday to a widespread lack of surprise.
April 25, 2012
Ladies and Gentlemen, Your 2012 Transportation Bill Senate Conferees
The Senate has designated the 14 members who will represent the upper chamber on the transportation bill conference committee. The House will designate its own conferees soon, and the entire group will be tasked with reconciling the differences between the Senate's two-year bill and the 90-day "dirty" extension passed by the House last week.
April 24, 2012
Five Ex-Secretaries Map Out a Communications Strategy For Transportation
If 80 percent of the American people agree that federal infrastructure investment will create jobs, and two-thirds say better infrastructure is important, why is the call for a robust transportation bill being made in whispers? And why is Congress already two and a half years late in producing one?
April 24, 2012
This Week: Conference Gladiators Could Be Named, Senate Budget Stalls
This week, the House and Senate are expected to name the people they’ll send to conference to come up with a new transportation bill. The Senate will be bringing its bipartisan bill; the House is bringing a bunch of poison pills. The president says he will veto anything with a Keystone pipeline approval in it, giving both sides the chance to say they’re putting Keystone before a massive infrastructure/jobs bill.
April 23, 2012
House Defies Veto Threat, Passes Drill-And-Drive Extension
In a brazen but expected display of defiance -- both of the President and of bipartisan efforts in the Senate -- the House voted today to extend transportation policy through the end of September with several contentious policy changes attached.
April 18, 2012
House GOP Tries to Horse-Trade Senate Bill For Keystone Pipeline
In another desperate attempt to push forward their fossil fuel agenda, House Republicans have indicated that even though they've been incapable of passing a transportation bill, they're willing to go to conference committee and pass the Senate bill. All the Senate Democrats have to do in return is approve the Keystone XL pipeline.
April 13, 2012
Federal Transpo Policy Entering New Era, Say NYC Officials. Now What?
It's a new era for federal transportation policy, say the top New York City Department of Transportation officials tracking action on Capitol Hill. We just don't know what kind of era it's going to be.
April 5, 2012
Talking Transit Funding With Construction Honcho Denise Richardson
Transportation infrastructure is big business. With tens of billions of dollars at stake, nobody tracks the financial health of the nation's transit and road systems more closely than the construction industry. And right now, the future of transportation funding nationwide is hazy indeed.
April 5, 2012
Rejection of Senate Transpo Bill Opens Rift Between GOP, Business Groups
The conservative wing of the Republican Party had their way yesterday in the House of Representatives, refusing to bring up for a vote the moderate, two-year transportation bill passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the Senate, going instead with a 90-day extension, the 9th in a row.
March 30, 2012