Reauthorization
Basics
Forty Transportation Experts, One Message
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee just spent two days listening to 40 experts from different aspects of the transportation sector and advocacy community, from engineers to environmentalists to the Tea Party. Each person had just four minutes to speak and they crammed as much as they could into their time: observations, demands, recommendations for a better transportation bill. Their ideas were widely divergent on many points, but on one, they found unity: This should not be a smaller bill than the one that came before it.
March 30, 2011
Day Two of Massive Transportation Committee Hearing Underway
Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chair John Duncan (R-TN) can't stop mentioning that this kind of hearing has "never been done before." The subcommittee is hearing from 20 witnesses a day for two days in an effort to satisfy every interest group's need to speak before the committee gets to work crafting the next surface transportation reauthorization bill.
March 30, 2011
Aviation Bill: Foretelling What’s to Come For Surface Transportation?
If today’s FAA vote in the House is a preview of the upcoming debate over funding for the nation’s surface transportation infrastructure, we can foresee fights between the House and Senate over funding levels and the loss of key public services.
March 29, 2011
Congressional Listening Tour Draws to an End in the Philadelphia Suburbs
Cross-posted with permission from the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.
March 28, 2011
The Week Ahead: Congress Fights About Budget Cuts and Talks Transpo
I hope members of Congress had a nice, relaxing recess this week, because it’s about to get crazy on Capitol Hill.
March 25, 2011
WSJ: Mica Says Transit Funding Will Stay “About the Same”
Update 3:35 p.m.: Transportation Committee staff says Mica has confirmed what he meant: "He was referring to the share. Keep in mind that we have no numbers or details for a bill yet -- the hearing process is not yet finished and we have not drafted a bill. He was simply speculating at this point."
March 22, 2011
House Transportation Committee Rejects Obama’s 2012 Budget Request
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is having its say about the president’s ambitious – and unpaid-for – budget request for transportation.
March 22, 2011
“Grab a Hold of Your Shorts”: Mica and LaHood Talk Transportation Bill
This morning, House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica told transit professionals gathered at the American Public Transportation Association’s legislative conference that he’s still hoping to pass a bill out of the House by May in order to get it signed before September 30, when the current extension of SAFETEA-LU expires. “It’ll be very difficult after that,” he said. “Because of the presidential ‘happy season,’ major legislation sometimes gets left behind.”
March 15, 2011
President Obama Signs Transportation Extension
The House passed it 421-4, the Senate passed by voice vote, and now President Obama has signed the Surface Transportation Extension Act. The entire transportation program would have gone silent today if he hadn't, since the previous extension was to expire.
March 4, 2011
Senate Passes Transportation Extension
The Senate has passed the Surface Transportation Extension Act, extending SAFETEA-LU for the seventh time and keeping the transportation program going at current spending levels. The House passed the bill yesterday.
March 3, 2011