Boxer Clarifies: Transportation Enhancements Will Remain in the Bill

1:35 PM PDT on September 16, 2011

(For more on reauthorization and the fate of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, visit Harry Reid Calls Bike Facilities “Absolutely Important” on Streetsblog Capital Hill - DN)

We reported this morning that there seemed to be some distance between how Sen. Barbara Boxer understands the deal with Sen. Tom Coburn and how Coburn understands it. To clarify, Boxer just issued this statement:

There has been much discussion about plans for the Transportation Enhancements program in the upcoming surface transportation bill. The Transportation Enhancements program will be included in the EPW Committee’s reauthorization proposal, with more flexibility granted to the states on the use of the funds within the TE program.

We look forward to the day when a bill is introduced, once and for all, and we can stop speculating about what is and what is not in it. Meanwhile, Boxer has been fighting like a mama bear to keep these important programs in the bill, and we salute her for that.

Tanya Snyder

Tanya became Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor in September 2010 after covering Congress for Pacifica Radios Washington bureau and for public radio stations around the country. She lives car-free in a transit-oriented and bike-friendly neighborhood of Washington, DC.