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Yes, Transit Belongs in the Highway Trust Fund
As gas tax revenues wane, making it harder to finance a long-term transportation bill, ideas are beginning to circulate about how to save the (very poorly named) Highway Trust Fund. Some say the gas tax needs to rise. Others say fewer programs need to be financed out of the fund, which pays for all federal surface transportation investment, including transit. More and more, we’ve heard highway boosters say the Highway Trust Fund should go back to olden times when it was just for highways.
March 7, 2011
House Passes Seventh Extension of Transportation Bill
Just in the nick of time, the House has passed an extension of the current transportation law. The sixth extension of SAFETEA-LU was set to expire this Friday.
March 3, 2011
Mica, LaHood Stump at AASHTO Meeting
Rep. John Mica promised state DOT leaders this morning that he would deliver a six-year reauthorization bill. He said he had previously thought of advancing a shorter-term bill but transportation officials convinced him of the need for greater certainty. With the full zeal of the converted, he announced, “Anyone who talks about anything less than a six-year bill, I’ll take you outside and beat the crap out of you.”
March 3, 2011
Mica on the Next Transportation Bill: Size Matters
We caught up with Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair John Mica today and asked him about the reauthorization of the federal transportation bill.
March 2, 2011
Transportation 101: Cliff’s Notes for the Reauthorization Debate
A few weeks ago, I put together a little cheat sheet listing the last three transportation reauthorization bills, their dates of passage, and the dollar amounts. It helped me save some time I would have spent Googling.
March 1, 2011
Trainwreck: Rick Scott Keeps On Killing Florida HSR
Somehow, every time a governor makes a really bad decision that denies appropriate transportation options to his constituents, he gets chance after chance to take it back. And somehow, they never do.
February 25, 2011
Highways Take Center Stage at Columbus Transpo Field Hearing
Make federal transportation dollars more flexible. Tie infrastructure investment to economic development. Streamline the construction process.
February 24, 2011
Road Interests Crowd Reauthorization Panels in Indiana and Chicago
Road interests continued to dominate the discussion as members of Congress wound their way through Chicago and Indiana this weekend, gathering feedback for the six-year transportation reauthorization bill.
February 24, 2011
How Hard Will the Senate Fight Back Against House Spending Cuts?
Members of Congress worked all day Friday, until 4:42 Saturday morning, to finish voting on hundreds of amendments and, finally, the final HR 1 bill to set spending levels for the rest of 2011.
February 23, 2011
Bike Trail Funding Survives 583 Amendments
Bet you weren’t expecting to hear any good news from the floor of the House today, were you? Turns out not everyone in Congress is as axe-happy as some high-profile Republicans. For example, Amtrak survived one attempt to cut all its funding and another to cut $447 million. (Amtrak funding does stand to lose $224 million in cuts already included in HR 1, the budget bill for the rest of FY2011.)
February 18, 2011