Ben Goldman
Recent Posts
Senate Leaders Reach Deal on Transpo Bill, Setting Up Slew of Votes Today
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The leaders of each political party in the Senate have reached a deal on their two-year, $109 billion transportation bill, clearing the way for as many as 10 votes on amendments to the bill later today. With a deal struck, prospects for passage of the Senate bill have now improved dramatically. Majority leader Harry Reid had […]
Experts See No New Transportation Bill Before Election
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Last May, Streetsblog ran an article with the headline “Experts Agree: Six-Year Transportation Bill Won’t Pass This Year.” A lot has happened since then, but we’re still right where we started, butting up against a deadline with more than enough gridlock to give even optimistic experts pause. Here’s where we stand: The current extension of […]
Cloture Vote on Transpo Bill Fails, Setting Up Longer Fight in Senate
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Majority Leader Harry Reid failed to win a key vote in the Senate today that would have forged significant progress toward passage of a two-year transportation bill. It is the second time a cloture vote on the bill has failed since it was first brought to the Senate floor. Needing 60 votes to invoke cloture, […]
John Mica Sidelined by House Leadership for Transpo Bill Rewrite
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CQ and AmericaBikes are reporting that Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-FL) has received a rebuke from House leadership, and will play a lesser role as the House reworks its foundering transportation bill. Mica will retain his chairmanship, but he will take a back seat to Railroad Subcommittee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA). According […]
Tomorrow’s Key Vote on Senate Transpo Bill Could Go Either Way
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In interviewing a number of experts for an upcoming article about the prospects of passing a transportation bill, I’ve found a surprising amount of disagreement about whether the Senate bill will clear a key milestone tomorrow. Last week, Majority Leader Harry Reid finalized his “manager’s amendment,” combining all the major components of the Senate transpo […]
How the House and Senate Transportation Bills Changed Overnight
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The sun rose this morning on a landscape considerably different from the one described by not one but two articles Streetsblog published yesterday. Senate Bill Gets Bigger, Better, But Harder to Move Senator Harry Reid took a lot of business into his own hands yesterday, unveiling his updated version of the Senate’s “two year” bill (it’s […]
Good News: Cardin-Cochran Amendment Incorporated Into Senate Bill
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Majority Leader Harry Reid has incorporated much of the Ben Cardin/Thad Cochran amendment into the so-called “manager’s mark” of the Senate transportation bill. The move means that the amendment’s provisions letting local governments directly access funding from popular bicycle and pedestrian programs will be included in the bill without having to come up for a separate […]
With Contraception Vote Over, Senate Can Finally Get to Transpo Issues
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The U.S. Senate voted 51-48 today to reject an amendment to their transportation bill that would overturn measures in President Obama’s signature health care law dealing with contraception coverage. The vote clears the way for the Senate to finally begin considering actual transportation issues rather than dealing with delay tactics. The so-called “conscience” amendment, proposed […]
House Scales Back Transpo Bill But Keeps on Attacking Safe Streets
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UPDATE (3:45 p.m.): Citing a lack of support from his colleagues, Speaker John Boehner has dropped his 18-month transportation proposal and has not yet offered an alternative, according to Politico. “A five-year bill is the best way to do this,” he said. We’ve known for a few days now that the House, in the wake […]
Congress to America: “Get a Car!”
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Photographer and blogger Jay Mallin, whose video of Woodbridge, VA police ticketing injured pedestrians was picked up by Streetsblog NYC a year ago, has turned his attention to the congressional transportation debacle. Mallin’s new video is entitled “Get a Car,” and is named for the apparent message of the House transportation bill, and, to a lesser […]
Mounting Transportation and Housing Costs Devour Household Budgets
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On Monday we wrote that Americans can’t afford a transportation bill that locks households into the expenses of car dependence. Yesterday the Center for Neighborhood Technology hammered the point home, releasing new data showing how communities are getting less and less affordable nationwide. Only 28 percent of American communities meet CNT’s definition of “affordable,” which accounts for […]
House GOP Regroups While Senate Dems Tackle Amendments
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Last week’s big news — that the House transportation bill faces a likely overhaul by its Republican authors — rippled through Washington faster than you can say, “gas tax increases are off the table.” Very little is known yet about the revised House bill, except that it will probably restore dedicated funding for mass transit, […]