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.
Recent Posts
To Change Your Community’s Streets, the Action Is in the Statehouse
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Anxious about Congress messing up the federal transportation bill? There’s a lot at stake in Washington, but consider this: 78 percent of transportation funds come from the state and local levels. At a National Bike Summit panel yesterday on state-level bike advocacy campaigns, Dan Grunig of Bicycle Colorado spoke about the importance of reforming the agencies […]
Why Are Three Out of Four Cyclists on the Street Men?
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I’ve never thought of myself as a female cyclist. For the last 13 years, I’ve been a bike commuter in DC, and I figured my needs were the same needs as any cyclist. But for the last six months, I’m a biker that doesn’t bike, and that has everything to do with the fact that […]
House Won’t Take Up Senate Transpo Bill as March 31 Deadline Looms
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So much for bipartisanship. Even though his efforts to whip his party into passing a five-year transportation bill that attacks transit, biking, and walking have been fruitless, House Speaker John Boehner isn’t about to follow through on his threat to take up the Senate’s two-year bill. That bill passed with 22 GOP ayes (and 22 nays) […]
Senate Amendments Promote Local (Not State) Control, Bridge Repair
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The Senate is voting right now on the final amendments to the transportation bill and will consider the full bill later today. Transportation for America has put out a handy amendment tracker, reproduced below, with descriptions of each one and the final outcomes of the votes that happened yesterday. Senate leaders had already tossed out […]
Obama Counters Gas Price Demagoguery With Commitment to Fracking
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It’s been almost a year since the Obama administration released its Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future, but more importantly, it’s been two weeks since Energy Secretary Steven Chu got chewed out for not caring enough about lowering gas prices. And Newt Gingrich, whose presidential campaign is slipping into irrelevancy, can still do some political […]
Don’t Count Out HR 7 Yet: House GOP Could Revive Their Bill This Week
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Last week, when House Speaker John Boehner indicated his willingness to bring up the Senate transportation bill, it seemed like an admission of defeat for the brazenly partisan approach and insanely destructive policies the Republicans have been promoting. But it’s not over yet. Check out the nuances of Boehner’s statement, quoted in The Hill last Thursday: […]
Despite Nods to Transit, House GOP Still All About Highways
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In its annual “Views and Estimates” document [PDF], the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee indicates that when it comes to transportation policy, despite a few nods to transit, House Republicans still want to cut spending and let highway-centric state DOTs sort out the details. While the House transportation bill could be on its last legs, the document […]
As Yet Another House Proposal Dies In Utero, Boehner Looks to Senate Bill
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The original six-year House transportation bill had funding levels that were too low, so House leaders axed that and came up with a fairy tale bill in which oil drilling would pay for higher transportation spending levels. Then they decided to kick transit funding out of that bill, which didn’t fly. So they thought about replacing the whole kit […]
AASHTO’s Vision of Safe Streets for Seniors: Bigger Type on Highway Signs
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Last June, Transportation for America brought the nation’s attention to the fact that older Americans are increasingly stuck in the suburbs without adequate transportation options, leading them to see family and friends and even doctors less. That same month, the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on transportation access for older Americans. The debate raged: […]
Don’t Call It a Merger: America’s Big Three Bike/Ped Advocates Join Forces
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Last week, three leading organizations advocating for biking and walking issued a communiqué [PDF] about their intention to unify. According to the plan, hashed out two weeks ago at a top-level meeting in San Diego, the League of American Bicyclists, the Alliance for Biking & Walking, and Bikes Belong will become one organization, with one board of directors. Streetsblog […]
Nigeria Strikes For Cheap Fuel
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For the last two days, Nigeria has been on fire with national protests against the government’s move to drop the fuel subsidy that has kept gasoline cheap for years. All of a sudden, on January 1, Nigerians awoke to find that gas prices had gone from 65 naira (40 cents) to at least 141 naira […]
To GOP’s Dismay, DOT Funds Disaster Relief Without Gutting Other Programs
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The U.S. DOT announced this morning that it’s allocating almost $1.6 billion for repairs to roads and bridges that were damaged in recent floods and storms. If House Republicans had gotten their way, this money would have come out of high-speed rail funds. The House voted in July to transfer over a billion dollars of […]