Recent Streetsblog USA posts about U.S. Senate

Transit Benefit Reappears on the Congressional Agenda

By Tanya Snyder | Apr 1, 2014 | No Comments

The tax benefit for transit riders has zigzagged dizzily from parity with the car parking subsidy to second-class status. Currently, while drivers can pay for up to $250 in parking costs per month with pretax income, transit riders can’t claim more than $130. Could it zigzag back up? Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), who took over […]

A Bill to Make American Streets Safer Surfaces in the Senate

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 7, 2014 | 13 Comments

Has the moment finally arrived for a national complete streets law? A bill creating incentives for transportation agencies to design safe streets for everyone — pedestrians and cyclists in addition to motorists — is back on the floor of Congress this week. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska) are sponsoring the Safe Streets Act […]

TIGER Funding Gets 20 Percent Boost in Final 2014 Spending Bill

By Tanya Snyder | Jan 14, 2014 | No Comments

We’re less than a third of the way through fiscal year 2014 and we already have a budget! Well, almost — the president still has to sign it. But the House and Senate unveiled the details of the omnibus budget bill yesterday, and just having a complete bill that both parties and both chambers have […]

Senators Warner and Blunt Take Another Stab at an Infrastructure Bank

By Tanya Snyder | Nov 19, 2013 | 2 Comments

You’d be forgiven for being cynical about big plans in Washington to create an infrastructure bank. President Obama has been talking about it for years. Every so often he comes out with a new big “push” for infrastructure investment, and it includes a bank of some kind. Multiple Senate bills have proposed an infrastructure bank […]

Lawmakers Score Conservative Bona Fides By Attacking Efficient Transport

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 18, 2013 | 25 Comments

Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Congressman Tom Graves (R-Georgia) have introduced a bill to eliminate federal involvement in transportation policy, which would spell disaster for funding that supports transit, biking, and walking. A largely symbolic vote in favor of “devolution” will allow Republican members of Congress to demonstrate their conservative bona fides. The Transportation Empowerment Act (TEA) […]

With Senate on Fire, Can Cory Booker Save Its Transportation Committees?

By Tanya Snyder | Nov 1, 2013 | 2 Comments

Outside of New Jersey, Cory Booker is probably best known for running into a burning building to save a woman’s life. Inside New Jersey, he’s better known for trying — with mixed results — to turn around the state’s biggest and perhaps most troubled city, Newark. Nowhere has he made a particular name for himself […]

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