Recent Streetsblog USA posts about U.S. Senate

How Dangerous is Sen. Coburn’s Amendment to Kill Bike/Ped Funding?

By Tanya Snyder | Sep 14, 2011 | No Comments

For the last few days, we’ve been talking a lot about Sen. Tom Coburn’s crusade to remove bike/ped funding from the transportation bill — even just from the six-month extension that just passed the House and is on its way to the Senate. He’s determined to insert an amendment to take out the funds. Ever […]

House Prepares to Vote on Extension, Coburn Will Try to Kill Bike/Ped

By Tanya Snyder | Sep 13, 2011 | 4 Comments

In a couple of hours, the House will vote on the transportation extension bill – under unanimous consent rules. That means a single vote in opposition could delay passage. It’s unclear how we went from a House determined to cut spending levels by more than 30 percent to a House unanimously committed to passing a […]

Fact Check: Sen. Sessions Gets It Wrong On Bike Paths in His Hometown

By Tanya Snyder | Sep 12, 2011 | 9 Comments

Last week, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) told Streetsblog freelancer Alice Ollstein that he had good reason to oppose Transportation Enhancements, the program that funds bicycle and pedestrian facilities. “I just saw that in my hometown, they stopped construction of a highway because the federal government insisted on bike paths,” Sessions said. “It’s going to delay […]

Inhofe Supports Clean Extension, Won’t Vote Against Bike/Ped (This Time)

By Alice Ollstein and Tanya Snyder | Sep 8, 2011 | 1 Comment

The Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously agreed this morning to send a four-month extension of the transportation bill to the full Senate. Chair Barbara Boxer (D-CA) emphasized that it wasn’t easy to get consensus on the extension, especially with many members wanting to move forward with the full two-year bill. And yesterday, as frazzled […]

The Senate’s “Dr. No” Says He’ll Block An Extension Unless Bike/Ped Is Cut

By Tanya Snyder | Sep 6, 2011 | 22 Comments

Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn is known around the Senate as “Dr. No” for his propensity to hold up key legislation, single-handedly, because it contains something not to his liking (or sometimes because he’s upset about something else entirely.) On Veterans Day in 2009, he shocked even his GOP colleagues by blocking veterans’ benefits because he […]

It’s Official: Congress’s Next Spitting Contest Will Be Over the Gas Tax

By Tanya Snyder | Aug 11, 2011 | 12 Comments

Since the 112th Congress convened in January, the federal government almost shut down, the government almost defaulted on its debts, and the FAA was temporarily shuttered. It’s the Crisis Congress, thriving on the chaos of catastrophe. Next up: a bruising fight over funding the transportation system. A few weeks ago, Ben Smith at Politico mentioned in […]

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