Recent Streetsblog USA posts about U.S. Senate

Senate Introduces a Narrower Bill for Wider Sidewalks

By Tanya Snyder | Apr 15, 2011 | 4 Comments

Like everyone else, Safe Routes to School advocates are scaling back. Last year, a bill introduced in the Senate asked for $600 million to enhance pedestrian and bike safety near schools. “We were working in a pretty different environment,” said Margo Pedroso, deputy director of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership. “Everybody was talking […]

FedEx Chair, New Mexico City Official Ask Senate for Multimodal Transpo Bill

By Tanya Snyder | Apr 14, 2011 | No Comments

Congressional committees charged with drafting the new transportation bill have been holding hearings to seek input from stakeholders around the country. In today’s installment, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee heard from five state DOT chiefs, one city official, and the chair of FedEx. Those witnesses’ pleas to the committee ranged from bike trails […]

You Can Open Your Eyes Now: Budget Deal Spares Transpo the Worst

By Tanya Snyder | Apr 11, 2011 | No Comments

It’s Monday morning, and the government is open for business. In a last-minute agreement just an hour before the current budget extension was to expire Friday night, Democrats and Republicans avoided the nuclear option of a government shutdown. They cut $38.5 billion from the 2010 budget; $78.5 billion from President Obama’s 2011 budget proposal. Some […]

Government Shutdown Would Be a Punch in the Gut to Transit Agencies

By Tanya Snyder | Apr 8, 2011 | 6 Comments

A powwow between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, President Obama, and House Speaker John Boehner last night failed to yield a compromise that would put a budget in place before the government shuts down at midnight tonight. The failure of yet another attempt to negotiate makes a government shutdown all but inevitable. Just a month […]

Boxer Tests Out “America Fast Forward” at Senate Committee Hearing

By Kathryn Reid Moore | Apr 6, 2011 | No Comments

With House GOP leadership making it abundantly clear that they would be pleased to return federal transportation policy to the 1950s, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works met today to get serious about the who, what and how of funding a 21st century transportation system. Meeting with a panel of transportation officials and […]

“Cut It or Shut It”: Partisan Ping-Ponging on the Budget Threatens Shutdown

By Kathryn Reid Moore | Apr 1, 2011 | No Comments

A government shutdown is looking like a real possibility as both sides dig in their heels in the budget debate for the year that’s already half over. Funding for transportation, livability programs, and everything else remains a question mark as Senate Democrats try to moderate the House Republicans’ budget cuts. House Republicans are on the […]

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