Recent Streetsblog USA posts about U.S. Senate

Senate Vote Will Give GOP a Crack at the Transpo Bill Sooner

By Tanya Snyder | Dec 21, 2010 | No Comments

A few weeks ago, members of the House threw up their hands and voted for a year-long extension of the 2010 budget. It included an extension of the transportation reauthorization. The Senate didn’t vote on it in time, so then the House voted for a three-day extension to give the Senate a few more days […]

CA Mayors Ask Sen. Barbara Boxer for a 21st Century Transpo System

By Tanya Snyder and Bryan Goebel | Dec 16, 2010 | No Comments

Sixty-five elected officials representing a number of California cities are urging California Senator Barbara Boxer to push a new federal transportation bill that reforms spending and puts a focus on public transit, walking and biking, or “21st century needs.” Boxer, as chair of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, could play a […]

Transit Benefit (Wrapped in Tax Cuts) Clears the Senate

By Tanya Snyder | Dec 15, 2010 | No Comments

The Senate voted 81-19 to support President Obama’s plan to extend the Bush tax cuts this afternoon. Some of those Senators probably didn’t even realize that they were also voting to extend equal tax benefits for transit commuters, on par with parking credits. One Senator was certainly aware. Democrat Bob Menendez of New Jersey told […]

Earmark Ban Goes Down to Defeat in the Senate

By Tanya Snyder | Nov 30, 2010 | 7 Comments

The Senate just voted down the Republican proposal to ban earmarks. The proposed ban was met with profound ambivalence in the transportation community. Some, like Rob Sadowsky, Executive Director of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, worried that a ban would remove a primary funding mechanism for bike-ped projects. The day after the election, Sadowsky told BikePortland, […]

Obama Admin Will Make Its Transportation Push… During the Next Congress

By Tanya Snyder | Sep 28, 2010 | 3 Comments

President Obama is “going to throw his support behind a six-year reauthorization of the transportation program” in Congress. That was the word today from Roy Kienitz, who represented the Transportation Department today as he testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. In a meeting with transportation reform advocates last week, Secretary Ray LaHood […]

Barbara Boxer Questions Need for Infrastructure Bank

By Tanya Snyder | Sep 28, 2010 | 1 Comment

California Democrat Barbara Boxer, chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, expressed skepticism about one of the centerpieces of President Obama’s infrastructure plan today. As she tries to stave off an election challenge from the right, Boxer seems reluctant to embrace the creation of a national infrastructure bank to finance transportation projects. […]

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