Recent Streetsblog USA posts about U.S. Senate

One More Sign That the Stimulus Traded Infrastructure for Tax Cuts

By Elana Schor | Dec 2, 2009 | No Comments

The independent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an economic analysis of the Obama administration’s stimulus law this week, and one chart in particular (see below right, or a larger version here) is getting a lot of attention from bloggers, including Ezra Klein and Ryan Avent. (Image: CBO) The chart’s message, simply put: the elements of […]

Why Deficit Politics Matter in the Infrastructure Debate

By Elana Schor | Dec 2, 2009 | 1 Comment

Infrastructure will be on the menu tomorrow when the White House hosts a "jobs summit" aimed at assuaging public concern over mounting unemployment. Labor leaders have vowed to push for new transport projects, and invitee Paul Krugman is already on record backing a Wall Street transaction tax that some House Democrats want to see benefit […]

Climate’s 17 Undecided Dems Got $2.3M From Transport & Electric Lobbies

By Elana Schor | Nov 30, 2009 | No Comments

The trouble with broad analysis pieces on campaign cash is that they often go for eye-popping numbers while obscuring uncomfortable political realities. For example, Greenwire reported this morning that the 27 senators who remain undecided on the chamber’s pending climate bill took "more than $20 million … over the past two decades from energy interests […]

‘This Needs Attention’: Senators Seek Shot in the Arm on Transportation

By Elana Schor | Nov 18, 2009 | No Comments

Senate environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and fellow lawmakers today pressed the Obama administration to take a more active role in ending the current political stalemate over federal transportation funding, but the sense of urgency they sought emerged only intermittently during an 80-minute session on infrastructure. Deputy U.S. Transportation Secretary John Porcari (Photo: DayLife.com) […]

3 GOPers, 4 Dems Ask Reid to Call Up Six-Month Transport Bill Extension

By Elana Schor | Nov 17, 2009 | No Comments

The senior Republicans on three of the Senate’s four infrastructure-centric committees today signed a bipartisan letter asking the leaders of Congress’ upper chamber to call up a six-month extension of the 2005 transportation law. Senate environment chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) (Photo: Politics Now) In the letter, Sens. Jim Inhofe (OK), Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX), and […]

Coal-Burning Electric Utilities Still Commanding Dem Senators’ Attention

By Elana Schor | Nov 13, 2009 | No Comments

As reported here yesterday, transportation is a close second to electric power generation in the not-so-great race to become the nation’s fastest-rising source of emissions. Minnesota roads, like this one, produce a greater share of the state’s pollution than electric utilities. (Photo: MPR) So as the climate change debate heats up in the Senate, it’s […]

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