Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Federal Funding

Vitter: Sure, Raise the Gas Tax — Just as Long as You Don’t Raise More Money

By Tanya Snyder | Sep 12, 2013 | 5 Comments

Well here’s a sobering thought: Transit advocates, cyclists and the road lobby have the same talking points these days. All anyone is talking about is how to rescue the Highway Trust Fund from its own fiscal cliff. I attended yesterday’s “Asphalt Fly-In,” the National Asphalt Pavement Association’s first-ever Washington legislative conference. If I went in […]

Nine Days in September: Congress’s Chance to Break the Gridlock

By Tanya Snyder | Sep 3, 2013 | 1 Comment

I hope you all had a good Labor Day. Streetsblog is back to work today, and you probably are too. But Congress? Not until next week. Every time there’s a Monday holiday, Congress takes the whole week off, and they’re milking the last moments of their August recess. It’s no wonder lawmakers are procrastinating. They have […]

Transportation Funding Bill Dies Unceremoniously in Both Chambers

By Tanya Snyder | Aug 2, 2013 | No Comments

A few short hours after the Senate Appropriations Committee passed a $594 billion defense spending bill, Republicans blocked the $54 billion transportation and HUD bill from coming to the floor for a vote. House Republican leadership had blocked its own THUD bill the day before. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Politico that Republicans had […]

House Pulls Its Disastrous Transpo Spending Bill As Senate Moves Ahead

By Tanya Snyder | Jul 31, 2013 | No Comments

While the Senate continues to consider amendments to its transportation budget bill, expected to pass this week, House leadership has canceled a vote on its own version. The bill, which passed the full Appropriations Committee a month ago, was scheduled to hit the floor this week for a vote by the entire House. A spokesperson […]

Sen. Boxer Calls For Solution to Highway Trust Fund Insolvency

By Tanya Snyder | Jul 25, 2013 | No Comments

Senator Barbara Boxer brought together transportation industry representatives this morning to highlight the damage that would be done to the economy if Congress doesn’t come up with a solution to the impending insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund. New CBO estimates, released this week [PDF], project that the fund will be zeroed out by the […]

A Few Wacky Ideas Persist as Congress Moves to Accept Funding Realities

By Tanya Snyder | Jul 23, 2013 | 1 Comment

There are five stages of mourning, and Congress is moving through them as they begin to face the inevitability of increased revenues for transportation. Lawmakers been through denial, anger, and bargaining, and now they’re pretty solidly in the depression phase. That leaves just one more: acceptance. But today’s hearing in the House Transportation Committee was […]

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