Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Federal Funding

Today: Senate Debates Infra Bank, Transpo Funding, Regulations, and More

By Tanya Snyder | Nov 3, 2011 | No Comments

This morning, the Senate is debating two transportation-related bills: the Rebuild America Jobs Act (S.1769) and the Long-Term Surface Transportation Extension Act (S.1786). The Rebuild America Jobs Act is a piece of President Obama’s jobs bill that was broken off in hopes that it could pass on its own. It would invest $50 billion on infrastructure […]

How Will the House Answer the Senate’s Transportation Funding Bill?

By Tanya Snyder | Nov 2, 2011 | 1 Comment

The full Senate passed a major appropriations bill yesterday, including funding levels for transportation and housing. The Senate put the kibosh on Sen. Rand Paul’s attempt to strip bike/ped funding from the federal transportation program, as we reported yesterday. Here’s the lowdown on the bill as a whole. The upper chamber maintained funding for several key livability […]

Bike/Ped Funding Safe as Senate Rejects Rand Paul’s Amendment

By Tanya Snyder | Nov 1, 2011 | 3 Comments

Bike/ped funding is pitching a perfect game in the Senate after Republicans swung (and missed) at the popular Transportation Enhancements program for the third time in two months. The final strike came this morning, when Kentucky Republican Rand Paul’s amendment to divert all TE funds to bridge repair failed spectacularly, garnering only 38 votes in […]

Why Create an Infrastructure Bank When We Could Just Expand TIFIA?

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 28, 2011 | No Comments

There’s been a lot of adulation heaped upon the TIFIA loan program lately. Both houses of Congress are ready to increase funding for the program nine times over, from $100 million to $1 billion a year – despite warnings from outside groups that there may not be enough eligible projects to use up all that […]

Strike Three: Another Senator Takes Another Swipe At Bike-Ped Funding

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 27, 2011 | 8 Comments

Last month, the Senate’s notorious vote-blocker, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, tried to obstruct Senate process until they voted on his measure to take bike/ped funding out of the transportation bill. He failed. Then last week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) suggested keeping bike/ped money but stripping out lots of other budget items that serve cyclists and […]

Even the Godfather of Rail~Volution Wouldn’t Raise the Gas Tax Right Now

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 19, 2011 | 4 Comments

At Rail~Volution yesterday, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) — also known as the godfather of the “rail~volution” — said even he wouldn’t raise the gas tax right now. “We should make some adjustments to a gas tax that hasn’t increased since 1993,” Blumenauer said. “Half the people think the gas tax goes up every year.” He […]

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