Elana Schor

The House is slated to vote as soon as today on a job-creation package that includes $27.5 billion for highways and $8.4 billion for transit, according to a transportation committee document obtained by Streetsblog Capitol Hill.

The question of running buses or building rail has preoccupied transit planners in many an American town, with Maryland's Montgomery County being the latest locality to choose between trains and bus rapid transit (BRT), which tends to be the less expensive option.

Addressing a packed house in Washington last night, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, founder of the Congressional Bike Caucus, posed a Zen-like 'universalist cyclist question'.

President Obama today threw his weight behind significant new transportation spending as part of a broad jobs bill taking shape in Congress, with $50 billion slated for transit, roads, bridges, and ports and the administration endorsing "merit-based infrastructure investment that leverages federal dollars."

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D), who is in Washington today continuing his push for a "front-loaded" federal transportation bill, told Streetsblog Capitol Hill that he sees momentum building for a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) to be created as part of the jobs bill now moving forward in Congress.

On the issue of clean transportation, from transit to bike paths to clean water, few members of Congress are as knowledgeable or active as Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). Chief of the Congressional Bicycle Caucus and founder of the new Livable Communities Task Force, the Portland lawmaker is on the front lines of Washington's biggest infrastructure debates. Streetsblog Capitol Hill spoke with him yesterday about the prospects for transportation in the coming jobs bill, which he has said could be paid for in part with Wall Street bailout money. Below is a lightly edited transcript of the discussion.

As Democrats in both chambers of Congress work on drafting new economic recovery legislation, they now have a preliminary list of how much spending can be set in motion on short notice: $15 billion for transit projects and $48 billion for highway projects.

During a visit to New Orleans, where city planners are seeking nearly $100 million in federal stimulus money for three new streetcar lines, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced plans to award $280 million in grants for streetcar and bus networks.

Two-thirds of America's population, and more than three-quarters of its economic productivity, come from major cities. So why did the Obama administration's economic stimulus law end up giving metropolitan areas the short end of the stick?

As Congress maneuvers to end the political impasse over the next long-term national transportation bill, lawmakers are going to have to debate an increase in the federal gas tax, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said today.