Specter of Gas Tax Lingers as Rendell, Villaraigosa Push Infrastructure Bank
Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D), two of the nation's best-known advocates for greater investment in the built environment, today joined several House Democrats in calling for federal action on a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) -- even as questions about the bank's scope, and Congress's resistance to raising sustained new transport funding, continued to dog the debate.
May 13, 2010
Senate Climate Bill Would Send $6B-Plus to Cleaner Transportation
Transportation would receive more than
$6 billion of the revenue generated by selling carbon emissions
permits to fuel providers under a new Senate climate bill introduced
today by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT).
May 12, 2010
First Lady’s Childhood Obesity Task Force Calls For Transportation Reform
The White House's inter-agency task force on childhood obesity, developed under the stewardship of First Lady Michelle Obama, today released a 124-page report recommending dozens of policy shifts in health care, community development, and transportation that it estimates can bring down obesity rates among kids by 5 percent over the next 20 years.
May 11, 2010
Shock or Yawn? Virginia’s GOP Governor Backs Highway User Fees
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R), who has won over many conservatives by reviving the state's recognition of Confederate History Month and attempting to declare the White House health care bill invalid within its borders, today proposed to add tolls to Interstate 95 along the North Carolina border.
May 10, 2010
Centers for Disease Control: Transportation Reform Is Health Reform
The connection between transportation and public health has slowly edged into the mainstream since Streetsblog Capitol Hill began covering it last year, first through a billion-dollar grant program added to Congress' sprawling health care bill and now in a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) brief that connects existing U.S. infrastructure with chronic disease, obesity, and premature deaths.
May 6, 2010
Expectations for High-Speed Rail Coming Down to Earth
Three months after the Obama administration announced the first winners of what it hopes will be the first of many federal grants to build U.S. high-speed rail networks, advocates and planners are settling in for a long battle to surmount the obstacles and unknowns that stand in the way of long-term bullet train development.
May 5, 2010
Massachusetts Republican Cuts a Bike Version of Scott Brown ‘Truck’ Ad
After Sen. Scott Brown's (R-MA) January upset in the race for the congressional seat long held by the late Ted Kennedy, his win was chalked up to several factors: voter reluctance to embrace health care reform, campaign-trail gaffes by the Democratic candidate -- and a hyper-folksy ad campaign that featured Brown cruising around the state meeting voters in his "old truck."
May 3, 2010
GAO: Economic Recovery Benefits of ‘Cash for Clunkers’ Are ‘Uncertain’
"Cash for clunkers," the White House's much-touted program encouraging trade-ins for more fuel-efficient autos, had an "uncertain" impact on economic recovery, according to a new audit from the independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) -- largely because it remains unclear how many of the car sales it spurred would have occurred without taxpayer subsidies.
April 30, 2010
New Report Takes on ‘Perverse Incentives’ to De-Emphasize Bridge Repair
When Minneapolis' I-35 bridge collapsed in 2007, lawmakers from both parties vowed to focus on shoring up the nation's aging infrastructure. But when the public spotlight faded from the issue of infrastructure repair, Congress showed little appetite for setting aside maintenance aid that did not hold the promise of ribbon-cutting ceremonies or campaign donations.
April 29, 2010
Jesse Jackson Joins Transit Unions to Rally for More Federal Operating Aid
"CONGRE$$ PLEASE HELP."
April 27, 2010