U.S. Senate
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Dodd and Dorgan Retiring: The Consequences for Transportation Policy
In a surprising one-two punch, Democratic Sens. Byron Dorgan (ND) and Chris Dodd (CT) have let slip their plans to leave Congress at the end of this year.
January 6, 2010
Senate Climate Bill Invests Big in Transit, Reaps Big Deficit Reduction
As the Copenhagen climate talks reach a turning point, congressional negotiations over emissions cuts are taking a back seat to global debate. But some undeniably good news on the domestic front came late yesterday from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
December 17, 2009
Congress Gets Project Lists for Jobs Bill: $15B for Transit, $48B for Roads
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.
December 2, 2009
Bipartisan Support Builds for Six-Month Extension of Current Transpo Law
The senior Republicans on three of the Senate's four infrastructure-centric committees signed a bipartisan letter on Tuesday asking the leaders of Congress' upper chamber to call up a six-month extension of the 2005 transportation law.
November 18, 2009
Boxer Okays Senate Climate Bill, Without Amendments or GOP
The Senate environment committee approved its climate change bill today on a 10-1 vote, shrugging off a boycott by all of the panel's Republicans but missing out on the chance to consider amendments to the lengthy legislation.
November 5, 2009
Philly Mayor Tells Senate: Climate Bill Can Help Make Cities Greener
As the Senate opened its second round of climate change hearings today, Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter delivered the urban case for climate legislation, outlining an array of infrastructure improvements and green reforms that would be made possible by federal action to reduce carbon emissions.
October 28, 2009
Transport Policy Update: Senate to Pass 6-Month Extension This Week
Before week's end, the Senate will pass a six-month extension of the nation's four-year-old transportation law -- setting the stage for another showdown with the House, where transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar remains on the fence about abandoning the push for a new long-term bill before 2010.
October 27, 2009
Senate Climate Bill Triples the House’s Investments in Clean Transportation
The Senate environment committee released new details of its climate change legislation over the weekend, including the share of "emissions allowances" -- the revenue generated by regulating carbon in a cap-and-trade system -- that the bill would reserve for various sectors of the American economy.
October 26, 2009
GOPers Re-Name the Climate Bill Again: Now It’s a ‘Gas Tax’!
Seven months after first trying to re-brand congressional climate change legislation as an "energy tax," Senate Republicans were back at it today with a new report and op-ed that attempts to expose the climate bill as a "$3.6 trillion gas tax."
October 21, 2009
Obama Ally Breaks With White House on Timing of New Transport Bill
Sen. Dick Durbin (IL), the No. 2 Democratic leader in the upper chamber of Congress and a close ally of the president, broke with the White House Monday and called for a new long-term transportation bill to pass by early next year -- not after the Obama administration's preferred 18-month delay.
October 14, 2009