Federal Funding
Streetsblog Basics
Top DOT Officials Preview the Push for a Transportation Bill
Before President Obama made his call for infrastructure investment in the State of the Union address last night, an impressive panel of about a dozen DOT officials addressed the Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting to divulge what they could about the reauthorization of the long-term national transportation law.
January 26, 2011
Republicans Propose Spending Cuts Targeting Amtrak, Transit Funding
A new Republican proposal would eliminate federal subsidies to Amtrak; kill New Starts, the primary federal transit funding program; and make painful cuts to dozens of other federal programs. It’s a plan by the Republican Study Committee, which is trying to keep alive House Speaker John Boehner’s campaign pledge to reduce the budget by $100 million. Boehner himself has been backing off from the pledge, given the popularity of many of the programs the Study Committee is now proposing to axe.
January 21, 2011
New House Rules Threaten TIGER and Livability Programs
The headlines have been apocalyptic.
January 7, 2011
MTA Finances Grow Even Shakier Under GOP House
The assault on the MTA's already battered finances could now come from yet another front: the federal government. The new Republican majority in the House of Representatives passed a rule Wednesday that would allow reductions in federal transportation spending, including investment in transit. That puts previously secure federal funds on the negotiating table, making it that much harder for the MTA to balance its books.
January 7, 2011
AAA Gets an Earful From Members About Equality For Bikes
In July of last year, when AAA launched their roadside bicycle repair service, cyclists got a warm fuzzy feeling for a minute and thought AAA was about as bike-friendly as an automobile organization could be. That bubble burst in July when AAA Mid-Atlantic President and CEO Don Gagnon editorialized that highway trust fund money should be reserved just for highways [PDF].
December 13, 2010
House Punts on Budget, Votes on Yearlong Extension Instead
Back in February, the Department of Transportation requested a two percent budget increase for next year (FY 2011). [PDF] The extra $2 billion would pay for things like a new Distracted Driver Prevention Program, high speed rail, and livability grant programs.
December 8, 2010
What the GOP Spending Rollback Would Mean for Transportation
Back in September, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), now Speaker-elect, told Good Morning America he wanted to “pass a bill this month at 2008 spending levels – you know, before the TARP, before the bailouts, before the stimulus – and let’s put some certainty in the economy.”
December 7, 2010
Why Reformers Should Care How We Pay for Transportation
TIFIAs and TIGERs and NIBs -- oh my! The alphabet soup of infrastructure funding mechanisms can be alienating even to committed transportation advocates. But with the power of the gas tax diminishing and elected officials refusing to raise it, other financing options are taking on increasing importance. If you're interested in reforming our transportation system for the 21st Century, it pays to know the differences between them.
December 6, 2010
Earmark Ban Goes Down to Defeat in the Senate
The Senate just voted down the Republican proposal to ban earmarks.
November 30, 2010
GOP Wants to Bring Transpo Policy Back to the 1950s
A top Republican transportation staffer gave some clues yesterday about the GOP's plan to drastically restructure national transportation policy and reverse many reforms of the past 20 years.
November 19, 2010