Posts Tagged "highway trust fund"
House committee ignores broad opposition, decimates transit funding anyway
Hours after receiving over 5,000 letters and phone calls and a letter signed by more than 600 groups from an unbelievably broad spectrum, the House Ways and Means Committee ignored that broad, bipartisan opposition and went full speed ahead with their unprecedented plan to kill dedicated transit funding — ending the historic guarantee for dedicated funding for public transportation, leaving millions of riders already faced with service cuts and fare increases out in the cold.
Massive letter opposing House leadership attack on transit sent to Capitol Hill
As we mentioned yesterday, House Leadership and the Ways and Means Committee this week proposed an unprecedented attack on public transportation funding.
House leadership making unprecedented assault on public transit
A key House Committee is threatening to kill three decades of successful investments in mass transit — originally started under President Ronald Reagan — by ending the guarantee for dedicated funding for public transportation, leaving millions of riders already faced with service cuts and fare increases out in the cold.
What do the House rule changes mean for transportation spending?
Earlier this week the House adopted rules for this new session of Congress. It’s a bit of inside baseball that can be hard to decipher, but these rules determine how bills are considered by lawmakers and what bills can and cannot do. Streetsblog Capitol Hill covered this issue on Monday and today, but it’s worth […]
HIRE Act a down payment on transportation priorities
When President Obama signed the HIRE Act into law last week, he ushered in important progress on several important transportation initiatives. The Act extends current transportation law until December 31, 2010 and restores $19.5 billion in interest to the Highway Trust Fund. This works out to $14.7 billion for highways and $4.8 billion for mass […]
Pew: “Self-sustaining” highways are increasingly subsidized
Critics of public transportation say government should not subsidize a transportation option that cannot pay for itself. A new study conducted by SubsidyScope, an initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts, reveals that not only are roads and highways not self-sustaining, but the amount covered by gas taxes is declining.
Sec. LaHood proposes 18-month extension of current transportation bill
This morning on Capitol Hill, DOT Secretary Ray LaHood proposed an 18-month extension of the current SAFETEA-LU transportation authorization bill. Beyond simply extending the current bill, LaHood indicated that he wants to include some reforms in the 18-month extension — including a focus on metro areas, extensive cost-benefit analysis, and a commitment to “livable communities” — but was short on other specifics.
Highway Trust Fund could need as much as $17 billion to stay in the black
News broke yesterday that the Obama administration is telling Senators that the Highway Trust Fund — that pays for the projects approved in the transportation bill — will go broke by August if an emergency infusion of at least $7 billion isn’t approved. The system is broke, but it’s also broken. We need a federal transportation system that works, not the same broken thing at twice the price.
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