Posts Tagged "stimulus"
SGA analysis reveals transportation projects create the most jobs at the lowest cost
A new analysis of federal stimulus spending, co-authored by Smart Growth America, the Center for Neighborhood Technology and U.S. PIRG, reveals that during the first ten months of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), investments in public transportation produced twice the jobs per billion dollars as did highway projects.
Secretary LaHood takes on Senator Coburn’s “stimulus waste”
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood didn’t pull any punches in a blog post this week about one senator’s “stimulus waste” list. Senator Tom Coburn is a persistent critic of transportation “enhancements” and author of a failed amendment earlier this year to strip bicycle and pedestrian projects from a spending bill. His latest waste list includes two bike paths. Coburn told the Washington Times, “When we run $1.4 trillion deficits, the money we spend ought to be a high priority for the American people as a whole.” To which LaHood retorts: “What he really means is that, because he doesn’t get bikes, no one else does either.”
How have states fared with the billions in transportation stimulus funds?
You may recall that the $787 billion economic stimulus bill that passed in February had nearly $30 billion allocated for transportation investments. That money was given out to states and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) — largely free of any criteria or requirements for what projects it should be spent on. So after 120 days, how have states done in addressing these pressing needs and investing in progress for their communities?
Choosing where to invest transportation dollars in Houston
We wanted to highlight this piece from Reuters’ Infrastructure Summit — especially an appearance by T4 America Partner The Citizens’ Transportation Coalition. Chairwoman Robin Holzer and the CTC have been working hard to bring attention to one of the most wasteful projects receiving money from the stimulus, using it as one more example to show how “the federal transportation funding system is broken, it’s just broken.”
Summary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
For those of you who don’t check the “Campaign News” tab at top on a regular basis or get the full RSS feed, we posted our full summary of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. If you are interested in the full, detailed, numerical breakdown of transportation spending in the stimulus package, read Transportation For America’s full summary of the provisions and funding requirements for transportation in The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Though a Worthy Down Payment, Stimulus Raises Urgent Need for New Transportation Vision
Given the need for haste in crafting the bill, congressional and Administration negotiators were handcuffed by backward-looking, existing programs even as they tried to shape investments for a future of reduced oil dependency, greater opportunity for Americans to join the middle class and cleaner transportation choices. Despite some shortcomings resulting from current transportation law, Congress has adopted a bill that if properly enacted by state and local authorities, could be a down payment on a new direction for America’s infrastructure.
Comparing transportation spending in the Senate and House stimulus
With the stimulus successfully passed through the Senate, it moves into conference with the House, where the two chambers will try to hammer out the version to be voted on again by each house before heading to the President’s desk if it passes. Here is our side-by-side comparison on the transportation spending in the two versions.
Senate compromise preserves transit funding — for now
It appears the Senate compromise on the stimulus package keeps transit and highway funding unchanged. We’re suspending our appeal to make calls for now. The Senate will move to vote on the overall stimulus package Monday or Tuesday. Then it moves to a conference committee with the House to determine the balance between the two bills that will ultimately be voted on by both Chambers and sent to the President’s desk.
BREAKING: Threat to transit funding in Senate compromise?
The so-called “compromise” plan about to be put forth by Senators Nelson and Collins would cut somewhere between $80-100 billion from the Senate stimulus package. In part, by cutting transit’s already paltry amount nearly in half, and raising the amount of highway spending by an undisclosed amount. Call your Senator now!
Friday Senate stimulus update
UPDATE: Look for a list of amendments on the docket at the bottom. Obviously, things are moving very fast in the Senate today. Here is a summary of a mix of rumor and fact as of 1 p.m. EST if you’d like to follow more closely: The Inhofe amendment — to take unspent stimulus funds […]
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