Ben Goldman
Recent Posts
Why the House Transportation Bill Hits Bus Riders Especially Hard
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When the House Ways and Means Committee voted to divert all gas tax revenue away from transit projects, severing transit’s only dedicated source of federal funds, they were essentially throwing transit riders under the bus. While the House’s official stance is that their proposal still somehow guarantees funding for transit, it really does anything but. “It’s […]
Six Lies the GOP Is Telling About the House Transportation Bill
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The transportation-plus-drilling bill that John Boehner and company are trying to ram through the House is an attack on transit riders, pedestrians, cyclists, city dwellers, and every American who can’t afford to drive everywhere. Under this bill, all the dedicated federal funding streams for transit, biking, and walking would disappear, leading to widespread service cuts […]
Who Still Likes the House Transpo Bill? Big Oil, Big Truck, and Big Box Retail
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The House has finished marking up its transportation bill in what shaped up to be a very Groundhog Day-esque ordeal of unending, repetitive partisan theater (if you missed it, follow coverage on twitter). The centerpiece was yesterday’s/last night’s/this morning’s Transportation & Infrastructure committee markup, where members debated more than 80 amendments for over 18 hours […]
Massive Coalition Opposes House GOP Attempt to Eviscerate Transit
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The House Ways and Means committee has just passed a bill that would kick transit out of the Highway Trust Fund, casting aside a 30-year history of providing a dedicated funding source for federal transit programs. Transit instead would be funded by a transfer from the general fund, which would have to be offset by […]
House GOP Moves to Decimate Dedicated Transit Funding
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In a move that should dispel any remaining thoughts that the House transportation bill [PDF] will ever be signed into law, the Ways and Means Committee announced today that they will try to forbid gas tax revenue from funding transit. The Ways & Means bill [PDF] would funnel all gas tax revenue toward road programs, […]
Amendment to Restore Bike/Ped Programs in House Transpo Bill Fails
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An amendment that would restore the popular Safe Routes to School and Transportation Enhancements programs to the House GOP’s transportation bill has just been defeated in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee by a vote of 29-27. Supporters of safer biking and walking sent thousands of messages to Congress supporting this amendment in the short time […]
Now’s the Time to Make the House Bill Better for Walking, Biking, and Transit
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The House transportation bill will be marked up by the Transportation & Infrastructure committee tomorrow morning, and advocates are fighting for amendments that would improve the provisions for active transportation and transit. The first amendment, introduced by Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI), would restore the Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School programs, consolidated into a […]
House Transportation Bill Officially Drops, Lands With a Thud
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John Mica, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, officially unveiled his committee’s transportation bill, the “American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act,” at a press conference outside the House wing of the Capitol this afternoon. (We will post the full bill text here as soon as we can.) Streetsblog wrote about some of the […]
Senate Transit Bill Would Let Federal Funds Support Transit Service
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All eyes are on the House side of Capitol Hill today in anticipation of the Republicans’ grand unveiling of their American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act at 3:00 p.m. But last night, some enduring questions about the Senate’s transportation bill finally got some answers. Senators Tim Johnson and Richard Shelby, respectively the chairman and ranking […]
This Is Not a Drill: Highway Lobby Trying to Push Transpo Bill Thru Congress
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For the 112th Congress, the path to passing a new transportation bill has been full of starts and stops, partisan politics and low expectations. While Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood recently said he doesn’t expect a multi-year bill to pass this Congress, livable streets advocates should still be on alert in the weeks ahead. Momentum is […]
House Transportation Bill “a March of Horribles”
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There was no grand unveiling of the House’s five-year transportation bill today, but a summary of the bill has been kicking around for a few days. While there aren’t any hard numbers available yet, the “American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act” looks like a return to 1950s-style transportation policy. It is particularly unkind to transit […]
Transportation Bill Heats Up Again in Congress
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There’s been plenty of buzz over the last few days surrounding Congress’s efforts to pass a multi-year transportation bill. When Congress adjourned last month, the Senate had made significant progress on a two-year bill. In the House, Rep. John Mica had repeatedly promised a five- or six-year bill, but nothing had been introduced. Now, finally, […]