Tanya Snyder
Tanya became Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor in September 2010 after covering Congress for Pacifica Radios Washington bureau and for public radio stations around the country. She lives car-free in a transit-oriented and bike-friendly neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Recent Posts
Two-Year Transpo Bill Moves on to Full Senate Without Bike/Ped Protections
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The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted unanimously this morning to pass a two-year transportation reauthorization bill, moving the bill one step closer to passage by the full Senate. Unlike in the House, where the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has full responsibility for the transportation bill, the Senate splits jurisdiction among several committees, so […]
Coming Soon: Super-Partisan “Oil-For-Infrastructure” Transpo Bill
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“In the coming weeks, House Republicans will formally introduce an energy & infrastructure jobs bill, and hope to move the legislation through the House before the end of the year,” House Speaker John Boehner announced yesterday. Back in September, the Speaker let slip that the GOP would like to “link the next highway bill to […]
Two Infrastructure Jobs Bills Die in Senate
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Two competing versions of a transportation-related job creation bill went down yesterday in the Senate. The first, the Rebuild America Jobs Act (S.1769), was a Democratic proposal, modeled on President Obama’s job creation bill, to invest $50 billion for infrastructure and another $10 billion as seed money to create a new national infrastructure bank. Given […]
How Will the House Answer the Senate’s Transportation Funding Bill?
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The full Senate passed a major appropriations bill yesterday, including funding levels for transportation and housing. The Senate put the kibosh on Sen. Rand Paul’s attempt to strip bike/ped funding from the federal transportation program, as we reported yesterday. Here’s the lowdown on the bill as a whole. The upper chamber maintained funding for several […]
Feds Put Off Issuing New Trucking Safety Rules
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Federal safety officials missed their own deadline Friday for making new rules about dangerous trucks. October 28 was the original deadline by which the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration was supposed to announce new hours-of-service regulations for trucking, but in the end, they gave themselves another month to do it. The pending change is the […]
Bike/Ped Funding Intact as Senate Rejects Rand Paul’s Amendment
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Bike/ped funding is pitching a perfect game in the Senate after Republicans swung (and missed) at the popular Transportation Enhancements program for the third time in two months. The final strike came this morning, when Kentucky Republican Rand Paul’s amendment to divert all TE funds to bridge repair failed spectacularly, garnering only 38 votes in […]
Senate Panel to Vote on Transportation Bill Next Month
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While a House transportation bill still appears to be a long way off, the Senate is prepared to move forward on its version. EPW Committee leaders announced yesterday that they’ll be marking up their two-year bill November 9. This is good news for three reasons: First, it’ll be the first time we’ll be seeing full legislative text beyond […]
Even the Godfather of Rail~Volution Wouldn’t Raise the Gas Tax Right Now
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At Rail~Volution yesterday, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) — also known as the godfather of the “rail~volution” — said even he wouldn’t raise the gas tax right now. “We should make some adjustments to a gas tax that hasn’t increased since 1993,” Blumenauer said. “Half the people think the gas tax goes up every year.” He […]
Rail~volution: Will New Americans Fuel Smart Growth or Suburbanism?
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This year’s Rail~volution conference — the annual gathering of livability advocates, urban sustainability coordinators, and transit agency officials – kicked off today with remarks by Chris Leinberger of the Brookings Institution and Manuel Pastor, who teaches demographics and ethnicity at the University of Southern California. Is this the new image of walkable urbanism? Photo: WekeRoad […]
Former House Transpo Chair James Oberstar on the Post-Interstate Era
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Streetsblog had a chance today to ask the former Democratic chief of the House Transportation Committee, Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota, about life since the 2010 election, when he lost by a hair to Republican Chip Cravaack. He said he’s spending his post-Congress time traveling to France, getting paid to say things he used to […]
Ray LaHood Won’t Stay at USDOT Past 2012
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LaHood stood behind NYC Transpo Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan at a bicycling event today in DC. Photo: Darren Flusche, League of American Bicyclists Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the LA Times today that he’s a one-term secretary. Don’t expect him to serve during President Obama’s second term, if there is one, or to run for any […]
Will New Infrastructure Funding Survive the Demise of Obama’s Jobs Bill?
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Tuesday night, the Senate blocked a vote on the president’s jobs plan. As had been forecast, Republicans voted unanimously against the plan, and they weren’t alone: Two Democrats joined them – Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Now it’s on to Plan B, which involves breaking up the bill into pieces […]