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
Mica: Why Are the Democrats Picking On Me?
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We were sad to see that Rep. Mica was sad to see that the Democrats were sad to see that the House transportation proposal is an unmitigated disaster for transportation policy. As Alice reported last week, Democrats on the committee called the GOP plan a “road to ruin” and “a cruel imitation of a proposal.” […]
Mica’s Transportation Proposal: Responses Flood In
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The GOP transportation bill proposal is now online. Here are some early reactions. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), chair of the Senate Banking subcommittee with jurisdiction over public transportation: “It used to be that Republicans understood that transportation investment was necessary to spur economic growth and create jobs. Now, I guess they think if we give […]
Mica Transpo Bill Shrinks Spending 33%, Eliminates Bike-Ped Guarantee
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House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica’s proposed transportation reauthorization bill includes $230 billion over six years, a reduction of 33 percent compared to spending levels in the last multi-year bill. The proposal, which he unveiled at a standing-room-only press event in the committee hearing room today, eliminates any federal guarantee (he calls it a “set-aside”) […]
Mica’s Measurements: $230 Billion, Six Years
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Early reports have spilled some of the beans on Rep. John Mica’s proposal for the next transportation reauthorization, which he’s rolling out for reporters in an hour. (Note that he’s still not formally introducing the bill and we’ll have no draft legislative text to pore over. With luck, he’ll at least give a timeline today […]
TIGER III Will Grant $527 Million For Innovative Transportation Projects
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It’s TIGER III time. The first round was $1.5 billion. The second round was $600 million. And now, get ready for round three. After surviving countless threats by budget-cutting Republicans in Congress, TIGER is back, granting $527 million for innovative transportation projects. The “Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery” program lets cities, states and regions compete […]
Stimulus-Backed Programs Struggle to Stay Alive After Funds Run Out
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In an old supermarket space in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, a diverse community of bicycle aficionados are getting greasy. Young and old, Latino and white, they are truing wheels and replacing cables and adjusting brakes in L.A.’s newest, and completely unplanned, bike co-op. Bici Libre, as it’s called, got its start when the […]
Rumor Mill: House Leadership Hostile to Transpo Reauthorization
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A few weeks ago, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor published his list of bills the House will attempt to get through before the August recess. The transportation reauthorization was not among them. Rumor has it that House leadership has put the kibosh on Transportation Committee Chair John Mica’s plans to get a bill out of […]
Expect Two (Radically Different) Transpo Bill Proposals Soon
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The Environment and Public Works Committee is getting ready to introduce their transportation reauthorization bill, according to reports by the Journal of Commerce. The committee has, shrewdly, worked closely with Finance Committee Chair (and EPW leader) Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) on a way to pay for the bill, in order to avoid a situation like […]
25 Senators Demand Robust Transit Funding
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In a letter to Finance Committee leaders [PDF], 25 senators today urged adequate funding for mass transit in the next transportation authorization bill. The letter notes that public transportation systems find themselves in a budgetary crisis just as more and more people, driven by $4/gallon gas, are seeking out transportation options. During the worst economic […]
House Transportation Committee Will Unveil Part of Transpo Bill Next Week
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Correction: The initial post stated that the full transportation reauthorization will be unveiled next week. The post has been updated to reflect that only the rail portion will be released next week. Committee Chair John Mica (R-FL) just announced that he’ll be introducing the rail portion of the House transportation bill next Tuesday, which will […]
How Seniors Get Stuck at Home With No Transit Options
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According to AARP, 88 percent of seniors want to stay in their own homes as long as they can. But where are those homes? In auto-dependent suburbs. That’s where most Baby Boomers grew up, in the postwar era, and that’s where most of them have stayed – even as the largest (and longest-living) generation ever […]
Ray LaHood Wants to Hear From Streetsblog Readers
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Got a question for Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood? He’s all ears. LaHood has been doing a series of video chats where he responds to questions from the public, and a DOT official told me they would like to “explicitly invite Streetsblog readers to submit their questions to the Secretary” for the next episode of “On […]