Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about U.S. Senate

Senate’s Changes to TIFIA Could Mean More Toll Roads, Less Transit

By Ben Goldman | Dec 21, 2011 | No Comments

When the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously passed a two-year transportation reauthorization bill last month, it quickly became clear that bipartisan support was coming at a price. First, we learned that the Transportation Enhancements bike/ped programs would lose their dedicated funding. Now, we learn that Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loans […]

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Lautenberg Introduces Bill to Limit Bridge and Tunnel Tolls

By Tanya Snyder and Ben Fried | Dec 16, 2011 | No Comments

Last summer, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey raised EZPass tolls from $8 to cross a bridge into the city during peak hours to $9.50, with planned increases to $12.50 in a few years (cash tolls are increasing somewhat more). Tolls for five-axle trucks will rise as high as $125. The hikes […]

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Senate Commerce Committee Sets the Standard For Transpo Performance

By Tanya Snyder | Dec 14, 2011 | No Comments

The EPW Committee passed the highway portion of the transportation bill last month. The Banking Committee will tackle transit on Friday. And today, transportation reformers applauded as the Commerce Committee passed its bill dealing with the rail and safety component, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Deron Lovaas of NRDC said in his blog post about the […]

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Senators Order Up Tax Cuts With a Side of Infrastructure, Hold the Transit

By Ben Goldman | Dec 13, 2011 | No Comments

Congress has already delayed their holiday recess by a week, and members are hoping another delay won’t be necessary. Among the yet-unfinished business: an extension of the payroll tax cut. House Speaker John Boehner plans to hold a vote today on his bill, which marries an extension of the payroll tax cut to the controversial […]

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OMB: Senate Seeking Too Much Highway Money to Fund Transportation Bill

By Tanya Snyder | Dec 7, 2011 | No Comments

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and his Finance Committee have been looking high and low for a $12 billion patch to fund the transportation reauthorization bill that passed the Senate EPW Committee a few weeks ago. According to Politico’s transportation reporters, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, Sen. Orrin Hatch, has already rejected several of […]

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What Will the Senate Bill’s Transit Section Look Like?

By Katie Pearce | Nov 22, 2011 | No Comments

Though the House Republicans are stealing the show these days with their endeavor to tie infrastructure funding to oil drilling, let’s not forget there’s a serious, bipartisan transportation reauthorization bill out there that actually has a chance of passage: the Senate’s MAP-21. On its path toward a full Senate vote, that two-year bill is paused […]

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