Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about U.S. Senate

A Make-or-Break Week for Transportation Begins on the Hill

By Elana Schor | Jul 27, 2009 | No Comments

After weeks of uncertainty and tension, the congressional impasse over long-term transportation funding is headed for resolution this week — but the reprieve may be temporary. A decisive week lies ahead for House transport chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN). (Photo: Capitol Chatter) When we last left House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN), he was calling […]

Senate Agrees on $26.8 Billion Highway Trust Fund Rescue

By Elana Schor | Jul 21, 2009 | 1 Comment

The Senate took a major step forward last night in its battle with the House over transportation funding, releasing a plan to give $26.8 billion to the dwindling highway trust fund and — perhaps most importantly, for the long term — to restore the fund’s ability to keep the interest it earns. Senate Finance Committee […]

Transportation Reform Is Health Reform

By Elana Schor | Jul 17, 2009 | 8 Comments

During the Washington budget debate earlier this year, a phrase widely attributed to White House budget director Peter Orszag was rolling off many a reporter’s keyboard: "Health reform is entitlement reform." Orszag’s idea, in a nutshell, is that controlling the nation’s skyrocketing health care costs, which are fueled in part by the obesity epidemic, would […]

Five Down, Five to Go: Plan Linking Transit to Climate Bill Wins Sponsors

By Elana Schor | Jul 17, 2009 | 1 Comment

Streetsblog Capitol Hill reported this week that the Obama administration — which often talks about reducing transportation-based emissions — is staying mum on a bill that would devote a guaranteed share of revenues from carbon regulation to transit, bike paths, and other green modes of transport. But that doesn’t mean the proposal, otherwise known as […]

Lawmakers Aim to Bring ‘Sustainable Communities’ From Talk to Action

By Elana Schor | Jul 8, 2009 | No Comments

When three agencies in President Obama’s Cabinet — DOT, Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency — banded together to promote "sustainable communities," the initiative sounded promising but somewhat lacking in concrete ideas. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) attached his green housing legislation to the recently passed House climate bill. (Photo: AP) Enter a […]

The Imminent Irrelevance of Randal O’Toole

By Ryan Avent | Jul 7, 2009 | 24 Comments

Two things were clear at this morning’s hearing of the Senate Banking Committee concerning green investments in public transportation. First, transportation experts and leading legislators are very much in agreement on how transportation spending should change. And second, Randal O’Toole’s days as anything other than an anachronism are numbered. Cato Institute fellow Randal O’Toole testified […]

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