Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about U.S. Senate

Senate Dems Put Out Their Own Trillion Dollar Infrastructure Plan

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 24, 2017 | No Comments

Senate Democrats have an infrastructure "blueprint" of their own, one that's weighted toward transit. The trouble is that Democrats have little power to set terms, and getting drawn into negotiations over an unnecessary infrastructure bill may not play out to their advantage.

Stark Divisions Between Dems and GOP on Climate Impacts of Transportation

By Angie Schmitt | Aug 22, 2016 | No Comments

How polarized are the two political parties on key questions about transportation policy and climate change? As you can imagine, the answer is “very.” The senior Democrat and Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee — California’s Barbara Boxer and Oklahoma’s Jim Inhofe, respectively — each wrote an opinion this week for the Eno Center for […]

Congress Expected to Level Tax Benefit for Transit and Car Commuters

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 16, 2015 | No Comments

A federal policy that has encouraged Americans to drive to work instead of taking the bus or the train won’t tilt the playing field toward car commuters so much. A bill that extends provisions of the tax code will permanently set the maximum transit commuter tax benefit at the same level car commuters get for parking expenses. Both classes of commuters can now […]

The Best and Worst of the New 5-Year Transportation Bill

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 3, 2015 | No Comments

Smart people are wading through the 1,300-page transportation bill that came out of conference committee earlier this week, and we’re starting to get a clearer sense of how it will change federal transportation policy for the next five years. The House voted to pass the bill by an overwhelming margin just moments ago, and President Obama has already […]

5-Year, $300 Billion “FAST Act” Will Extend Transpo Policy Status Quo to 2020

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 2, 2015 | No Comments

They’ve done it. Representatives from the House and Senate have emerged from conference committee with a five-year transportation bill, which is expected to be quickly approved and become first “long-term” bill in more than a decade. The discouragingly-named “FAST Act” is 1,300 pages long, and everyone with a stake in the legislation is still having their policy wonks […]

The Appalling Rollback of Truck Safety Provisions in the DRIVE Act

By Tanya Snyder | Aug 28, 2015 | No Comments

A battle is brewing over the Senate transportation bill’s approach to truck safety. Though large trucks are involved in crashes that kill nearly 4,000 people a year — a number that has grown by 17 percent over the past five years — the DRIVE Act actually rolls back what few protections exist. The bill would allow […]

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