Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about U.S. Senate

A Bipartisan Policy Breakthrough That Could Save Local Economies

By Beth Osborne | Jun 9, 2014 | No Comments

Beth Osborne was deputy assistant secretary for policy, and then acting assistant secretary, at the U.S. Department of Transportation from 2009 until March, when she joined Transportation for America. Members of Congress love to talk about local control. And with good reason: American voters tell pollsters over and over again that they trust the elected […]

Why the Senate Transportation Bill Will Devastate Transit

By Tanya Snyder | May 22, 2014 | No Comments

Transit officials lined up today to make clear that holding transit spending at current levels — as the Senate’s transportation authorization bill does — will put transit systems at risk of falling further into dangerous disrepair. The backlog for transit maintenance and replacement stands “conservatively” at $86 billion, according to the Federal Transit Administration. That […]

Barbara Boxer’s Transportation Bill: Same As It Ever Was

By Tanya Snyder | May 13, 2014 | No Comments

The future of national transportation policy is pretty much like the present of national transportation policy, if the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has its way: underfunded and highway-centric. The bill released by Senator Barbara Boxer’s EPW Committee yesterday [PDF] rejects pretty much everything the Obama administration put forth in its bill, including permanent […]

Boxer Announces Plan to Maintain Status Quo in Next Transpo Bill

By Tanya Snyder | Apr 10, 2014 | No Comments

Last year, while the House flailed in partisan misery, the Senate passed a transportation bill 74 to 22. When the bill was signed into law, it was considered one of the few real achievements of a deeply divided Congress. Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer got tremendous credit for enacting legislation three years […]

A Bill to Make American Streets Safer Surfaces in the Senate

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 7, 2014 | No Comments

Has the moment finally arrived for a national complete streets law? A bill creating incentives for transportation agencies to design safe streets for everyone — pedestrians and cyclists in addition to motorists — is back on the floor of Congress this week. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska) are sponsoring the Safe Streets Act […]

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