Transportation For America » Senators Lautenberg, Rockefeller lay the groundwork for a transformational bill

Senators Lautenberg, Rockefeller lay the groundwork for a transformational bill

May 14, 2009
By Andrew Bielak

U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and John D. Rockefeller (D-WV) took a big step forward today in the fight to build a 21st Century transportation system by introducing “The Federal Surface Transportation Policy and Planning Act of 2009.” It’s a bold bill that lays out clear guidelines for exactly what the next five-year federal transportation spending plan should accomplish, and several of Transportation for America’s proposals were clearly echoed in the legislation.

The bill, which is intended to offer a vision for the House and Senate as they look to draft their separate versions of a transportation bill in the coming months, included input from the T4 America coalition and contains some of the exact same performance measures that T4 America proposed in our Route to Reform Blueprint. These include our proposals to:

Reduce delay per capita by 10 percent,
Reduce national motor vehicle-related fatalities by 50 percent, and
Reduce national surface transportation-generated carbon dioxide levels by 40 percent, all by the year 2030.

The Washington Post took a look at the legislation this morning, including a quote from David Goldberg, Transportation for America’s communicators director, and Senator Lautenberg, who shows that he’s not taking the future of America’s transportation system lightly:

“A national surface transportation policy for our country is long overdue,” Lautenberg said. “We need a transportation policy that reestablishes our leadership throughout the world when it comes to transportation — and meets our country’s transportation demands for generations to come.”

In recent weeks, Transportation for America has been actively promoting our vision on the Hill — including publicly releasing our Blueprint on Monday and offering testimony by T4 America campaign director, James Corless — as well as holding town hall meetings across the country to hear what Americans want in the future of their transportation system.

We hope you’ll continue to work with us as we fight for a revitalized economy and a renewed transportation program, and help Senators Lautenberg and Rockefeller push their colleagues to stand for reform. You can start by signing our petition urging Congress to create meaningful goals and demand accountability in the next transportation bill, and calling your Senators and telling them to cosponsor this bill from Sens. Lautenberg and Rockefeller.

Filed under: Campaign Blog
Tags: blueprint, congress, john rockefeller, performance measures, senate

http://frepubtra.blogspot.com fpteditors

Hmm…trying to fund public transit without mentioning it. That should be enough proof of the power of the auto/fossil-fuel/sprawl power to blackout sensible discussion. But guess what, all the money has been spent bailing out the sprawl bubble. So now “responsible” legislators can oppose “subsidy”. It is PATHETIC. Build roads, drop bombs… that is all the U.S. government is allowed to do.
http://frepubtra.blogspot.com fpteditors

But anyway, Good luck. Let’s support them.