Tell Congress: No new transportation money without reform
June 22, 2009By Stephen Lee Davis
| We can’t afford to keep throwing money at transportation agencies unable to show progress on the issues that matter to us all: Affordable ways to get around; alternatives to congestion; reducing our oil dependency; protecting the climate; safe and vibrant communities and access to jobs. |
| Tell your representative to make a stand: no more money without real reform! |
Capitol Hill is buzzing with the news. As you may have heard, Chairman James Oberstar and his House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released the full 775-page transportation bill earlier this afternoon. Rep. Oberstar is poised to get his six-year bill moving this week, and the Obama administration is pushing Congress to pass a (shorter) funding plan quickly. Why the rush?
Because transportation funding is running out.
But we can’t afford to keep throwing money at transportation agencies unable to show progress on the issues that matter to us all: Affordable ways to get around; alternatives to congestion; reducing our oil dependency; protecting the climate; safe and vibrant communities and access to jobs.
Help us tell Congress: No new money for transportation without a real, sustainable plan.
As you may have read here or elsewhere, The National Highway Trust Fund — which pays for road work, bike and pedestrian facilities and transit projects — will run out of money in August.
With funds drying up, the pressure to throw more money at our problems is growing. Some in Congress are poised to take money from other needs to prop up the trust fund, which comes from gas taxes. They would prefer to go on spending our tax dollars without a real plan. But more money with no strings attached is not the answer.
The U.S. hasn’t had a vision for transportation policy in decades. We’ve been trying to build our way out of a congested and inefficient system with no accountability and no actual plan to link our roads, trains, buses, bikeways and pedestrian-friendly streets.
The result? Longer, more frustrating, less safe and increasingly expensive commutes for all of us.
But now we have an opportunity for change. We must ensure that our country’s transportation investments strengthen our economy, our environment and our health. Don’t let Congress make the same mistakes it’s made in the past. We must fund transportation, but we must do it right this time.
5 Responses to “Tell Congress: No new transportation money without reform”
Other posts linking here:
- Streetsblog Capitol Hill » Senators Agree: Pass a ‘Clean’, Reform-Free Extension of Transpo Law
- Streetsblog San Francisco » Sen Boxer: Pass a ‘Clean’, Reform-Free Extension of Transpo Law
- Streetsblog New York City » Boxer and Inhofe Agree: Transportation Policy Reform Can Wait
- Streetsblog Los Angeles » Boxer: Forget Transportation Bill, Work with Me on Something Else
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June 24th, 2009 10:49 am
I don’t even use highways.
Please work on city roads.