A new bill that would provide $2 billion in emergency funding for public transportation agencies was introduced in the Senate today by a group of 7 Senators. Congress has taken a step, but the bill still needs lots of support to make it through the Senate in the coming weeks. Tell your senators: support emergency funding for transit systems!

Exciting news: The climate and clean energy legislation unveiled in the Senate today puts a strong emphasis on planning for and investing in clean transportation options. We applaud the authors of The American Power Act, John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, for advancing this critical piece of legislation that invests in our transportation infrastructure while delivering a win both for energy independence and climate protection. Call your Senator today in support.

Today, along with numerous other partners like Rails to Trails, League of American Bikers, America Bikes, and America Walks, we’re asking all of our supporters to make a phone call to your Representative to support this new bill — the Active Community Transportation Act. With the National Bike Summit in town this week, more than 700 advocates for safe walking and biking are visiting the offices of their congressional delegations today, asking them to sponsor this bill and letting them know about all the benefits of making it easier to safely get around on foot or on bike. We want to back them up and have all of our voices heard loud and clear in the halls of Congress today. So take just 2 minutes and call your Representative and ask them to co-sponsor this bill. It’s quick and easy.

In the last 15 years, 76,000 Americans have been killed while walking or simply crossing the street. Help could be on the way. Rep. Earl Blumenauer introduced a bill last week to create a $2 billion competitive grant program to fund safe networks for biking and walking. This week, more than 700 bike advocates are descending on Capitol Hill to drum up strong support for the program while in D.C. for the National Bike Summit. We need to back them up: Send a letter to your representative urging them to co-sponsor the Active Community Transportation Act (H.R. 4722).

Maybe some people just need a little visual aid to help grasp the devastating toll that our roads have on those who walk them everyday. 400 people are killed in America every single month, just crossing the street, walking from A to B, or riding their bike through town. That’s like two busloads of Americans being killed… every single week.

As our new Dangerous by Design report illustrates, pedestrian safety is a matter of life or death for thousands of Americans each year. With a loss of life equivalent to a jumbo jet going down roughly each month, it is a tragedy that does not get enough attention at nearly any level of government. These are preventable deaths, largely on roads that are not safe for walking or biking. Transportation for America is working to arrange a meeting with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and to deliver the message from our hundreds of partner organizations and thousands of supporters across the country that safer streets must be a priority! Sign our petition today!

The long-awaited allocations in the Senate climate bill were released over the weekend, and the news is good for increasing access to cleaner transportation options. Late Friday evening, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee released the final numbers on where the revenues raised under a cap-and-trade climate bill would be directed. The Senate nearly triples the funding for clean, sustainable transportation over the House climate bill, which only set aside an optional one percent of funding. Take a minute and thank your Senator today.

Last week, Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry unveiled a landmark climate bill that could set us on the path toward cleaner, safer and smarter transportation. But one piece still doesn’t quite add up: the funding. To truly address climate change, the Senate has to fix the serious funding gap in the House climate bill: The House bill directs only an optional one percent of the money it will raise toward clean transportation options, even though nearly one-third of our CO² emissions come from transportation. Tell your Senators: You can’t solve 30% of the problem with only 1% of the funding.

UPDATE: Victory! For whatever reason, Sen. Bond decided not to offer his amendment and it will not come to the floor for a vote. Thanks to all of you who took action by writing or calling your Senators. In the last 24 hours we beat back a dangerous anti-bike/ped amendment from Senator Coburn. Now we [...]

As you may have read on Streetsblog yesterday, Senator John McCain has just proposed 20 amendments to a transportation funding bill that have one common theme: Breaking a federal promise to fund long-planned public transportation projects. Senators are expected to vote TODAY on these amendments: Please write your senators now and tell them to vote NO on this assault on clean, oil-saving transportation projects – and to encourage their colleagues to do the same.