If Congress does nothing by the end of the year, if you take transit to get to work each day you could be paying more out of your own pocket when the tax benefit for transit is cut in half. Drivers will keep enjoying the same great parking benefit – nearly double what transit commuters will be eligible to receive. We don’t think that’s fair, and Congress needs to hear about it. How we choose to get to work each day shouldn’t be the deciding factor.

The House’s transportation proposal would cut total transportation funding by one-third, kill the tiny slice of dedicated funding for safer walking and biking and drastically reduce transit support, while failing to focus on fixing and repairing our crumbling roads and bridges. There’s still a good chance for a better Senate bill, so weigh in with your Senators today.

The budget proposal from the Republican Study Committee, which consists of 165 of the 242 GOP House members, released a week or so ago, calls for completely eliminating the main federal transit program, zeroes out Amtrak, cuts all funding for the metro system in the nation’s capital and slashes $2.5 billion in high-speed rail grants. Sign our petition objecting to this assault on public transportation funding.

Since September 2009, Congress has passed one extension after another to the expired transportation law continuously punting difficult decisions about reforming the way we fund and build our transportation system. We’ve heard that President Obama is ready to change that and could be including a big push for a new transportation bill in tomorrow’s State [...]

Rep. James Oberstar wrote a letter to the supporters and coalition members of T4 America this week that we’d like to share. Rep. Oberstar has been a tireless advocate for transportation during his 18 terms in Congress, working to build a 21st century transportation system that saves money, gives us more options, keeps us safer and gets us where we’re going. After reading the letter, leave a message of thanks for Rep. Oberstar that we’ll share with him early in 2010.

If you take transit to get to work each day, come January you could be paying more out of your own pocket when the tax deduction for transit is cut in half. But drivers will keep enjoying the same great parking benefit – nearly double what transit commuters will be eligible to receive. We don’t think that’s fair, and Congress needs to hear about it. Sign this petition from our friends at Commuter Nation urging Congress to restore the transit benefit and make it equal to the parking benefit.

When President Obama announced his vision on Labor Day for investing in 21st century infrastructure, he put our country on the right path toward smart transportation reform. But his vision immediately came under fire from many of the usual suspects who prefer the current system of earmarks and oil industry tax breaks. We need to respond to these attacks on transportation reform. Take 5 or 10 minutes and write a letter to the editor of your local paper today.

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.