The emphasis on bipartisanship indicates that the Committee’s “big four” — Chairman Barbara Boxer (above), Ranking Member Jim Inhofe and Senators Max Baucus and David Vitter — are in accord on the bill’s skeleton. This cooperation paints a stark contrast with the unusually partisan release of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee proposal, where Committee Democrats apparently were shut out.

While the devil truly is in the legislative details, the Senate outline is already more promising than the House proposal, unveiled by T&I committee Chair John Mica (R-FL). Mica deserves credit for moving the ball forward on authorization, but his six-year proposal fails to articulate a vision or set the right priorities for a 21st century transportation system, and the 35 percent across-the-board spending cut mandated by his caucus leaders would severely strain our existing infrastructure and transit systems. Doing more of the same, with less money, on a faster treadmill is insufficient and a non-starter.

The Senate EPW bill authorizes just two years of funding, rather than six, but at current levels plus inflation. The outline does not specify any revenue sources outside of gas tax receipts from the Highway Trust Fund but does seek to attain the “optimum achievable authorization depending on the resources available and in a way that does not increase the deficit and can achieve bipartisan support.”

MAP-21 consolidates the seven core highway programs from the current SAFETEA-LU law into five:  the National Highway Performance Program, Transportation Mobility Program, National Freight Program and Highway Safety Improvement Program and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program, or CMAQ. The existing CMAQ program provides some funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects as well as air quality initiatives and other innovative plans.

However, MAP-21 makes no mention of the dedicated funding for biking and walking included in the existing Transportation Enhancements program, a point of deep concern for bicycle and pedestrian advocates. The League of American Bicyclists has warned supporters to stand by should a more detailed vision of MAP-21 be released without support for biking and walking. The House proposal would eliminate any dedicated funding for these programs.

MAP-21 purports to focus the federal highway program on “key outcomes,” including reduced fatalities, improving bridges and reducing congestion, “in order to ensure that taxpayers are receiving the most for their money.” Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is not listed as a desired outcome. Statewide and metropolitan planning processes would “incorporate a more comprehensive performance-based approach to decision making,” according to the outline, though specific metrics are not included. More details are needed to determine whether MAP-21’s performance and planning sections contain real teeth.

Like Mica’s bill, MAP-21 would expand the current TIFIA federal loan program, boosting funding from $122 million to $1 billion per year, with the potential for each federal dollar to leverage $30 in transportation investment. Boxer is no doubt responding to major push from her Los Angeles constituents, who are seeking federal financing support to help them compress 30 years of transit construction into 10.

Thursday’s hearing, titled “Legislative Issues for Transportation Reauthorization” will feature testimony from the Natural Resources Defense Council, American Highway Users Alliance, AASHTO and others. The proceedings will commence at 10am in the EPW Hearing Room at 406 Dirksen.

As a new Congress prepares to take up a multi-year infrastructure bill, 65 California mayors, supervisors and other elected officials joined together to send a united message about what their communities need for economic recovery and quality of life.

These elected officials released a signed letter sent to Senator Boxer of California expressing their support for reforms to the federal transportation program that would help California make the transportation investments needed to bring down California’s 12 percent unemployment rate, clean the air, and lay the foundation for healthier, more livable communities.

“The nation’s transportation program has not been significantly updated since the creation of the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s. With California and the nation facing new and different challenges in the 21st century, a modern approach is needed to ensure that transportation continues to fuel the economy of California and the nation,“ said Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, who will soon take statewide office as Lieutenant Governor. “We need to put people back to work connecting our cities with high-speed rail, efficient and affordable public transportation systems, and building clean freight systems and safe places to walk and bicycle.”

According to a study from the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute comparing an equivalent amount of investment in the current federal transportation law with a proposal containing reforms from Transportation for America, California is poised to see 807,000 new jobs by focusing on accountability and performance while building a 21st century transportation system.

With five of the ten cities with the worst air pollution in the country, it’s critical for California to clean its air and improve public health — areas where transportation has a major, but often ignored, impact. In the greater Los Angeles region alone the health costs of air pollution are conservatively estimated at $22 billion per year, dragging down the economy and quality of life. The region is home to more than 12 million vehicles as well as the two busiest ports in the United States, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

As a member of the California Air Resources Board, the state agency responsible for cleaning California’s air, Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge believes that providing safe, clean, and efficient transportation alternatives are a crucial step toward relieving congestion, reducing air pollution and ensuring people and goods move freely and efficiently.

“There is a great need for sustained high-speed rail funding and the creation of a national freight plan to fund clean air projects. As the trade gateway to the United States, Southern California needs to have a long-term vision to clean the air while improving economic competitiveness. The federal bill should have dedicated revenues to support sustained investments in regional high-speed and clean freight rail that connect and serve our cities and trade hubs,” Mayor Loveridge said.

Compared to cars, passenger rail reduces oil consumption by 40 percent. Freight rail is four times more energy efficient than trucks and one train can carry as much cargo as 200 trucks. With thorough planning and placement, rail investments — including high-speed passenger rail — can reduce traffic on congested highways.

San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, Los Angeles and other major metropolitan cities will continue to grow. Safe, affordable and efficient public transportation systems will become increasingly important in connecting people to the jobs and services they and their families depend on. A bipartisan, national Transportation for America poll found that over 80% of Americans believe the nation would benefit from an expanded and improved public transportation system.

“Federal funding will allow our public transportation systems to continue to grow and serve expanding communities,” said San Diego City Councilmember Todd Gloria. “Investments in both capital transit projects and ongoing transit operations demonstrate the prioritization of strong alternatives to single-car transportation.”

Voters are also increasingly willing to tax themselves for improved transportation when they know clearly what they’re getting for the money — like voters did in Los Angeles with Measure R, a half-cent sales tax approved by a two-thirds majority to rapidly expand the local transit system. Elected leaders in the Los Angeles region such as Mayor Richard Bloom of Santa Monica are pushing for innovative financing programs from the federal government that would make ambitious programs like the 30/10 initiative — a plan to build 12 major transit projects in 10 years rather than 30 — a reality.

“These programs will create thousands of jobs and reduce air pollution and oil dependency, thus addressing the most serious national and global challenges we now confront as Americans,” said Mayor Bloom and Councilmember Terry O’Day. “What is truly exciting is that they will do this while improving the quality of life in our neighborhoods and give people access to services they need without having to drive to get them.”

These leaders also called for more accountable and transparent spending to ensure that during the recession and beyond, every federal dollar for transportation gets the most bang for the buck. The letter to Senator Boxer details the group’s collective support for a process of setting long-term goals for states and regions to pursue. Using these goals, regions and states would create regional plans and prioritize investing in projects to make continuous progress towards meeting them. Goals would include achieving measurable progress in increasing transit ridership, reducing congestion, repairing roads, making communities more walkable and bikable, reductions in air pollution, and improving safety, to name a few.

“Performance-based planning programs like the Sacramento Regional Blueprint provide a model for supporting economic growth, a cleaner environment, and safer and more effective transportation options through smart planning with specific goals in mind” said Mayor Kevin Johnson of Sacramento. “In these times of limited resources, we must embrace accountability measures to make sure that each and every tax dollar is spent wisely. Our federal transportation program must keep the eyes on the prize – and support regions in focusing spending on projects that will deliver the outcomes our communities need.”

“Transportation For America’s platform promotes a transportation policy that will serve both local needs and national priorities,” said Judy Corbett, Executive Director of the Local Government Commission, a longstanding Transportation For America partner based in Sacramento. “I’m thrilled that so many California elected officials are joining us in speaking out on the critical issue of investing in a 21st century transportation system.”

The federal transportation bill is rewritten only every six years. These 65 elected leaders are making it clear to Congress that they must adopt reforms that will prioritize maintaining our existing infrastructure and funding the 21st century transportation system that is safer, cleaner, smarter, and works for all communities.

• Download the letter to Senator Boxer
• View the full list of partners, including these California mayors and elected officials

At the rally, Transportation for America’s deputy director Lea Schuster stood shoulder-to-shoulder with prominent labor leaders and California lawmakers to tell Washington to help speed up the 30/10 Plan – a plan to build 12 major local transit projects in 10 years rather than 30. The plan would spur economic growth and protect the environment, create 166,000 jobs, ease congestion, and reduce air pollution and dependency on oil.

LA Labor Rally Denny: Lea Originally uploaded by Transportation for America to Flickr.

Move LA’s Denny Zane speaks at the podium, flanked on his right by T4 deputy director Lea Schuster, holding the Move LA banner touting the 30/10 plan for the LA metro area.

If Congress establishes the programs needed to move 30/10 forward, cities and regions around the country that have local transportation tax measures could receive up-front loans from the federal government to speed the construction of vital public transportation projects and programs. Fast-tracking the projects and speeding up the timetable would save millions in escalating material costs, while creating thousands of new jobs in the short run. Guaranteed and preapproved local tax revenues would then be used to repay the loans.

In the case of Los Angeles, voters approved a measure at the ballot box (Measure R) to tax themselves for 30 years to pay for transportation. Implementing 30/10 would allow them to get the money up front to build 12 projects over 10 years and pay back the loans over 30 years.

Speakers supporting the effort to establish the federal lending programs included Senator Barbara Boxer, AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, LA County Federation of Labor leader Maria Elena Durazo, and Move LA’s Denny Zane.

All the speakers cited 30/10 as a job creating and environmentally progressive transportation model for the rest of the country. As Senator Boxer said, “We know if we do embrace this notion of 30/10, we will create thousands of good-paying union jobs and we will reduce our billion-dollar-a-day addiction to foreign oil.”

LA area Representatives Jane Harman and Judy Chu both stated their support for the initiative with Jane Harman declaring, “30/10”’ will be my number one priority in Congress. And LA labor leader Richard Slawson hailed it as “our stimulus package.”

As roads, freeways and bridges have grown increasingly congested and fallen into a state of disrepair and federal transportation funds have become scarce, taxpayers in communities across the country have voted to tax themselves to raise money for long-term transportation programs to expand public transportation and fix aging infrastructure — proving again that Americans will increase their own taxes to pay for transportation if they know what their taxes are buying.

As with 30/10, well-planned transportation programs can provide the immediate economic stimulus needed to put people back to work and provide safe, clean, and affordable transportation options.

As Denny Zane, Executive Director of Move LA and one of the founders of the 30/10 Plan stated, getting the legislation needed to establish the federal lending programs to provide the upfront loans will take a national effort, a national coalition, and national leaders. He cited the success of Transportation for America and its leadership in putting together a coalition of more than 500 organizations and elected officials fighting for federal transportation reform as performing the “type of work that we need” and being the campaign that will “help put the votes together” to establish the programs to ensure that the 30/10 Plan and other initiatives like it become a reality.

UPDATED: Read this analysis and summary from T4 America on the HIRE Act’s ramifications for transportation.

President Obama signed the HIRE Act this morning in the Rose Garden at the White House, and T4 America was fortunate enough to have been invited to the event.

I was especially pleased to be joined by Patricia Griffin from PolicyLink. Patricia and her organization have been strong partners with the Transportation for America campaign. Increasing access to transit and helping people reach employment, groceries and other essential daily needs are equity issues as much as they are economic issues.

We need groups like these on our side.

While this bill doesn’t contain the amount of money for transportation infrastructure like the stimulus had last year, it does have a few important provisions for transportation.

It extends the transportation bill to the end of 2010, which will spare Congress (and transportation workers across the country) the headache (and uncertainty) of the continual short-term extensions that have been standard operating procedure until now. As we saw a few weeks ago when Sen. Bunning singlehandedly held up the last extension of the transportation bill before it expired, causing a shutdown at DOT, the furlough of workers, and the suspension of crucial reimbursement checks to states, providing this little bit of certainty will at least avoid a repeat of that scenario. The bill also extends the special rule permitting urbanized areas to flex funding to transit operations, which is critical to restore and retain transit jobs and maintain services at a time when transit systems nationwide are hemorrhaging jobs, reducing service and increasing fares.

The bill also restores $19.5 billion in interest back to the highway trust fund to keep it from going bankrupt before the end of the year. With more fuel-efficient cars on the road and Americans driving less the last few years, the amount of money the federal government gets from gas taxes hasn’t been able to keep up with the authorized amounts of spending in the transportation bill.

It’s a short-term fix to a much larger issue of how we fund transportation, and doesn’t address what those billions are buying us. We need long-term solutions and answers to both of those issues.

The President’s remarks about the economy and job creation were resonant. He addressed the importance of infrastructure, in terms of both short-term job growth and longer term prosperity, noting that “this jobs bill will maintain crucial investments in our roads and our bridges as we head into the spring and summer months, when construction jobs are picking up.”

In addition to President Obama, other participants included Majority Leader Harry Reid, Majority Whip Richard Durbin, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman, Jim Oberstar.

Senator Boxer’s committee is currently developing their version of the transportation bill and we are eager to work with the Senator and her staff on shared priorities and new ideas. Senator Boxer is a passionate defender of the environment who understands that the status quo is no longer acceptable. And her home state of California has been hit hard by deep cuts in transit where people need it most.

The bill President Obama signed today helps stabilize our transportation program and enables us to focus our full attention on a long-term transformational bill that prepares us for the 21st Century. This is our chance to get the changes we have spent months fighting for — increasing access to public transportation and quality jobs for all people, rebuilding broken roads and crumbling bridges and setting benchmarks that help us measure success.

Today felt like a sign of good things to come.

Photos by Quentin Kelly and Patricia Griffin.

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. (Streetsblog Capitol Hill has some details on the allocations.)

After hearing from advocates and their colleagues in the Senate, the authors of the Senate climate bill agreed to include a higher, guaranteed level of funding (roughly 2.4% over the life of the bill) for clean transportation options, such as public transportation, affordable neighborhoods around transit stops, vanpooling and streets safe for walking and biking.

We want to let the Senate know, especially those committee members, that we appreciate their leadership on this issue and we want them to defend that funding as the bill moves through other Senate committees. There is still a long road ahead for the climate bill and the Senate needs to know you will support their efforts to continue fighting for more money for clean transportation.

Take a moment to thank senators for making clean transportation part of the climate bill — and tell them to defend that money over the coming weeks.

Transportation for America is happy for the strong transportation provisions, but we are not stopping at 2.4%. We’re going to continue asking the Senate to increase that amount as the bill moves forward. It only makes sense — transportation pollution is responsible for nearly one-third of our national greenhouse gas emissions.

We applaud Sen. Barbara Boxer and the rest of the Senate EPW Committee for this strong statement that funding clean transportation options is a vital part of reducing our emissions.

An organization representing more than 300 elite Silicon Valley businesses from Apple to Yahoo! sent a letter last week to Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, urging her to make sure the Senate climate bill adequately invests in clean transportation alternatives to reduce emissions in their region while keeping it mobile and competitive.

The Silicon Valley Leadership Group, made up of mostly tech-focused organizations in Silicon Valley, works to enhance economic competitiveness and maintain a high quality of life for the region. SVLG members employ more than 250,000 people in the Valley and generate more than $1 trillion worth of business each year. (SVLG is a partner of Transportation for America.)

Started in the 1970′s by the founder of Hewlett Packard, they recognize that investments in transit and safe, accessible, walkable neighborhoods are keys to their continued economic success and ability to lure smart and talented workers to the region.

In the letter, president Carl Guardino thanked Chairman Boxer for her leadership on the issue of climate change, and pointed out that California will need to make a large investment in cleaner transportation options if they are going to have any chance of meeting the ambitious reductions proposed in the climate bill:

Transportation represents the fastest growing source of national greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and the largest single source in California, accounting for 40% of emissions. In Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, that number is higher still – 51% of GHG’s.

House bill, H.R. 2454 (Waxman/Markey), recognizes the importance of reducing transportation emissions by requiring states and metropolitan areas adopt new planning requirements and GHG reduction goals. However, the bill provides virtually no allowances for this purpose. Without adequate funding to address transportation’s increasing contribution to climate change, we will not be able to rise and meet this challenge.

The debate over the Senate’s climate bill is expected to heat up in the next few days as Chairman Boxer’s Senate committee releases the numbers showing where the allocations from the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act will be directed.

Transportation for America, our 28,000 supporters and 350+ partners like SVLG have been calling on the Senate to direct 10 percent of the funding to clean transportation alternatives.

The Senate bill will require states and cities to reduce emissions from transportation. Giving them 5-10% of the revenues will give them the tools they need to make investments in clean transportation alternatives, like public transportation and passenger rail, affordable neighborhoods around transit stops and neighborhood projects that increase safety for cyclists and pedestrians.

Click the jump to read through the entire letter from the SVLG.

Dear Senator Boxer,

On behalf of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, I want to thank you for your leadership in crafting legislation to address climate change. The Leadership Group believes a necessary component of this legislation is to dedicate at least 10 percent of a climate bill’s revenues toward clean transportation programs and projects.

As background, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, founded in 1978 by David Packard of Hewlett-Packard, represents more than 300 of Silicon Valley’s most respected employers on issues, programs and campaigns affecting the economic health and quality of life in Silicon Valley, including transportation, education, economic vitality and the environment. Leadership Group members collectively account for more than 250,000 local jobs, or one of every four private sector jobs in Silicon Valley.

Transportation represents the fastest growing source of national greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and the largest single source in California, accounting for 40% of emissions. In Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, that number is higher still – 51% of GHG’s.

House bill, H.R. 2454 (Waxman/Markey), recognizes the importance of reducing transportation emissions by requiring states and metropolitan areas adopt new planning requirements and GHG reduction goals. However, the bill provides virtually no allowances for this purpose. Without adequate funding to address transportation’s increasing contribution to climate change, we will not be able to rise and meet this challenge.

Thank you again for your leadership and you have our sincerest thanks for considering the inclusion of robust clean transportation funding in the climate change bill.

Sincerely,

Carl Guardino
President and CEO
Silicon Valley Leadership Group

Fourteen-year-old Julia Lopez, right, a childhood wellness advocate from Los Angeles, CA, met California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer in the Capitol yesterday. Lopez is in Washington, D.C. to participate in Transportation for America’s “health fly-in” to speak with Congressional representatives about the link between and health and transportation. Lopez will address her own advocacy against childhood obesity during Congressional meetings and this morning at a briefing in the Capitol Visitors’ Center.

Read more about the health fly-in in this press release.

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.

Now is the time to make ourselves heard: The Senate climate bill doesn’t contain any funding levels yet, so there is still an opportunity to make sure that it includes enough funding to create cleaner, more affordable transportation options for everyday Americans.

Senators Boxer and Kerry deserve our thanks and support — the bill already makes significant strides toward cleaner transportation. It would direct states and metro areas to make plans to reduce transportation emissions and set targets over the coming decades. These goals are a tremendous — and essential — component of the legislation.

But these targets will be nearly impossible to meet if the bill only provides a miniscule share of its funding for cleaner and more fuel-efficient transportation.

Help make sure we both set meaningful goals AND provide communities with the means to reach them. Tell your Senators to adequately fund clean transportation in the climate bill.

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