Transportation numbers emerge on the stimulus
UPDATE (2:00 p.m., 02/12/09): Talking Points Memo has acquired a summary of the new bill, which includes a comparison of each spending item to the House and Senate legislation. It looks like the final number for highways is $27.5 billion. The bill to come out of conference also includes $1.3 billion for Amtrak. — We […]
BREAKING: House-Senate compromise on stimulus
A number of news outlets are reporting that a group of Senate and House members have come to a tentative agreement on the stimulus, paving the way for the final passage of the bill. The small conference of legislators have reportedly negotiated a $789.5 billion stimulus — a sum that’s about $30 billion less than […]
Comparing transportation spending in the Senate and House stimulus
With the stimulus successfully passed through the Senate, it moves into conference with the House, where the two chambers will try to hammer out the version to be voted on again by each house before heading to the President’s desk if it passes. Here is our side-by-side comparison on the transportation spending in the two versions.
Senate compromise preserves transit funding — for now
It appears the Senate compromise on the stimulus package keeps transit and highway funding unchanged. We’re suspending our appeal to make calls for now. The Senate will move to vote on the overall stimulus package Monday or Tuesday. Then it moves to a conference committee with the House to determine the balance between the two bills that will ultimately be voted on by both Chambers and sent to the President’s desk.
BREAKING: Threat to transit funding in Senate compromise?
The so-called “compromise” plan about to be put forth by Senators Nelson and Collins would cut somewhere between $80-100 billion from the Senate stimulus package. In part, by cutting transit’s already paltry amount nearly in half, and raising the amount of highway spending by an undisclosed amount. Call your Senator now!
Friday Senate stimulus update
UPDATE: Look for a list of amendments on the docket at the bottom. Obviously, things are moving very fast in the Senate today. Here is a summary of a mix of rumor and fact as of 1 p.m. EST if you’d like to follow more closely: The Inhofe amendment — to take unspent stimulus funds […]
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Schumer amendment in Senate could boost transit funding
Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Jerrold Nadler released a statement on Senator Schumer’s amendment to increase funding for transit in the Senate economic recovery package. Sen. Schumer’s planned amendment would boost transit funding from $8.4 billion up to $14.9 billion, with additions to the vital program (New Starts) that would provide funds for new, ready-to-go transit projects across the country. Currently, the House version has $2.5 billion for New Starts, where the Senate version has zero.
The Inauguration: A shining moment for public transportation
f you were watching television last Tuesday, you saw at least two historic things happen, but there’s a chance that the lesser one escaped your notice. What you might have missed was the fact that Washington, DC also managed to quadruple the number of people who travel into the city on a typical day — from 400,000 to 1.8 million — without breaking out into total chaos and panic.
Update to the Transit Cuts map; 51 systems covered
We knew when we put it together that our list of transit agencies facing fiscal crises was not going to be exhaustive. And as soon as it went live, we heard from a number of you with information on other systems that we either didn’t know about or couldn’t find information on. So thanks to Hugh, Richard, Jef, Randy, and Jeff, we now have 51 systems covered in the map, representing almost 21 million daily trips by everyday Americans.
Transit Cuts: Coming soon to a system near you?
Perhaps you’ve already seen the news in your local paper. Even as ridership is spiking — perhaps even the highest of all time — your local transit system is talking about having to cut service, raise fares, or even lay off workers to cope with the struggling economy. We’ve created a map compiling the potential and proposed cuts to public transportation systems in 38 communities across the country.
Poll Finds Americans Favor Smarter Transportation Spending in Stimulus Bill
As Congress takes up debate over an economic stimulus package, a new poll shows that most Americans would rather use federal dollars to repair highways and bridges and improve public transportation than expand highways through new construction. A majority says funded projects should advance national goals, such as energy independence, in addition to creating jobs.
Are we building new roads to crumbling bridges?
With billions of dollars about to be spent on an economic recovery package, you’d think Congress would prioritize fixing dangerous bridges and repairing unsafe highways. But the powerful highway lobby is pressing hard for nearly all the money to be spent constructing new roads and bridges. This makes no sense. Tell Congress you support a smarter economic recovery package.
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