Posts Tagged "obama"
A broke Highway Trust Fund means job losses equal to Denver’s population, President Obama warns
Speaking today at the Key Bridge in Washington, DC, President Obama called on Congress to save the Highway Trust Fund from its pending insolvency, and to adopt a long-term transportation bill on the scale of his proposed four-year, $302 billion program. [Full text here.] In doing so, he retraced the bipartisan history of transportation funding […]
U.S. DOT offers great proposals, but the program needs more money to make them real
The Obama Administration last week unveiled its bid to save the federal transportation program with only months to spare before most states and metro areas lose the majority of their funding to maintain and improve transportation networks – unless Congress acts. While the Administration foreshadowed its priorities in its March budget request, the proposal – […]
Summary of the President’s budget for transportation
This week President Obama released his proposal for next fiscal year’s budget (FY15), outlining his vision and priorities for the coming fiscal year starting this October. The President’s budget for transportation, which aligns with many things that Transportation for America and our alliance of local leaders across the country have been proposing — from the need to shore up the trust fund to the urgent economic imperative to make new investments in transportation at all levels.
SOTU followup: Does transportation offer a glimmer of bipartisan hope?
As we noted in our statement after the State of the Union address Tuesday night, it was good to hear the President again cite the need to steer new revenue toward “rebuilding our roads, upgrading our ports, unclogging our commutes”. He didn’t say much beyond that, of course, but given other developments in the background, we have reason to be somewhat encouraged.
White House launches advisory group on rural issues that includes transportation officials
President Obama signed an executive order today creating an advisory group for rural issues. The group will be tasked with developing recommendations for boosting economic growth, job opportunities and quality of life in rural communities. The Executive Order notes that sixteen percent of the population lives in rural counties and that these areas are essential […]
Government shutdown averted in last-minute budget deal, with some cuts to transportation
Down-to-the-wire negotiations late last night between President Obama, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid resulted in a budget deal containing about $38 billion in reductions from current spending levels and the prevention of a government shutdown. The High Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail program will receive $1 billion, a reduction of $1.5 billion from the previous year, and the New Starts program — a key revenue source for transit projects throughout the country — loses $280 million, though the figure is reportedly sufficient to fund projects that have already received grants from USDOT.
President Obama proposes $556 billion, six-year federal transportation program
President Obama released a budget for fiscal year 2012 this morning that includes a significant boost to our nation’s infrastructure and a long-overdue emphasis on options and accountability. The $556 billion, six-year proposal is an ambitious standout in a largely sober blueprint.
More infrastructure investment will create jobs, boost economy, according to Treasury Sec. Geithner
U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner hammered on the job-creation and economy-boosting effects of the Obama administration’s plan for infrastructure investment in a blog post on the department’s website. Writing the same day Vice President Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood were in Philadelphia promoting a $53 billion, 6-year passenger rail package, Geithner argued that investing in our nation’s roads, bridges, rail and transit systems creates “both immediate and long-term economic benefits.”
Vice President Biden makes the case for rail, cites T4 America co-chair’s hometown as an example
Vice President Joe Biden made an emphatic case for high-speed rail in Philadelphia today as the Obama administration kicks off series of events to highlight the need for infrastructure investment. The Vice President singled out Meridian, Mississippi mayor and T4 America campaign co-chair John Robert Smith, who served his hometown for four terms.
President Obama calls for fixing 20th century infrastructure while building for the 21st
The theme of President Obama’s State of the Union address last night was winning the future, and investing in America’s infrastructure was an integral part of it. Other nations have outpaced our investment in roads and railways, and our own engineers have graded our infrastructure a “D,” he noted.
DOT poised to move on a long-term transportation bill in 2011?
When President Obama made his announcement on Labor Day about investing in infrastructure, most media outlets focused in directly on the $50 billion amount that would be spent up front to jumpstart infrastructure investment — something we already noted last week. But he also talked about the need for a reformed long-term transportation reauthorization, the full six-year bill that would provide certainty to job creation and the economy. So the million dollar question has been, when will we see this bill?
Innovation and competition make the housing-transportation connection work
A map of the Chicago Transit Authority system. Note: a version of this post was also published on the National Journal’s Transportation Experts blog. This country is in desperate need of innovation. We are still mired in a recession triggered by a collapse in real estate that was driven in no small part by the […]
President Obama hails high-speed rail as “the infrastructure of tomorrow”
Hearing President Obama call high-speed rail “the infrastructure of tomorrow” gave me great hope. Very rarely has transportation investment made the final cut in a presidential State of the Union address. The fact that it did make the cut this time really speaks to the president’s commitment to making high-speed rail a reality.
High speed rail grantees awarded, was your state included?
As you may have heard by now, President Obama is following up his favorable mention of high speed rail in last night’s State of the Union Last with a Tampa event in Tampa to announce the winners of federal grants for high speed rail service. (In case you missed our official statement about the announcement, read that here.) The President is due to make his announcement this afternoon but the list of awardees has already been released. So who were the big winners? Certainly Florida and California, who got the biggest grants, netting $1.25 and $2.3 billion respectively.
Administration releases their principles for an 18-month transportation bill
When DOT Secretary LaHood was on Capitol Hill a few weeks ago discussing the Obama Administration’s plan for a transitional transportation bill, he mentioned that their plan for an 18-month extension would “enact critical reforms” while stopping short of a fundamental overhaul of the program — leaving that for the full six-year bill. A lot of transportation advocates were left wondering what sort of reforms the administration would propose. Today we got a first look at their general proposal.
More on today’s high speed rail announcement
President Obama’s remarks from the press conference this morning have been posted on the White House blog. In his remarks, joined by Vice President Biden and Transportation Secretary LaHood, Obama appealed to our national pride and pointed to the benefits that high-speed rail would bring to all Americans: There’s no reason why we can’t do […]
President Obama: “I would like to see some long-term reforms in how transportation dollars flow…”
President Obama gave an interview to five columnists aboard Air Force One last week, talking at length about infrastructure, transportation, and the need to make serious reforms in transportation spending — hinting at how proper investments in transportation can help boost the economy while making the downpayment on a 21st Century transportation system we’re all hoping for.
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