T4America Blog

News, press releases and other updates

Posts Tagged "senate"

T4America thanks Senators Cory Booker and Roger Wicker for their proposal to give local communities greater access to transportation funds

“On behalf of Transportation for America, its members and affiliates and local elected and business leaders, I want to thank Sen. Wicker and Sen. Booker for their leadership today in fighting for the transportation priorities of cities and towns across the country,” said James Corless, director of Transportation for America.

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Senate committee passes six-year transportation bill this morning

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) passed their portion of the transportation reauthorization out of committee this morning after a short one-hour session. The amended six-year $243 billion bill does little to improve on the draft version released earlier this week, but several key amendments yet to come could help correct some of the flaws.

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T4America statement in reaction to the Senate bill to reauthorize the federal transportation program

James Corless, director of Transportation for America, issued this statement in response to the release of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee bill to reauthorize the federal transportation program:

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T4America congratulates Senator Carper on his appointment as chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), has announced the appointment of Senator Thomas R. Carper (D-DE), as chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee. James Corless, director of Transportation for America, issued this statement in response:

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Statement congratulating Senator Baucus on his appointment as the U.S. Ambassador to China

The U.S. Senate Thursday confirmed Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) as U.S. ambassador to China, with Sen. Ron Wyden poised to become the next chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. In response to these developments, Transportation for America Director James Corless issued this statement:

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Transportation for America congratulates Congress on adopting a 2014 budget with solid funding for transportation

Responding to House and Senate adoption of a comprehensive 2014 federal budget, Transportation for America Director James Corless issued this statement:

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Reaction to transportation investment levels in the compromise federal budget bill for fiscal 2014

Proposal increases funding support for locally driven solutions Responding to release of the omnibus bill covering all federal discretionary spending for FY2014 – drafted in accordance with December’s House-Senate budget agreement — Transportation for America Director James Corless issued this statement: “We are very pleased to see that the omnibus bill gave appropriate weight to preserving […]

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Cuts restored, progress possible in critical budget deal

Positive news from Congress today! Yes, you heard right. Just months after budget sequestration and a government shutdown put transportation funding at risk, House leaders have agreed to a budget deal that would provide stable or increased funding for key programs that you’ve helped us defend over the last few years.

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Amendments offered to improve the already solid Senate yearly transportation funding bill

Already standing in sharp contrast to the House’s approach to funding transportation for the next fiscal year, leaders in the Senate are working to further improve the smart Senate transportation funding bill through a handful of amendments to the bill as it reaches the floor.

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As the House aims to slash, tell the Senate to protect money for rail, transit & TIGER in next week’s budget vote

While the House plan for transportation slashes money for passenger rail, new transit construction and innovative TIGER grants, a Senate committee has drafted a budget that increases funding for new transit construction, keeps and expands TIGER, provides support for Amtrak and passenger rail improvements, and funds a new grant program to jumpstart progress on repairing critical bridges.

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Key Senate committee recognizes the importance of passenger rail, TIGER, transit and repairing our nation’s bridges

Less than a week after the release of The Fix We’re In For — our report on the nation’s bridges showing that one in nine US bridges are structurally deficient — a key Senate committee passed a yearly funding bill that provides new money for repairing these deficient bridges across the country.

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Sandy relief bill will provide billions for repairing and improving transportation systems

The Sandy relief bill on the cusp of final passage will provide billions for cleanup and more than $12 billion for transportation — including an unprecedented step toward making transportation networks around the northeast and NYC more resilient in the face of climate change, more frequent and unpredictable storms, and rising water levels.

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Senate budget restores some sanity to transportation programs

Just a few weeks after Rep. Paul Ryan released his House budget that proposed cutting or eliminating many important transportation programs, the key Senate committee’s budget for transportation (and housing) for next year contains some good news. This doesn’t mean that the fight is over for this year — this budget will still have to be reconciled with the House, which is no easy feat. And we’ll have a battle at that point once more. It’s been tougher and tougher in the last few years to pass actual budgets for these individual programs. This year will be no different, especially heading into an election this fall.

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The House proposes painful cuts to transportation, but the Senate still has a chance to repair them now

12 Apr 2012 | Posted by | 1 Comment | ,

Senate Appropriations Committee members list. Take action if you see your state listed. Alabama – Richard Shelby Alaska – Lisa Murkowski Arkansas – Mark Pryor California – Dianne Feinstein Hawaii – Daniel Inouye Illinois – Dick Durbin Illinois – Mark Kirk Indiana – Dan Coats Iowa – Tom Harkin Kansas – Jerry Moran Kentucky – […]

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Full T4 America summary of Senate bill

27 Mar 2012 | Posted by | 0 Comments | ,

While the House considers whether or not to approve some sort of short-term extension or the House version of the Senate MAP-21 transportation bill, we’ve finalized this detailed summary of what’s contained in the Senate bill. It details most everything we know about the provisions in MAP-21, what the funding levels would be, and what […]

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Senate MAP-21 transportation bill amendment tracker

13 Mar 2012 | Posted by | 5 Comments | , , ,

UPDATED 3/14/12 2:00 p.m. The Senate has approved MAP-21 by a strong bipartisan vote of 74-22. All of the amendments below have been voted on, incorporated into the bill through a manager’s amendment, or withdrawn by their sponsors. Read our full statement on the Senate bill. Last week the Senate struck a deal to begin debating […]

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Senate reaches agreement on amendments, will begin debating transportation bill today

8 Mar 2012 | Posted by | 5 Comments | , , ,

Just one day after a procedural vote failed, the Senate reached an agreement that will allow them to begin debating the MAP-21 transportation bill and start voting on amendments today (Thursday). A total of 30 amendments were agreed upon for debate and will be considered by the Senate. Learn more about the amendments and follow along with our handy amendment tracker.

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Updated: Senate improves their bill with three key amendments, but crucial vote looms

5 Mar 2012 | Posted by | 4 Comments | , , ,

Senator Boxer Discusses Transportation with L.A. OfficialsThanks in part to the drumbeat of tweets and messages and letters and phone calls from many of you, the Senate made some important changes last week to strengthen their two-year transportation bill. But with a March 31 deadline still looming for shutdown of all transportation programs without a new bill and a crucial vote scheduled for tomorrow (3/6) at noon, your Senators need to hear now that they must move this bill without delay.

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Senate responds to massive support, adopts several important amendments into overall bill

After getting thousands of phone calls, letters and messages from constituents, mayors, city councilmembers, health and business groups and others spanning the spectrum, the Senate moved three key amendments into the overall Senate bill yesterday, including one that will give local communities more control over their transportation dollars. While there are other amendments that our coalition will continue to work on in the Senate, this is a huge victory and a terrific step forward for strengthening the MAP-21 bill.

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Senate debate beginning; amendment tracker

15 Feb 2012 | Posted by | 6 Comments | , ,

The Senate is scheduled to begin debating their transportation bill (MAP-21) today. We’re going to be keeping a close eye on a handful of amendments that could improve or make damaging changes to the bill as they’re offered, debated and voted on. Save or bookmark this page to keep tabs on these amendments that we’re […]

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