A Day of Action to Stop the Attack on Transit, Biking, and Walking
Today is a national day of action to oppose the House GOP transportation bill, with Transportation for America, Rails to Trails, Bikes Belong, the Natural Resources Defense Council and many other organizations mobilizing against the extreme attack on transit, biking and walking. They are urging people to contact their representatives and support a sane, sustainable transportation policy by rejecting this radical proposal.
The House GOP bill would leave transit riders stranded. Photo: ##http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifmuth/3502514351/sizes/m/in/photostream/##ifmuth/Flickr##
Streetsblog Network members are on the case: Darla at Walk Bike Lee, in Lee County Florida, says the bill unfairly pillages the pittance given to sustainable transportation modes and urges her readers to voice their concerns to Rep. Connie Mack. Yonah Freemark at The Transport Politic says the bill is the pinnacle of bad transportation policy. And Daniel Nairn at Discovering Urbanism writes that is tailored to the interests of oil companies, not your average citizen.
Opposition to the proposal is starting to emanate from editorial pages: The New York Times and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have called it "terrible" and "not worthy of passage."
Meanwhile, Deron Lovaas at the NRDC's Switchboard blog points out that House GOP bill doesn't even pass the rudimentary test of fiscal discipline. Congressional Budget Office projections show that John Boehner's plan to plug the transportation funding shortfall with $2 billion in oil drilling revenues only kicks the can down the road:
The bill is larded with extreme measures, including bills passed last week that would annihilate dedicated funding for public transportation (see a report on that here) for the first time in thirty years, slash public oversight required thanks to the 40-year-old National Environmental Policy Act and for the first time ever tie the federal transportation program to speculative drilling revenue.
These bills touted as the panacea for a revenue-starved transportation program don't prop the program up at all! As Taxpayers for Common Sense has noted this is fiscally reckless. And as they, along with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Reason Foundation and NRDC have noted, it violates the "user pays" funding principle that has underpinned transportation investments for at least the past half-century.
Fiscally reckless. Environmentally damaging. Attacks anyone who rides transit, walks, or bikes by swiping funding for those options. It's time to kill this bill.
Six Lies the GOP Is Telling About the House Transportation Bill
By Ben Fried and Ben Goldman	| Feb 9, 2012
The transportation-plus-drilling bill that John Boehner and company are trying to ram through the House is an attack on transit riders, pedestrians, cyclists, city dwellers, and every American who can't afford to drive everywhere. Under this bill, all the dedicated federal funding streams for transit, biking, and walking would disappear, leading to widespread service cuts […]
Top House Dem on Transportation, Nick Rahall, Lost His Seat. That's OK.
By Tanya Snyder	| Nov 5, 2014
Four years ago, another stunning night of GOP victories took out Representative Jim Oberstar, the Minnesota Democrat who chaired the House Transportation Committee. Had Oberstar kept his seat, the new GOP majority would have cost him the gavel, but he would have continued as ranking Democrat. Instead, Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia coal country […]
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The forecasting models were right: As the polls closed last night it quickly became apparent that Republicans will gain control of the Senate, occupying at least 52 seats. The implications for transportation are immense. To understand what they are, first let's look at what last night means for the prospects for a new transportation bill next […]
GOP Relief Bill Gives $0 to Transit
By Kea Wilson	| Jul 28, 2020
Nope, not even a penny.
GOP Appropriations Bill Would Turn TIGER Into a Roads Program
By Tanya Snyder	| May 7, 2014
As the president's transportation proposal fades from the news cycle and we eagerly await the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's six-year reauthorization bill, here comes the House Republicans' proposed budget for transportation and housing for next year. Note: What the House GOP released yesterday wasn't an authorization bill but an appropriations bill for 2015. […]
GOP Victory Could Imperil Bike-Ped Funding and Transportation Reforms
By Daniel de Zeeuw	| Oct 29, 2010
Daniel de Zeeuw is the Campaign Coordinator for America Bikes, which advocates for bike and pedestrian infrastructure in the federal transportation bill. Streetsblog asked him to tell our readers about the conversations he's been hearing about the outlook for the transportation bill after the election. With Election Day expected to bring the GOP big gains […]