Federal Transportation Policy Updates from T4America

New Updates for December 2010:

Transportation Bill

· House passes SAFETEA-LU extension till Oct 2011 (as part of an overall Continuing Resolution package that keeps federal government running till next fiscal year) – here, here and here.

· Senate will likely pass a stop-gap spending bill to keep govn’t running till early next year that will include another SAFETEA-LU extension.

· T4’s press release in response to the 9 month extension.

· Brookings Institute offers a blueprint for a 2 year transportation bill under GOP control.

· TransportPolitic offers a sobering analysis on the 112^th Congress:

“a two-year reauthorization may be the only feasible option for now, as the Congress seems likely to spend most of the next two years fighting over what programs to cut to pay for to the just-agreed-upon $858 billion federal tax cut, seeing as how revenue increases are on no one’s agenda. Serious thinking about improving the nation’s transportation infrastructure will be delayed.”

Committees

· Rep. Mica (R-FL), chair of House T&I committee names new GOP members of T&I.

· Mica has austerity in mind, could be bad news for transit.

Transit

· Transit riders keep the same benefit as drivers for another year. Senators Schumer, Menendez and Dodd’s staff worked hard to extend the commuter transit benefit in the overall tax package. Tell them thanks if you get a chance!

Reports

· SGA/NRDC’s new report “Getting Back on Track: Climate Change and State Transportation Policy” – ranking in terms of best climate friendly transportation policies in the country: #3 NJ, #4 CT, #21 NY.

· US Govn’t Accountability Office’s new report “Statewide Transportation Planning: Opportunities Exist to Transition to Performance Based Planning.”