Recent Developments on Federal Transportation Legislation and Urban Policy in Washington DC

Here’s a round-up of legislative updates and policy developments on the Hill, from Transportation for America.

T-bill: 3 competing visions

· “Build to Win the Future”– Obama’s call for $556B, 6 year bill

· “Live Within Our Means” – Mica’s call for a modest $230-250B, 6 year bill (6% smaller than SAFETEA-LU)

· “Slash & Burn” – House Majority’s spending bill with deep cuts to transit, including $430M cut to New Starts, elimination of TIGER and HSR programs

· Chairman Mica is holding field hearings in Rochester and Cortland this Thursday March 24^th.

How will we pay for it?

· LaHood continues to stonewall questions from press and members of Congress regarding how the Administration plans to pay for its ambitious t-bill. His response: “We look forward to working with Congress on that.”

· Streetsblog wants to know – “When does the working with Congress part actually begin?”

Transit & Gas Prices

· Rising gas prices = more people taking transit

· APTA analysis:

o Gas prices at $4/gallon would result in 670 million additional transit trips.

o American families can save on average $825/month by taking transit.

· New poll by Consumer Federation of America finds raising fuel prices hitting middle class families hard.

· Mica tells transit officials, “funding for transit is going to have to stay the same” and transit agencies “will have to be much more creative and look at consolidation of some of their operations.” (MTR)

· Rep. LaTourette (R-OH) says transit advocates would be “nuts” not to ask for additional transit funding. When it comes to Congress tackling t-bill, “everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.”

HSR

· Sen. Lautenberg launches a rail caucus.

· NE corridor is now a HSR corridor. The designation means that Amtrak can apply directly for high-speed rail funding — as opposed to states applying individually for their segment of the line.

· Florida’s rejected HSR money is up for grabs, applications due April 4^th. Governor Malloy is lobbying DC for that money!

National Infrastructure Bank

· Sen. Kerry introduces a bipartisan infrastructure bank bill.

· Bipartisan support for infrastructure bank grows.

Budget Battle

· House & Senate pass another 3 week stop gap measure to keep federal government running, with another round of $6B in spending cuts.

· New budget deadline: April 8

T4 Campaign

· National bridge report – release March 30

· T4’s asking coalition to contact Senators to protect transportation programs in budget negotiations with the House.