Auto dealers lobbied hard to win an exemption from the new consumer protection agency created by Congress’ pending financial reform bill, but their free pass could fall by the wayside today as senior Democrats and President Obama press for a crackdown on deceptive lending practices in all industries. (Photo: AmericaJR.com) The latest salvo in the […]

Environmental groups have long called for a national "fix-it-first" standard to apply to new transportation projects, requiring states to focus on repair of existing infrastructure before constructing new lane miles. The approach has caught on in several state capitals, but not in Washington — except when it comes to water infrastructure. A sign advertising "spring […]

Three months after the Obama administration announced the first winners of what it hopes will be the first of many federal grants to build U.S. high-speed rail networks, advocates and planners are settling in for a long battle to surmount the obstacles and unknowns that stand in the way of long-term bullet train development. If […]

Democrats are moving quickly on their plan to take a unified approach to auto safety reforms in the aftermath of the Toyota recalls, with Senate Commerce Committee members releasing a new bill today that would quintuple the maximum existing penalties for carmakers who — like Toyota — fail to promptly notify the public of defective […]

(Photo: DMI Blog) In the first year of the Obama administration’s economic stimulus law, 59 percent of its $27 billion in transportation formula funds went to projects that preserve existing roads, while 33 percent was used to build new pavement, according to an analysis by the advocacy group Smart Growth America (SGA). The new data, […]

The Obama administration plans to award $775 million in bus transit grants this summer, Federal Transit Administration (FTA) chief Peter Rogoff announced yesterday during a transit industry conference in Ohio. Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff (in hard hat) (Photo: WaPo) The bus grants are aimed at shoring up aging equipment and helping cash-strapped localities modernize […]

After Sen. Scott Brown’s (R-MA) January upset in the race for the congressional seat long held by the late Ted Kennedy, his win was chalked up to several factors: voter reluctance to embrace health care reform, campaign-trail gaffes by the Democratic candidate — and a hyper-folksy ad campaign that featured Brown cruising around the state […]

"Cash for clunkers," the White House’s much-touted program encouraging trade-ins for more fuel-efficient autos, had an "uncertain" impact on economic recovery, according to a new audit from the independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) — largely because it remains unclear how many of the car sales it spurred would have occurred without taxpayer subsidies. Were "clunker" […]