Elana Schor
Recent Posts
Senate to Take Up Mysterious ‘Jobs Bill’ — Is Infrastructure in the Mix?
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The notion of a "front-loaded" infrastructure bill to counter the rising U.S. unemployment rate has been circulating in Washington for some time, though solid details on such a measure have yet to emerge. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) (Photo: LV City Life) The talk took a new turn yesterday, when Senate Majority Leader Harry […]
Meet the Obama Administration’s New Clean Energy Loan Man
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The Department of Energy (DoE) yesterday chose venture capitalist Jonathan Silver to head up its loan programs, which include $25 billion in loan guarantees for low-emissions cars and $32 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy projects. Jonathan Silver (Photo: DC Business Journal) Silver may have his work cut out for him on the latter […]
Chrysler: Taking Taxpayer Money and Running Away From Cleaner Cars
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(Chart: Chrysler Restructuring Plan) When Chrysler asked the government for a second round of bailout money in February, it submitted a 177-page restructuring plan that vowed to usher in a new era of fuel-efficient vehicles at the famously gas-chugging automaker. The chart above, taken from that restructuring plan, shows six models of electric and hybrid […]
Clinton’s Budget Director Backs Congestion Pricing, VMT Tax
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Alice Rivlin, now at the Brookings Institution, is one of the capital’s most experienced economic hands. Alice Rivlin (Photo: Brookings) She served as the founding director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and former President Clinton’s budget director before moving on to become vice chairman of the Federal Reserve. During the economic stimulus debate earlier […]
Grassley: ‘Two or Three Other’ Republicans Open to Climate Change Deal
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The Senate’s propensity for filibusters, delay, and fruitless attempts at bipartisan deal-making is earning it quite the reputation these days. And climate change legislation, with its big-ticket implications for transit and urban development in general, is becoming increasingly caught up in the Senate’s peripatetic politics. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) (Photo: CNN) The Finance Committee held […]
Why Urban Residents Have a Bone to Pick With Vitter and Bennett
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In a development that flew largely under the radar on Thursday, the Senate beat back an attempt by David Vitter (R-LA) and Bob Bennett (R-UT) to add a citizenship question to the 2010 U.S. Census, with the goal of no longer counting non-citizens as part of states’ official populations. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) (Photo: Chattahbox) […]
The Wall Street Transportation Tax: Predictably Unpopular On Wall Street
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As Congress mulls over solutions to the nation’s transportation funding gap, with an eye to passing new infrastructure legislation to reverse the rising unemployment rate, Rep. Pete DeFazio’s (D-OR) proposed tax on oil futures is picking up new fans in high places. Rep. Pete DeFazio (D-OR) (Photo: UPI) DeFazio’s legislation would levy a 0.2 percent […]
New Report Maps the Gap Between Pedestrian Risks and Federal Safety Aid
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The top 10 most dangerous cities for pedestrians. (Chart: Dangerous by Design report) If the equivalent of one jumbo jet full of Americans died every month, the resulting public outcry would be deafening. Or would it? Anne Canby, the former Delaware transportation secretary who heads the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership (STPP), raised that question today […]
‘The Concrete is Cracking’: Front-Loaded New Transport Bill Gains Steam
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With the U.S. unemployment rate hitting 10.2 percent today, its highest level in 26 years, a palpable shift is occurring on Capitol Hill. House transportation chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) (Photo: STLToday) For weeks, we’ve heard senior Democrats and the transit industry make the case for more transportation spending as a potent job creator, but the […]
How Important is a United Front on the Climate Bill?
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As fans of clean transportation and sustainable development join the push for a strong climate change bill to emerge from Congress, it’s worth remembering that not all environmental groups support the approach congressional Democrats have chosen. Senate Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) (Photo: AP) Friends of the Earth (FoE) joined Greenpeace in opposing the House […]
Boxer Okays Senate Climate Bill, Without Amendments or GOP
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The Senate environment committee approved its climate change bill today on an 11-1 vote, shrugging off a boycott by all of the panel’s Republicans but missing out on the chance to consider amendments to the lengthy legislation. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) (Photo: AP) The environment panel’s chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) had offered Republicans several days […]
Amtrak, Virginia Railway Express, and the Future of Privately Run Transit
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Virginia Railway Express (VRE), the commuter network that links northwest Virginia to Washington D.C., today refused a challenge by Amtrak to its decision to switch operating providers to the U.S. arm of Keolis, a private French transit company. Chicago’s earliest rail transit line, pictured here, was run by a private company. (Photo: Franzosenbusch Project) Although […]