Recent Streetsblog SF posts about U.S. Senate

Transportation Reform Is Health Reform

By Elana Schor | Jul 17, 2009 | No Comments

During the Washington budget debate earlier this year, a phrase widely attributed to White House budget director Peter Orszag was rolling off many a reporter’s keyboard: "Health reform is entitlement reform." Orszag’s idea, in a nutshell, is that controlling the nation’s skyrocketing health care costs, which are fueled in part by the obesity epidemic, would […]

Senate Starts Climate Push With Nods to Jobs, Energy, and Transportation

By Elana Schor | Jul 7, 2009 | No Comments

Total U.S. emissions in 2007, with transportation in blue at right. (Photo: FHWA) The Senate is taking its first public steps toward combating climate change — and while the U.S. DOT was absent from this morning’s hearing, the chiefs of the Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency reminded lawmakers that transportation must play a key […]

Senate Poised to Move on Climate Bill

By Elana Schor | Jun 24, 2009 | No Comments

Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, isn’t yet ready to start debating a long-term transportation bill — but she is reportedly prepared to move on climate change legislation that includes targets for diminishing auto dependence and encouraging transit use. Boxer’s panel will begin debate on its climate bill during […]

The High-Speed Rail Numbers Game: Is $13 Billion and 110 MPH Enough?

By Elana Schor | Jun 24, 2009 | 7 Comments

High-speed rail is one of the Obama administration’s most prized policy goals, with $13 billion getting earmarked in the coming year alone to help break ground on up to 11 proposed regional corridors. But what will the U.S. get for its money? A lively Senate hearing yesterday attempted to answer that question. Will all 11 […]

Sen Boxer Seeks Rail Safety Funds after DC Crash

By Elana Schor | Jun 23, 2009 | No Comments

Mere hours after the Washington Metro system suffered a shocking accident, two senior senators released a letter to their colleagues asking for $50 million in grants to improve rail safety technology. The scene of yesterday’s D.C. Metro crash. (Photo: NYT) The letter was sent by two chairmen with a central role in transportation policy — […]

Congress Agrees to Keep Transit Operating Aid in War Bill

By Elana Schor | Jun 12, 2009 | 1 Comment

(Photo: Model D Media) House and Senate negotiators struck a deal last night on a $106 billion war spending bill that also gives cash-strapped transit agencies the ability to use 10 percent of their economic stimulus grants to pay operating costs. The issue of operating costs has heated up in recent weeks, with local transit […]