{"id":28210,"date":"2012-02-03T08:18:44","date_gmt":"2012-02-03T13:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=28210"},"modified":"2012-02-03T08:18:44","modified_gmt":"2012-02-03T13:18:44","slug":"house-gop-trying-to-take-away-your-transportation-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/house-gop-trying-to-take-away-your-transportation-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"House GOP Trying to Take Away Your Transportation Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"boehner<\/a><\/p>\n

The total loonies in the Republican branch of the House of Representatives have tossed a bill on the American public that basically attacks every form of transportation other than the automobile. It\u2019s insane. Even some top Republicans have admonished it.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some more info from Streesblog, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), and others on these two bills:<\/p>\n

Jobs<\/strong><\/h3>\n

First, let me note this: while the House transportation bill has \u201cjobs\u201d in the title (\u201cThe American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act\u201d), it is a complete assault on transportation-related jobs.<\/p>\n

Bike projects create more jobs per $1 spent than new road projects. So do transit projects. So do pedestrian projects. And so do road repair and maintenance projects. Yet, this bill heavily, heavily favors new road projects above all of those, and effectively kills decades of support for alternative transportation.<\/p>\n

House Transportation Disaster Bill<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Basicallly, this bill is being used as a political tool by House Speaker John Boehner. Or, he and John Mica, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, are completely insane about what they think the Senate and the U.S. public will accept.<\/p>\n

The House bill, an 800-page document, would effectively remove freedom of transportation choice from the U.S. citizenry. It attacks public transit<\/a>, bicycling<\/a>, and walking like no bill ever has.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn behalf of the 1,500 members of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and Americans who take more than 10 billion public transit trips annually, we are strongly opposed to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee proposal to divert $25 billion in dedicated fuels tax revenues from the Mass Transit Account. This represents nearly 50 percent of the federal investment in public transit authorized by the House surface transportation bill. This drastic change will clearly put public transportation projects at risk,\u201d APTA writes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis proposal seeks to undo nearly 30 years of overwhelming bipartisan support for dedicated federal investment in public transit. Since 1983, under President Ronald Reagan, fuels tax revenues have been dedicated to public transit through the Mass Transit Account of the surface transportation legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call on Congress to continue the long-standing highway and public transit financing partnership in place today so that our country can continue to create American jobs and foster economic growth, as well as rebuild our aging infrastructure and meet the growing demand for improved and expanded transportation.\u201d<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s a complete take-down of the transportation disaster from Andy Clarke of the League of the American Bicyclists<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Surely all this money comes with a big vision and plan, right? Wrong. The bill has no vision or discernible direction short of just handing the keys of the car over to the State DOTs. Of course, it is purportedly about the safety of the traveling public \u2013 yet prohibits the funding of red light or speed cameras; eliminates the Safe Routes to School program, and allocates ten times more funding to increasing and speeding up traffic than it does to safety projects. Of course, it is supposedly about relieving congestion \u2013 yet eliminates most of the funding for any alternatives to driving alone and promises more and bigger highways for more and bigger vehicles which results in, if the last 60 years of evidence is anything to go by, more people getting stuck in traffic for longer than ever.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the bill is about jobs and infrastructure? For sure, it\u2019s about building a lot of highways. Unfortunately, it\u2019s not so much about rebuilding and repairing the highways we\u2019ve already got, which is an admirable goal we can all share AND sustains more jobs than building new highways we then can\u2019t afford to maintain. And sadly there is NO place in the bill for cost-effective programs to create a more walk-able and bike-able transportation system for people that also creates more jobs per dollar spent than new highways.<\/p>\n

Of course, we\u2019re biased. The bill would be a disaster for bicycling and walking programs, because they are all gone. That should matter to you whether you ride a bike or not (we\u2019re going to assume that you do walk and need to get across the street every now and then) because the principles of local control, providing transportation choices, and improving the quality of life in communities are important way beyond the bicycling community. That\u2019s what investing in bicycling and walking is all about.<\/p>\n

The tiny sliver of funding \u2013 just 1.5 percent \u2013 currently carved out to serve the needs of people making 12% of trips and comprising 14% of fatal crash victims, clearly is a major irritant to these agencies and their political allies. No doubt they will celebrate the return of this money and each of the 50 agencies can build another few hundred feet of Interstate instead\u2026But it all adds up, right. Because they are also getting back all the money from discretionary programs and a 5% bonus from those high priority projects that won\u2019t be foisted on them this time around.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

More from Clarke:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/youtu.be\/H_fQ8L8DWtQ<\/p>\n

And you can see the list in text here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Senate Transportation Bill<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Meanwhile, the Senate Banking Committee has actually unanimously passed a two-year transportation bill with bi-partisan approval.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bill includes some reforms \u2014 such as allowing federal funds to be spent on transit operations<\/a> \u2014 that transit advocates have been pushing for,\u201d Streetsblog DC notes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Senate bill\u2019s progress draws a stark contrast with the legislative efforts underway in the House. The House bill has also moved forward at an aggressive pace, but it has looked worse and worse at every step. The most recent revelation, that the bill\u2019s financing component would potentially eviscerate dedicated funding for transit<\/a>, is only the latest in a long line of attacks on walking, biking, and transit.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, \u201cIt\u2019s the worst transportation bill I\u2019ve ever seen during 35 years of public service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: SpeakerBoehner<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The total loonies in the Republican branch of the House of Representatives have tossed a bill on the American public that basically attacks every form of transportation other than the automobile. It\u2019s insane. Even some top Republicans have admonished it. Here\u2019s some more info from Streesblog, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), and others on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,43],"tags":[8468,15766,29743],"spectra_custom_meta":{"_video_thumbnail":["http:\/\/planetsave.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/house-gop-trying-to-take-away-yo.jpg"],"_rpuplugin_enabled":["yes"],"_oembed_83118fb998ef96346481a26be95118c0":["