Congress

New Year, New Congress: Our Resolutions for Federal Policy for Walking, Bicycling, and Safe Routes to School

It’s a new year, and it ushers in a host of new beginnings: the 117th Congress, the Biden Administration, and hopefully an end in sight to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As people all around the world make New Year’s resolutions to improve themselves, we would like to share what we have resolved to work toward on the federal policy front this year.

House Transportation Bill Advances with More Infrastructure Priorities

Since our last federal policy blog two weeks ago covering Committee action, the House transportation bill, the INVEST Act, has expanded and moved forward.  As a reminder, the INVEST Act includes an estimated $7 billion over four years for active transportation projects and improving safety for people biking, walking, and rolling, plus many strong policy changes.  Given this, 32 national organizations joined with the League of American Bicyclists, American Heart Associat

House Transportation Bill Gets Even Better as It Moves through Committee

Over the course of 24 hours spread over two days, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee under the leadership of Chairman DeFazio (D-OR) considered amendments to the INVEST in America Act, which is the House version of the surface transportation reauthorization bill.  Some members were in the Committee room, spaced out for safety, and others Members participated via webcam, while audience members watched via YouTube. 

Federal Policy Hodgepodge: Transportation Spending, GHG Rule, and Updated State Ratings!

After waiting until nearly halfway through FY2018 to set spending levels, Congress is out of the gate quickly on the FY19 appropriations process.  The process of setting spending levels is easier this year, because the FY18 spending package included a two-year agreement on funding levels that were significantly more generous than what the Trump administration had proposed.  As an example, the transportation-housing spending max spending level for FY19 is more than $1 billion higher than the FY18 cap, w

Different Name, Similar Program: TIGER Morphs into BUILD

The US Department of Transportation has announced that the long-standing TIGER program, in which USDOT awards up to $25 million apiece to multimodal transportation projects across the country, has been renamed the BUILD program. The renaming of TIGER signals USDOT’s intention to put the Trump administration’s stamp on it.

It’s Crunch Time for Congress

With the remaining days of the year quickly winding down, Congress has a very short window to address a legislative pileup.

Congress has not yet reached agreement on spending levels for government agencies, with the current extension ending on December 8.  There is likely to be an extension for another few weeks or even until early January.   Negotiations have been challenging, as they include spending levels as well as a resolution to the end of the DACA immigration policy for young people—so a government shutdown is not out of the picture.