Senate Health Bill Approved: What it Means for Transportation

After 14 months of drama, deal-making, and declarations
of its demise, the health care legislation envisioned by President
Obama and congressional Democrats finally
cleared its biggest hurdle last night, with the House approving the
Senate-passed measure on a 219-212 vote.

Safe Routes to School programs, such
as this one, could see a boost from the health bill’s grant program.
(Photo: CA
DOT)

The process isn’t quite finished yet — the Senate still must take
up a series of tweaks to its original bill under the filibuster-proof
reconciliation framework for debate — but the meat of the upper
chamber’s health proposal is set to become law by week’s end.

Once that occurs, a new pool of federal “Community Transformation”
grants would be established, with local governments and nonprofit groups
eligible for a share of the funding. As Streetsblog Capitol Hill noted
back in November, the grants would go towards projects that support
public health, including “activities to prevent chronic diseases” and
“the infrastructure to support active living.”

In practice, that could result in new funding available for
bike-ped improvements or programs that encourage safe transportation for
young students, such as Safe
Routes to School.

The Senate bill also recognizes transportation’s role in public
health by giving the U.S. DOT a seat on a new National Prevention,
Health Promotion and Public Health Council that would coordinate federal
wellness policy.