Tanya Snyder

The Senate's transportation budget proposal is still under wraps, but we're getting some clues about what's in it.

A Senate panel will vote today on two budget bills for FY2012, one of which is for transportation and housing programs. The draft of the bill isn't available until after the subcommittee markup today, but Smart Growth America is calling attention to the fact that it's important to make sure the bill includes funding for the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, the partnership between USDOT, the EPA, and HUD.

In a Rose Garden speech this morning, President Obama soundly rejected Republicans’ push to address the deficit exclusively through spending cuts with no tax increases. He was responding to House Speaker John Boehner, who said last week that tax increases were “off the table.” The outcome of the current deficit-cutting fight could have significant implications for transportation-related proposals like the national infrastructure bank, which Obama included in his recently-unveiled American Jobs Act.

Seems like bicycling heroes are coming out of the woodwork these days. I'd missed this in all the coverage of the extension, but was gratified to see that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's opposition to Sen. Coburn's machinations weren't just in the interest of smooth procedure. The man actually cares about bike/ped issues.

Under the headline, "Okay, Fine, It's War,” Seattle’s The Stranger blog this week published a manifesto “of and by the nondrivers themselves.” They’re sick of being called “militants” for caring about pedestrian safety, and they’re tired of the specter of a “war on cars.”

UPDATED with comments from Sen. Tom Coburn's staff.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and lead champion for the transportation bill, just spoke on the Senate floor. I didn't catch all of it, but I tuned in when she was upbraiding her Republican colleagues (read: Sen. Tom Coburn) for holding up the transportation bill.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has placed a "hold" on the transportation extension, along with a bill to continue sanctions against Burma and to provide disaster relief to areas affected by Hurricane Irene and other storms.

For the last few days, we've been talking a lot about Sen. Tom Coburn's crusade to remove bike/ped funding from the transportation bill -- even just from the six-month extension that just passed the House and is on its way to the Senate. He's determined to insert an amendment to take out the funds.