Federal Stimulus Plan
Top Categories
Obama Includes Infra Bank in His Jobs Push; Mica Rejects It Out of Hand
Last night, President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress to present his new jobs plan, a bill he’s calling the American Jobs Act. He relied on the well-worn appeal to people’s patriotic competitiveness by pointing out that China is improving its infrastructure while the U.S. is sitting idly by. Without mentioning the dollar figure (psst… it’s $50 billion) he said he’d get construction workers back on the job rebuilding transportation infrastructure and schools:
September 9, 2011
Republicans Line Up to Oppose Obama’s Transportation Proposal
The critical multi-year transportation bill, which lawmakers have sidelined since last summer as they've quarreled about how to pay for it, looks to be back on the agenda after President Obama's pugnacious Labor Day speech, in which he called on Congress to ramp up investment in transportation. The broad outline of Obama's plan calls for rebuilding 150,000 miles of roads, constructing 4,000 miles of rail, and rehabilitating 150 miles of runway over the next six years.
September 8, 2010
House Set to Pass Jobs Bill With Changes, Prompting Another Senate Vote
The House has just begun voting on the Senate jobs bill, which includes a $20 billion reprieve for the nation's highway trust fund and an highway expansion of Build America Bonds -- but though the legislation is expected to pass, it won't be headed to the president's desk yet.
March 4, 2010
Moody’s Gifts Fossil-Fuel States With Positive Credit Outlook
Comparing the falloff in state tax revenue to shifts in total unemployment. (Chart: Moody’s) Credit-rating agencies — particularly Moody’s and S&P, the nation’s two premier shops — wield significant influence over the financial health of private companies. But state and local officials are often equally dependent on good credit ratings to borrow money for transportation … Continued
March 4, 2010
TCS: Disputed Transport Provision in Jobs Bill Rewarded Political Clout
A provision in the Senate jobs bill that would distribute $932 million in 2010 transportation funding based on existing earmarks is in line for a quick fix, thanks to a deal
struck on Friday between House transportation committee chairman Jim
Oberstar (D-MN) and Democratic leaders in the upper chamber.
March 2, 2010
Transportation Filibuster Update: Bunning Won’t Yield to Fellow GOPer
Federal infrastructure funding and many U.S. DOT workers remain in
limbo today as Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) continues his one-man filibuster
of legislation extending the 2005 transport law, turning himself into a
Democratic target and a poster child for Washington gridlock.
March 2, 2010
Little-Known Provision in Senate Jobs Bill Could Spark House Resistance
The Senate passed its jobs bill today by a 70-28 vote,
bringing Congress one step closer to a $20 billion transfer that would
keep the nation's highway trust fund solvent until 2011 and extend the
2005 federal transportation law.
February 24, 2010
House Lawmakers Hail Transportation Stimulus — But Add Three Caveats
At a House transportation committee hearing today that marked the
one-year anniversary of the Obama administration's economic recovery
efforts, lawmakers offered praise for the stimulus law's impact on
local infrastructure investments even as they hit upon three key areas
of concern with its implementation.
February 23, 2010
The Upside of GOP ‘Hypocrisy’ on Transportation Stimulus Grants
To call Rep. Pete Sessions (TX), chairman of the House Republican
campaign committee, a critic of the Obama administration's stimulus law
would be putting it mildly. Sessions marked the one-year anniversary of
the law's passage last week by labeling the stimulus a "massive spending binge" that only "allegedly" created jobs in his district.
February 22, 2010