Posts Tagged ‘Innovation Newsbriefs’

What Lies Ahead for Transportation in 2012?

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

Innovation NewsBriefs Vol. 23, No. 1 As we enter 2012 ( and begin our 23rd year of publication), we wish our readers the best in the New Year! As befits this time of year, our thoughts turn to the events that await us in the days ahead. Putting aside the major imponderable — the outcome [...]

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The Troubled Future of the California High-Speed Rail Project

Monday, December 19th, 2011

Vol. 22, No. 34
A congressional oversight hearing, focused on the concerns surrounding the troubled California high-speed rail project, cast new doubts on the likelihood of the project’s political survival.

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The High-Speed Rail Program Under Congressional Scrutiny

Thursday, December 8th, 2011

Innovation NewsBriefs Vol. 22, No. 32 A combative Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood defended the Administration’s high-speed rail program at a December 6 oversight hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to discuss congressional concerns with the program’s direction and focus. “We will not be dissuaded by the naysayers and the critics,” LaHood said heatedly. [...]

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The Precarious State of the Highway Trust Fund

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

On November 18, President Obama signed into law a bundle of appropriation bills for FY 2012 including appropriations for the U.S. Department of Transportation. The measure had been passed earlier in the House by a vote of 298-121 and in the Senate by a vote of 70-30.

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California’s Bullet Train in the Court of Public Opinion

Monday, November 14th, 2011

Innovation NewsBriefs Vol. 22, No. 31 California’s Bullet Train in the Court of Public Opinion A business plan released on November 1 by the the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA), has placed the price tag for the LA-SF bullet train project at $98 billion— trippling the $33 billion estimate provided in 2008 in the voter-approved [...]

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A First Tentative Step Toward Reauthorization

Thursday, November 10th, 2011

Innovation NewsBriefs
Vol. 22, No. 30
Last month we noted some encouraging signs, based on informal indications, of a narrowing of the partisan divide in congressional posture toward transportation legislation (“Bridging the Partisan Divide,” Innovation NewsBriefs, October 10, 2011). The unanimous vote of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) on November 9 to approve the highway portion of the surface transportation reauthorization bill (S. 1813) has confirmed our initial impression.

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For High-Speed Rail It Looks Like the End of the Line

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

Innovation NewsBriefs Vol. 22 No. 27 With its vote on September 21, the Senate Appropriations Committee ended the rail boosters’ hopes of getting a meaningful appropriation for high-speed rail in the new (FY 2012) fiscal year. It probably also dealt a decisive death blow to President Obama’s loopy goal of “giving 80 percent of Americans [...]

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Legislative Prospects for the Transportation Bill: An Update

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

The continuing stalemate over FAA funding offers a foretaste of what awaits us in September when Congress will get down to discussing the transportation bill. Only the stakes will be much higher and the consequences of a deadlock much more serious. That is the sober assessment offered by seasoned Washington observers on both sides of the political divide.

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Will Negotiations on the Transportation Bill End Up in a Stalemate?

Monday, August 8th, 2011

Innovation NewsBriefs Vol. 22, No. 22 “I don’t see any momentum for more compromise after this deal than there was before. Maybe less.” Mark Halperin on MSNBC. “I’m going to use every lever possible…whatever it takes to get long-term authorization.” Rep. John Mica, Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (quoted in WSJ, August [...]

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The Senate Transportation Bill Lacks Political Momentum

Monday, July 25th, 2011

Innovation NewsBriefs Vol. 22 No. 20 The release by the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee of its reauthorization proposal and its July 21 hearing on “Legislative Issues for Transportation Reauthorization” were greeted with a muted reaction. Despite Sen. Boxer’s official optimism, we have encountered widespread skepticism about the bill’s chances of gaining political [...]

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