I once heard a story about the communication strategy of the Kennedy-era White House. Their rules were simple: Never write a letter when a phone call will do. Never make a phone call when a meeting will do. Never have a meeting when a handshake will do. Never shake a…
September 13, 2019 – Congress was back in town this week and the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit jumped in with a timely hearing on congestion pricing and tolling. Charging a fee for the busiest parts of the roadway network reduces demand and travelers seek alternative routes or modes of travel.
September 13, 2019 – Yesterday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $48.9 billion Energy and Water Development appropriations bill for fiscal year 2020 that appropriates $7.75 billion for the water resources program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Tuesday, September 17 – Senate Appropriation – Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing – subcommittee business meeting to markup the draft Transportation-HUD appropriations bill for FY 2020 – 11:30 a.m., SD-192 Dirksen. Wednesday, September 18 – Senate Environment and Public Works – full committee hearing on improving American economic competitiveness through…
September 12, 2019 – Today, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a plan to split $1.3 trillion in discretionary spending for fiscal year 2020 amongst its twelve subcommittees, each of which will now try to produce a spending bill.
September 12, 2019 – A draft of a stopgap continuing appropriations measure for the opening days of fiscal year 2020 does not repeal the July 1, 2020 rescission of $7.6 billion in highway contract authority but does delay across-the-board cuts in mass transit apportionments for 2020 and makes a key change in appropriations language for the mass transit Capital Investment Grants program.
September 9, 1959 – On this day 60 years ago – September 9, 1959 – the White House announced that President Eisenhower was requesting a bailout of the Highway Trust Fund – a $359 million “repayable advance” appropriation from the general fund of the Treasury. To celebrate this inauspicious anniversary, ETW has published a series of three in-depth articles, based on original documents from the Eisenhower Presidential Library and the records of the Commerce and Treasury Departments, the Bureau of the Budget, and the House Ways and Means Committee at the National Archives. The articles explore how the Trust Fund was spent into near-insolvency and how Congress and the Eisenhower Administration fixed it.
The conclusion of this series examines how the Eisenhower Administration was able to force a gasoline tax increase on an extremely reluctant Congress in July-September 1959.
September 6, 2019 –
September 6, 2019 – The sponsors of the proposed Hudson River Tunnel replacement project on August 23 announced that they have submitted a revised financial plan to the Federal Transit Administration that lowers the cost of the project by $1.4 billion.