We Did It! Transportation Bill Preserved!

We’ve won – for now!  Thank you to everyone that was able to send e-mails and make phone calls on behalf of keeping Transportation Enhancements and the Safe Routes to School programs intact in the extension of the transportation bill.  You did make a difference – please see the letter below from “America Bikes” that summarizes what we accomplished, and what we need to do next.  However, as detailed below, we’ve just won the initial battle – we will still need to stay on this over the next six months until the extension expires – we’ll keep you posted (but we will try to keep the e-mails to a minimum).

On behalf of FBA and all our partners – thanks again!

Regards,
Tim Bustos

Letter from America Bikes:

Thank you for all your help over the last week beating back the Coburn Amendment.  Together the bicycling community generated over 50,000 emails into the Senate – as well as hundreds, maybe even thousands, of calls. We reached every single Senator and created a buzz in the halls of Congress. I heard from several Senate offices stating their support for the clean extension and for Transportation Enhancements. It was clear that, had Senator Coburn offered his amendment on the floor, it would have lost overwhelmingly.

You may read in the news today that Senator Coburn dropped his amendment because he got a promise from Senator Boxer to make Transportation Enhancements optional in the two year bill.  I’ve gotten several emails today asking if we won the battle but lost the war.  No we haven’t.  We have not lost any policy ground- although we may be losing the messaging battle.

Please remember Senator Coburn is the same person who says TE is 10% of Surface Transportation Funds, and suggests that TE funds go mainly to the ‘beautification’ and ‘museum’ uses of Transportation Enhancements. Just because he says there will be an ‘opt-out’ provision for TE in the long term bill doesn’t make it so.

Senator Boxer, Chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee charged with drafting the Transportation bill, has stated that “there is no opt out option” and that there will be dedicated funding.  She has stated there will be reforms to the bill, including to the programs that provide dedicated funding for biking and walking.  There may not even be a program called ‘Transportation Enhancements’ in the new bill- but she has promised there will be dedicated funding.

She also said that if its controversial there should be a vote.  We should consider ourselves on notice that we will need to defend dedicated funding for biking and walking in six months when this extension expires.  And we will need to be able to get 60 votes in order to overcome a filibuster.  The push we did this week helps in building that support but we will need to continue building relationships in order to bring swing Senators to our side.  The Bike Summit will be critical in this fight.

Over the next week or so we will be thanking our Senate Champions- Senators Boxer, Reid, Durbin, Schumer  for their leadership in the transportation deal with the House, and many many more who were lined up ready to speak on our behalf had the Senate debated the issue- and we’ll send an update to the partners in DC.

We also want to thank you and promoting the alerts and in the media- and thank all the individuals who called and emailed.  This outreach helped keep Senate leadership strong in defending TE, and helped us educate all Senators. This will help in the next fight.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at 202-215-3908<tel:202-215-3908>  or via email caron@americabikes.org<http://caron@americabikes.org>

Sincerely,
Caron

Caron Whitaker
Campaign Director
America Bikes
1612 K Street, NW Suite 802
Washington, DC 20036
(ph)202-215-3908
(f) 202-223-3181
(e) caron@americabikes.org

When America Bikes, America Benefits