The TranspoBlog

Separation of Earmark Powers

By Matthew Lewis | March 17, 2010, 1:59 pm |

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Halt in Federal Highway Program Reveals Lobby’s Larger Frustrations

By Matthew Lewis | March 02, 2010, 3:25 pm |

The transportation lobby stands united in its collective angst with Republican Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky, whose objections to deficit spending brought many of the federal government’s highway programs to a halt Sunday night. The political impasse over a $10 billion bill extending unemployment benefits carried the additional consequence of halting spending from the federal highway trust fund, which pays for roads, bridges and safety inspections. Until the stand-off ends, thousands of federal employees are furloughed and hundreds of millions in state funding is in limbo. Read More

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Winter Ends for the High-Speed Rail Lobby

By Matthew Lewis | January 27, 2010, 12:41 pm |

The transportation world is buzzing over the President’s visit to Florida Thursday, reportedly to announce the lucky recipients of $8 billion in stimulus funds for high-speed rail projects. The Associated Press is among those reporting that the announcement will likely include high-speed rail money for 31 states. Read More

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Money to High Speed Rail Could Create Conflicts with Other Transpo Projects

By Matthew Lewis | November 30, 2009, 2:18 pm |

The emergent high speed rail lobby, which we highlighted in a story today as part of our Transportation Lobby project, may be approaching its first true challenge. Organizations like the U.S. High Speed Rail Association, reform coalition Transportation for America, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, French conglomerate Alstom, and other regional advocates recently joined advocacy efforts and created a website at fourbillion.com to pressure the Senate into matching the House’s proposed $4 billion appropriation for high-speed rail in next year’s budget. Read More

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Buffett’s New Company Sure Knows How to Lobby

By Matthew Lewis | November 05, 2009, 3:32 pm |

President Obama wants Washington to get more creative on infrastructure funding. Railroads are undoubtedly part of that big financial future. Warren Buffett, an Obama economic confidante, has just placed a huge bet that could accelerate that creativity to his and rail’s overall benefit. Read More

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While Federal Action Stalls, a Battle Rages in Virginia

By Matthew Lewis | October 26, 2009, 9:27 am |

As transportation enthusiasts wait for official Washington to hash out a brand new $500 billion transportation bill, a duel just over the Potomac may provide a glimpse of the debate to come. Read More

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Congress hits snooze button on transportation bill

By Matthew Lewis | October 02, 2009, 6:00 am |

Wednesday was supposed to be the day by which the transportation logjam was broken on Capitol Hill. The nation’s existing law was set to expire at midnight, and hundreds of groups nationwide had once hoped that Washington would pass a six-year bill worth hundreds of billions of dollars to replace it. Read More

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Heavy Hitters Standing Together to Fund Freight

By Matthew Lewis | September 25, 2009, 9:00 am |

The Transportation Lobby investigation shows that hundreds of local interest groups nationwide are bringing their concerns to Washington in the run-up to a new federal transportation bill. But increasingly, broad national coalitions are also stepping up their lobbying efforts in concert, asking for new transportation programs with some sort of national vision behind them. Read More

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Unveiling the Center’s New Investigation into the Transportation Lobby

By The Center for Public Integrity | September 15, 2009, 11:02 pm |

Welcome to the Center for Public Integrity’s new investigation into the nearly 1,800 special interests vying to influence Congress on a new transportation bill. In the coming weeks, we’ll use this website to chronicle the future of America’s transportation policy, by analyzing the various players that are trying to affect its outcome. Read More

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Following the Money for Construction, Campaigns

By Matthew Lewis | July 20, 2009, 3:21 pm |

Critical deadlines are looming to renew funding for transportation projects, but there are differing approaches to the problem in the House and Senate, and different committee structures for dealing with the issue. That may explain some campaign fundraising disparities as well. Read More

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