Congressional support for transportation and infrastructure projects has traditionally been bipartisan. In an interview, Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon discusses how political tantrums in Congress may handicap the US in the long run.
The Planning Report talks with Rep. Blumenauer about the current state of transportation politics in Washington:
Blumenauer: "The Republicans have locked us in a downward spiral of infrastructure investment, adopting rules to house procedures that expose the transportation trust fund to collateral. They have a bill that is being considered for the appropriations process that would be an approximately 34 percent cut for transportation. And as part of their budget machinations earlier in the year they cut several billion dollars of funding for water and sanitation to local communities."
"We haven't seen things like this before. We now have extensions that last for aviation until the 31st of January and until the 31st of March for transportation. But there's still no good resolution."
Read the full story: Congress: Partisanship Hogties Federal Transportation Funding
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