WASHINGTON DC — Wednesday morning, Speaker Boehner announced that he would delay a vote on the House transportation bill (HR 7) until after the Presidents Day recess. Make no mistake; this move means they didn't have the votes to pass it and is a direct result of all of your hard work in opposition to the bill!
At the same time, debate is beginning on the floor of the U.S. Senate on their version of the transportation authorization bill, S1813 or "MAP-21." Critical policies still hang in the balance. Yesterday, we sent an alert out to our entire email network asking them to call their Senators and urge them to support the bipartisan amendment #1549 offered by Senator Cardin from Maryland and Senator Cochran from Mississippi. This amendment would give local governments a say over a small share of their state’s transportation dollars in MAP-21 which can be used to promote bicycling, walking and Safe Routes to School, revitalize main streets and make streets safer for everyone.
Many of you have been working hard on the Cardin-Cochran amendment for the past few weeks, and we can’t thank you enough for all your hard work, but we have to redouble our efforts. We expect the Senate to vote on the amendment in the next 48 hours.
Please call your Senator’s staff and ask them to support the Cardin-Cochran Amendment (#1549). To help guide your conversation, we’ve uploaded talking points and a fact sheet to the partner website (Username: t4apartner ; Password: tea4usa08).
Additionally, we’re asking all of our partners send alerts to their member lists on this amendment. You can link to our alert that we sent out yesterday. Here, they can send an email or call their Senators' offices directly. We need your help to make sure Senators take this opportunity to strengthen the provisions that directly affect walking, bicycling and community revitalization in their transportation bill.
Transportation for America has been working together with a diverse range of organizations in support of this amendment, including the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the American Public Health Association, the American Heart Association, America Bikes, the Safe Routes to Schools National Partnership, Rails to Trails Conservancy and the National Rural Assembly.
Please help us strengthen the Senate transportation bill by contacting Senate offices about the Cardin-Cochran amendment and spreading the word about the amendment.
Sincerely,
James Corless
Director, Transportation for America
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