Help Save US Federal Funding for Bicycles

[jyyanks]

Apologies if this has been posted this before but I just got this email today and thought it would be of interest to some of you.
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Federal support for bicycling is in trouble, again. The U.S. House and Senate have released bills that would reverse 20 years of progress toward making bicycling safe and stress-free for all Americans.

The current Senate transportation bill eliminates essential biking and walking programs. To improve the bill, we’re asking senators to vote for a bipartisan amendment that guarantees our local governments a voice in transportation decisions, allowing them to build bikeways and sidewalks that keep people safe.

Take action today to help preserve the successful, cost-effective federal investment in biking.

To read the article click here
http://blog.bikeleague.org/blog/2012/01/house-bill-threatens-to-eliminate-bicycle-and-pedestrian-funding/

To take action click here:
http://americabikes.org/

[Melalvai]

I'm going to re-cap the story so far.
Once there was a transportation bill. It was passed for 5? 6? years. Then it was extended. And extended again. And extended each year until it's been a few more years. When/if a new one passes, it's really important not just for the life of the original bill but because it can end up getting extended indefinitely like the last one did. Each year there is supposed to be a new transportation bill and each year it doesn't happen.

Until this year. To make a new transportation bill, several things happen (not necessarily in this order):
1. The House Transportation Committee passes a bill.
2. The Senate Transportation Committee passes a bill (not the same as the House's).
3. The House passes the bill that it's Committee passed.
4. The Senate passes its version.
5. The differences are worked out in committee.
6. It goes to the President to be signed or vetoed.

Anything can go horribly wrong at any one of those steps. Or, a horrible bill can be saved at any one of those steps.

The House Transportation Committee came up with an awful bill (http://mobikefed.org/2012/02/federal-transportation-bill-what-situation-what-are-problems-terrible-bill). Awful for bicycling, but awful for many other reasons too. Some brave Republicans sponsored an amendment to save bike/ped funding but it was voted down mostly be the rest of the Republicans on the Committee. So step #1 failed.

Step #3 will probably happen next week. The League and other groups are hoping it will just get killed entirely. Contact your representatives now (http://capwiz.com/lab/issues/alert/?alertid=60975341&PROCESS=Take+Action) or keep an eye on the action alerts and contact them when the vote is scheduled. (Correct me if I'm wrong about that, my understanding is the vote is not yet scheduled?)

Step #2, The Senate Transportation Committee came up with a bill that is not a lot better. A bipartisan sponsored amendment has been introduced and it is scheduled to be voted on on Monday (I think). So definitely do contact your senators (http://capwiz.com/lab/issues/alert/?alertid=60975341&PROCESS=Take+Action) right away.

(Anyone who knows this better please correct me. This is my understanding of a somewhat convoluted and complicated process!)

[goldfinch]

Old men in government depress me. I keep having to write letters. About health care. About the Internet. About transportation. Etc. Depressing to see us go backwards from where we were when I was young and idealistic.

[OakLeaf]

You must still be idealistic if you're writing so many letters. :cool::(

I did write my rep in Congress about this one. He's on the Transportation Committee. Guess which way he voted. Just yesterday in his district, near my hometown, a 13-year-old boy was hit and dragged by a truck and critically injured while riding to school. It's a terrible road to ride on, but there's no good way to get from one place to another without using it. :(:(:(:(

I'll be writing my senators too... [believe it or not, without emoticons or ellipses... :p]

[Melalvai]

Safe Route to School, and Transportation Enhancements are now in the Senate bill!!

But Recreational Trails Program (RTP) is not. However RTP is in the House bill. It's about the only worthwhile thing that is in the House bill.

Interesting fact I learned recently about RTP. Every politician sees that word "recreational" and thinks "here's something we can cut and look good doing it!" But RTP is paid for by gas taxes that are paid specifically by off-road vehicles. It's hard to justify using these gas taxes on highways because snow mobiles and ATVs aren't used on highways. (They are transported in trucks so their owners are definitely paying gas taxes that are used on highways as well.)

Here's something that is really troubling me. The League of American Bicyclists did a great job on the letter campaign for the Cardin-Cochran Amendment (SRTS and TE). They didn't mention the Klobuchar Amendment (RTP). When I asked, they said they have to focus their attention & resources. Ok, I can see that, let the Trails Coalition handle RTP and the League tackles SRTS & TE. (Note: American Trails' letter for their letter writing campaign included BOTH amendments.)

BUT, the latest League blog post claims that the Senate bill now has SRTS, TE, and RTP. I just got a letter from the Trails Coalition that RTP is not in the Senate bill despite what we may have heard.

I'm very unhappy with the League for misleading us on RTP, and coming right after the blatant omission of the Klobuchar Amendment in their letter-writing campaign, when it would have been simple to include it, it looks bad. Is this a bike path vs bike lane vs vehicular cycling ideological thing? Infighting can bring a cause down when attacks from the outside just make it stronger.