[il-talk] Durbin post on Facebook

[Connie Davis]

Editorial
 
Hope for a Good Transportation Bill
 
Published: March 14, 2012 



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>From the March 14, 2012 edition of the New York Times Editorial/Opinion Page


Against heavy odds, Congress may yet produce a decent national
transportation bill that would make needed investments in roads, bridges and
mass transit without undermining environmental protections or providing
handouts to big polluters. 



Related in Opinion
 

Gail Collins: The Senate Overachieves (March 15, 2012).
 

The Senate gave hope of a such an outcome when it approved on Wednesday a
two-year reauthorization bill that would funnel $109 billion to states and
communities for mass transit and bridge-and-road projects, many of which
have been deferred for years. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid,
mustered enough votes to defeat several destructive amendments while
approving a very good one. 

The bad amendments, all from Republicans, would have: undercut Clean Air Act
protections against mercury and other toxic pollutants from industrial
boilers; opened up all of America's outer continental shelf, as well as the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, to oil drilling; and overturned President
Obama's wise decision to delay the environmentally risky Keystone XL oil
pipeline. 

The good amendment - a victory for conservation that drew substantial
Republican support - would dedicate 80 percent of the penalties paid by BP
for the gulf oil spill to environmental restoration in the Gulf of Mexico.
It would also authorize $700 million a year for two years for the Land and
Water Conservation Fund, the open space program that Congress has
shortchanged for years. 

Getting the House to move in a similar direction will be harder. Its
transportation bill - a five-year, $260 billion measure - has gone nowhere,
which is just as well. The bill would have eliminated guaranteed public
financing for mass transit and relied on highly speculative revenue from oil
and gas drilling. 

Speaker John Boehner said last week that he was ready to take up the Senate
measure, or something close to it. That could be a tactic to spur his
colleagues to devise their own alternative. But accepting the Senate bill
would be exactly the right thing to do. 








A version of this editorial appeared in print on March 15, 2012, on page A34
of the New York edition with the headline: Hope for a Good Transportation
Bill

Connie 


-----Original Message-----
From: il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Connie Davis
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2012 3:24 PM
To: 'NFB of Illinois Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [il-talk] Durbin post on Facebook

That one will not take you directly to where you want to go. Let's see if
this one works:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/opinion/hope-for-a-good-transportation-bil
l.html?ref=opinion. If it does not, I will copy and paste the article
directly in the e-mail. 

Connie 


-----Original Message-----
From: il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Connie Davis
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2012 3:19 PM
To: 'NFB of Illinois Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [il-talk] Durbin post on Facebook

Apparently that link doesn't work. Try this one:  Hope for a Good
Transportation Bill www.nytimes.com

Connie 


-----Original Message-----
From: il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Connie Davis
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2012 3:11 PM
To: 'NFB of Illinois Mailing List'
Subject: [il-talk] Durbin post on Facebook

Senator Durbin, just posted this on his Facebook page. It pertains to public
transportation and puts a positive spin on things. Here is the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/opinion/hope-for-a-good-transportation-bil
l.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
 
Connie 
 
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