Word: transitioning
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...course, bike lanes, electric buses and light-rail extensions are even more efficient than road repairs when it comes to fighting global warming, volatile gas prices and our addiction to foreign oil; transit projects also create 9% more jobs. Then again, transit projects like high-speed rail lines and subway stations tend to take more time to build than roads or repairs. And while a recent study calculated that the average dollar spent on infrastructure ricochets into $1.59 worth of short-term growth - a bit better than aid to states or broad-based tax cuts and a lot better than...
...hard to spend a trillion dollars in a hurry if you don't want to buy stupid stuff. "We keep hearing we need to spend more. On what?" a transition aide asked. Obama's latest economic report predicted at least three more years of fairly high unemployment even if the stimulus succeeds, so speed can't be the only criterion. Democrat Jim Oberstar of Minnesota, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, has suggested that shovel-ready should apply to projects that can begin within a year, not just 90 days. This would give a real boost...
...liabilities could crush us if foreign investors sour on Treasury bonds. That's why Obama's advisers want to focus on temporary initiatives that won't drown us in red ink by creating long-term obligations, which they call tails. It would be nice to give cash-strapped transit agencies enough money to reduce fares for a year, but what happens when the year is over? Similarly, some liberals have proposed temporary increases in Social Security benefits, but that kind of generosity tends to become permanent...
...where it's needed most - a tough sell in the Senate, where every state has equal power. But Obama should drive a hard bargain. He could provide more aid to states that promote energy efficiency through building codes and incentives for utilities. He could funnel aid directly to transit agencies and metropolitan governments, which tend to be more progressive than states. He could take Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell's advice and give loans instead of grants, which would both help the Treasury down the road and encourage states to make wise investments. He could require states that receive bailouts...
These days, House Transportation and Infrastructure chairman Oberstar is flacking a Rebuild America plan that pays new respect to transit, but it still puts highways first; you can't expect too much reform from a guy who's served as a staffer or member of Capitol Hill's prime pork committee since 1963, a guy who earmarked a $3 million highway in the last transportation bill to relieve the notorious congestion between County Road 565 in Hoyt Lakes, Minn., and the intersection of Highways 21 and 70 in Babbitt. Meanwhile, states like Alabama, Kansas and Texas have been releasing lists...