LaHood Wants More TIGER Aid in the Congressional Jobs Bill
Following yesterday’s news of new FTA New Starts livability-favoring standards for funding new transit projects, standards which will help projects like Fort Worth’s modern streetcar, Obama administration Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood also called for more funds for the TIGER program. Streetsblog has a good summary:
But another promising development fell through the cracks, getting a mention in only one news story on LaHood’s speech: The Obama administration wants to see a congressional jobs bill include more funding for TIGER, the stimulus law’s $1.5 billion grant program that aims to put all modes of transportation on an equal footing.
“We hope Congress sees the 2010 jobs bill as an opportunity to unlock many more good transportation projects that are ready to go with more TIGER funding,” LaHood said.
Fort Worth has already applied for a TIGER grant for the streetcar. If Congress makes good on LaHood’s statement, more funds for TIGER gives even more opportunities for projects like the Fort Worth streetcar to get underway.
2 Responses to “LaHood Wants More TIGER Aid in the Congressional Jobs Bill”
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As much as I am for the streetcar in Fort Worth, I am against the federal government (or any government for that matter) purchasing projects like this. Washington is spending money like there’s no tomorrow and This is just another example of how there’s not much thought given to the spending of money by our elected officials. Don’t get me wrong, I would LOVE to have a streetcar system in Fort Worth, just not by the means which they are doing it.
Redshirt, you missed the point. Right now, DOT monies goes to each state based on a formula. Congress added monies to be distributed based on this formula. What Secretary LaHood wants to do is make the monies available based on the merit of the project and set standards for spending the money. If you do not meet the standards, you do not get the money. The jobs bill adds alot of money to be spent. The Secretary is saying that he has a ton of jobs ready to go if the funding can go to those projects and not just a slush fund to spend for the sake of spending.