President Obama announces high hopes for transportation in 2014 budget request

摘要

President Obama's recently-released 2014 Budget Request, while reminiscent of past requests, provided plenty of fodder for the transportation world to drool over, not the least of which is a $50 billion program for "immediate transportation investments." Of that money, $4 billion would be awarded through a TIGER- style competitive grant program and the remaining $46 million assigned modally. The Budget Request also proposes modifying the Highway Trust Fund to include a rail account, renaming it the "Transportation Trust Fund." Perhaps as expected, reviews are mixed. The right-leaning Reason Foundation's review of the Request declared much of it "nonsense," and, citing the recycled nature of the Request, which has not been adopted in previous attempts, this year's effort was deemed "pointless." Groups hailing from the opposite side of the spectrum tended to praise the Request for recognizing the need for increased investment in transportation infrastructure, but subtly and not-so-subtly questioned the palatability of such a high-hope plan, given the current mindset of limited Federal spending.