It's too soon to know for sure how the results from the mid-term elections will affect funding for bicycle programs, but most are doubtful that the news is good.
With Republicans taking over the House of Representatives by a 254 to 177 margin, that means any funding for alternative transportation — including bicycle projects — faces an uphill battle against a party that's interested in cutting the federal budget.
The tenor of the battle may have been set earlier this year by Republican Senators Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John McCain of Arizona, both re-elected Tuesday. In a stimulus oversight report, they described money spent on two bicycle projects — the multi-use trail extension to the new Minnesota Twins ballpark and conversion of a bridge between Nebraska and South Dakota to bicycle and pedestrian use — as “wasted, mismanaged, or directed toward silly and shortsighted projects.”
Offense to defense
Before the results came in, Jonathan Maus of BikePortland.org asked Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists, his reaction to GOP control of the House:
“I think we move from offense to defense. … We'll have to be vigilant and absolutely on top of our game to make the case that investing in bike/ped projects is good national policy.”
Oberstar
Writing in his blog Wednesday morning, Clarke lamented some of the losses, especially Democrat James Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. In addition to losing the chairmanship, he lost his election after 18 terms serving his Minnesota district.
Clarke wrote at his blog:
” … it throws another wrench into the works of passing a badly-needed and long-overdue transportation bill – Oberstar knows the ropes like no one else, and his passion for all things transportation will be sorely missed. I’m sad because he is a proud member of the League and because I’ve had the pleasure of working with him on our issues since the late 1980s when I first arrived on these shores.”
The congressman worked to make bicycle infrastructure projects eligible for transportation funds, and pushed the Safe Routes to School Program and the requirement that bicycles be considered in all transportation projects.
All that might be back on the table again.
Maes defeated
One bright spot in Tuesday's results is the defeat in Colorado of Dan Maes for governor. He's the Republican who warned that bike-share programs, such as Denver's B-Cycle, were linked to a United Nations plot that would “threaten our personal freedoms.”
That race was won by Democrat John Hickenlooper, the Denver mayor responsible for the B-Cycle bike-share program.
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