Barbara Boxer's Transportation Bill Would Drop Environmental Criteria In Much-Touted TIFIA Loan Program
NEW YORK -- A bipartisan transportation bill sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer would dramatically expand a federal program that finances "innovative" transportation projects. But in order to secure the expansion of the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA), Boxer had to introduce new rules that would strip away current criteria favoring environmentally sustainable projects, progressive transportation advocates say.
Boxer's transportation bill sailed through the Senate Environment and Public Works committee in an 18-0 bipartisan vote on Nov. 9. But critics say it came at a price for the TIFIA program, which would no longer give environmentally sustainable projects a leg up in the selection process.
"At a time when the nation's transportation system is starved for funds and there is a consensus that dollars need to be spent more wisely, it is outrageous that the one program that would be massively increased would no longer try to deliver the best bang for each buck," said Phineas Baxandall, a senior analyst at US PIRG, a nonprofit public interest advocacy group.
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