Walk / Bike Funding in Jeopardy. Again.

From LocalMotion

Act Now to Save Safe Routes to School, Bicycling and Walking Funds It’s come down a fight for local control. Negotiations on the federal transportation bill are at a critical point and twenty years of gains on bicycling, walking and Safe Routes to School are at risk. Cities and counties all over the country need transportation funding to build sidewalks and bike paths to make streets safer, get local economies moving, and encourage active living. The Senate heard from you how important this was and acted accordingly. But the House is again proposing to eliminate local access to these federal funds. Will you ask your members of Congress to protect local access to funds for Safe Routes to School, bicycling and walking projects? Selected members of the House and Senate are negotiating right now to produce a final transportation bill. The Senate’s first offer to the House included the bipartisan Cardin-Cochran agreement, which would allow local governments to access federal funds for bicycling and walking projects. But the House continues to insist on getting rid of Safe Routes to School, bicycling and walking funding. In their counter-offer, the House proposed allowing states to ‘opt out’ of this funding pot completely, eliminating the Cardin-Cochran agreement, and taking away local governments’ ability to access federal funds for small transportation projects. Local elected officials across the country want and need federal funding to build sidewalks, bike lanes, and crosswalks. If the House of Representatives gets its way, Vermont won’t have access to funds to build Safe Routes to School improvements that make streets safer for all of us. We can’t let Congress eliminate local control. Please contact Rep. Peter Welch, Sen. Patrick Leahy and Sen. Bernie Sanders today and ask them to rethink the House’s offer and save the Cardin-Cochran agreement!