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Dear Chris,
Alarming news:
Senator John McCain has just proposed 20 amendments to a
transportation funding bill that have one common theme: Breaking a federal promise to
fund long-planned public transportation projects.
As one news
report said, "McCain's targets range from a light rail project in Sacramento, California
to a bus-rapid-transit system in Washington
state to a rail extension linking Washington,
D.C. to Dulles
International Airport in northern Virginia." Other projects, both
urban and rural, would be cut in Connecticut, Delaware,
Florida, Hawaii,
Michigan, North
Carolina, and Utah.
Aside from one
small, token bridge project, McCain's hit list would leave billions in
highway earmarks alone.
Senators are
expected to vote TODAY on these amendments: Please
write your senators now and tell them to vote NO on this
assault on clean, oil-saving transportation projects - and to encourage
their colleagues to do the same.
And that's not
the only threat.
Senator Tom
Coburn of Oklahoma has proposed seven additional amendments to block the Department of
Transportation from spending any money on clean transportation. Sen.
Coburn would completely bar communities from using their federal funding to support
bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.
We
have to stop this today: Tell
your senators to vote against the McCain and Coburn amendments and stop
this assault on communities that are building a transportation network for
this century, rather than the last one.
Thank you for
your commitment to a clean, safe, 21st century transportation system!
Sincerely,
Ilana Preuss
Outreach and Field Director
Transportation for America
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