Free Republic

<p>Biden administration budget chief Shalanda Young refused to say that Joe Biden would stop funding gain of function research at the Wuhan, China research lab. For clarity, the term gain of function is used to describe any field of medical research that alters an organism or disease in a way that increases transmissibility or pathogenesis.</p>

On Thursday, the House of Representatives narrowly passed a Democratic-sponsored bill to massively increase funding for the US Capitol Police, whose sparsely deployed forces were quickly overrun by the fascistic mob incited by then-President Trump in the January 6 coup attempt. The bill would allocate $1.9 billion, nearly four times the Capitol Police’s 2020 budget, to upgrade and expand existing surveillance and screening procedures, provide mobile fencing, cover the costs of National Guard deployments on and after January 6, and hire hundreds more Capitol Police officers in the coming months. It would also provide $200 million to establish a “quick...

Across Missouri, about 900 state road and highway bridges are rated in “poor” condition by Missouri Department of Transportation inspectors. In Southwest Missouri alone, that number is a little more than 200. MoDOT officials say the problem — money, or the lack there of — is not anything new. Without a big infusion of new money coming into the state’s road budget, the number of bridges with a “poor” designation likely won’t improve much. and while sources for new revenue are on state and federal tables, they still have obstacles that would have to be overcome. MoDOT officials say being...

Nowadays, the government needs more than gasoline taxes to fund its vast mission to expand, replace and preserve transportation routes in Washington state. Legislators have drawn up a menu of 33 tax and fee increases under the proposed 16-year Forward Washington plan, updated last week by Senate Transportation Committee Chair Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens. That way, perhaps no single cost will provoke enough public fury to torpedo the plan. “Nobody likes to be taxed, but we also want to make this fair as we spread it across different sectors,” Hobbs said Friday. His approach holds direct gas-tax hikes to 9.8...

$3.4 billion. That’s how much bad roads and congestion in North Carolina costs its drivers in higher vehicle ownership costs, according to a report commissioned by the North Carolina Department of Transportation. Fixing those roads—as well as repairing and replacing bridges, building new highways and any other large projects the N.C. DOT has on its schedule—takes money, and lots of it. Steve Abbott, a spokesperson for the N.C. DOT, said that to bring every bridge in the state to “good” condition would cost $3.8 billion, roughly 71 percent of the department’s $5.3 billion budget for the year. “As of now,...

Lawmakers are putting in for police body cams, road repairs, community upgrades – and requests for funds ranging from a yoga program in New Jersey and a science center in Florida, now that a prohibition on 'earmark' requests has ended. House Republicans ended earmarks in 2011 following a series of scandals, but voted to bring them back in March, and the House majority voted to reinstate them. Under new reforms meant to stem abuses, the House Appropriations Committee publicly lists members' individual requests. More than 300 lawmakers have submitted proposals – although some critics of the practice have held back.

The battle is on, as President Biden pushes a raft of tax hikes to pay for roads, bridges, green energy, and expansive new social programs. His plans are generally popular—but nobody wants to be the one footing the bill. Business groups argue that instead of raising corporate taxes to pay for infrastructure, as Biden wants to do, the government should rely on user fees such as tolls and dedicated taxes, so that people getting the benefit of the new asset bear the cost. Higher corporate taxes can depress investing, send US companies overseas and trigger aggressive tax avoidance. Douglas Holtz-Eakin,...

MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — On Wednesday, May 12, The Mobile Metropolitan Planning Organization will hold a public meeting to amend the 2045 Long Range Transportation Plan to include Phase 1 of the I-10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway Project. In March 2021, local leaders on both sides of Mobile Bay held a news conference discussing a new concept to relieve traffic on Interstate 10 and the Bayway. The proposal includes a toll bridge meant for just 18-wheelers, and truck drivers previously told WKRG they’re opposed to this idea. The plan not only includes the construction of a new, truck-only bridge...

The state’s plan to build three massive toll roads through rural swaths of Florida were scrapped Tuesday, when the House of Representatives cast the last vote needed to repeal the controversial projects and send the legislation to the governor for final review. But the repeal isn’t exactly a total repeal: The legislation still authorizes new toll roads and highways, including expansion and “road upgrades” along 130 miles of scenic U.S. 19 between Citrus County and I-10 in north Florida, which could impact sensitive parts of Florida. It’s now in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ hands, following the Legislature’s action on 330 miles...

The toll booths on Oklahoma’s turnpikes are coming down, but the road isn’t free. The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority is adopting an all-electronic toll collection system starting this summer. Legislation to authorize collections on the new system are pending before the Oklahoma Legislature. It will mean very little change for drivers who use the PikePass system, which allows them to pay their fare while barely slowing down and at a discounted price. About 80% of Oklahoma turnpike drivers take advantage of that system. OTA cameras will will capture the license tags numbers of other drivers and bill the vehicle’s owner. That’s...

CHICAGO (AP) — The days of paying cash on the Illinois Tollway are gone forever. The tollway announced Thursday it is permanently eliminating cash toll collections and will accept only I-Pass, E-ZPass or online payments. Customers unable to pay online can pay by check or money order. The move comes nearly a year after the tollway suspended cash tolls in mid-March because of the coronavirus outbreak. The tollway also said it will begin a program in May to help low-income drivers by waiving deposits on I-PASS transponders and adding $20 in tolls to people with household incomes up to 2...

Reprinted From Broad and Liberty. Grant monies awarded to help fund the 2020 election in at least 21 different Pennsylvania counties were heavily skewed toward counties with high Democratic registration and recent voting turnout, an analysis from Broad + Liberty shows. Pennsylvania Republicans are currently considering legislation that would change the rules for private grants such as these in future elections, requiring them to go directly to the Pa. Department of State to be distributed evenly. Similar bills have been passed in Georgia and Arizona and are being considered in other states. The funds came from the nonprofit Center for...

Amid a deepening stalemate over financing highways and public transit, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on March 12 proposed phasing out his state's gasoline tax, the second highest in the nation, and appointed a commission to recommend alternative ways to pay for the state's needs. Wolf ordered a panel of several dozen lawmakers, transportation industry representatives, transportation planners, government officials and others to deliver recommendations by Aug. 1 of funding alternatives to foot the extra billions of dollars deemed to be necessary. "Our economy, our communities and our future rely on a strong transportation system that supports our safety and growth,"...

President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan packs a huge amount of potential for Nevada to improve and enhance our roads and bridges, turbocharge our economy, blunt the worsening effects of climate change, fuel significant growth in long-term employment and improve the lives of working families in our state. Among its elements, the $2.3 trillion package provides $200 billion for traffic infrastructure and public transportation, $25 billion to upgrade airports, $174 billion to stoke the proliferation of electric vehicles, $213 billion to weatherize homes in middle- and low-income areas as well as building and preserving affordable housing, $300 billion for manufacturing and...

GREENVILLE (NBC26) — A recent report gave Wisconsin a D+ grade when it came to quality of roads, but some are hopeful the governor's roads budget will continue the path to fixing what officials call "decades of neglect" to the state's transportation system. Gov. Tony Evers and Craig Thompson, Department of Transportation secretary-designee, stopped along County Road CB in Greenville Wednesday on "pothole patrol" to discuss the governor's "Badger Bounceback Budget Investments" for local roads and highways. "We have an important budget in from of us right now and the money that the state of Wisconsin is looking to share...

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - President Joe Biden’s economic agenda includes a $2 trillion infrastructure plan that aims to repair roads, focus on clean energy and create millions of jobs for Americans among other issues. The proposal, called the American Jobs Plan, faces an uphill battle in Congress as some Republicans are opposed. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday morning that he was unlikely to support anything “If it’s going to have massive tax increases and trillions more added to the national debt,” according to NBC News. Although there’s a lot to unpack in Biden’s plan, including money to...

WASHINGTON — A day after greeting President Joe Biden as he arrived near Pittsburgh to announce his infrastructure proposal, Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon, on Thursday led a bipartisan group of 46 other House lawmakers in pressing congressional leaders to dedicate another $18 billion in funding for state transportation agencies. The lawmakers cited data from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials that estimated state agencies will face a $28 billion budget shortfall by fiscal year 2024 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The spending bills passed by Congress in December allocated $10 billion, but the lawmakers called for...

Maryland transportation officials announced Thursday that they have selected Australian toll road operator Transurban to develop high-occupancy toll lanes for the Capital Beltway and Interstate 270, potentially cementing the company’s dominance in the Washington region. If Transurban and its partner, Australian investment bank Macquarie Capital, ultimately reach a 50-year deal with the state to build and operate the lanes, Transurban eventually would control 102 miles of express toll lanes around the nation’s capital — 37 in Maryland and 65 in Northern Virginia. Connecting high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in the two states would mark the beginnings of a regional network of...

Feb. 26—Carbon County commissioners aren't keen on a plan to toll bridges along Interstate 80 to fund construction projects. Commissioner Chris Lukasevich on Thursday said Pennsylvania residents already pay the highest gas tax in the United States, and feels that state should better use existing funds. Commissioners Wayne Nothstein and Rocky Ahner also question the move, which would allow tolls on the Interstate 80 bridges over the Lehigh River at the Carbon-Luzerne county line for up to 30 years. Ahner worried about the average commuter, who has to pay the toll each way to go to work every day. "It...

There were two reasons for forming Black Lives Matter eight years ago. The public reason was to fight system racism in law enforcement that the founders believed caused both mass incarceration of young Black males as well as their deaths at the hands of cops. The private reason was to usher in a Neo-Marxist revolution in America.The only thing that has changed with their private reasoning is that it has been made even more private. They’ve scrubbed their website of many socialist principles that pointed towards their true motivations while trying to scrub various videos from the internet of their...