Take Action July 7: Attack on Bike/Ped Funding in Congress

This is a direct message from the Florida Bicycle Association's Executive Director, Tim Bustos:

“In addition to the message I sent about recessions threatening needed improvements in our infrastructure at the state level, we have a new threat affecting our needs at the national level.  Members of congress, including Florida’s own Representative, John Mica, are seeking to gut federal requirements for important bicycle and pedestrian funding.  Please see the message below from the Alliance for Biking and Walking, and spread the word far and wide through your respective networks.  We will need to take action soon, and we’ll have a narrow window of opportunity, so please spread the word through all your respective networks.”

The attack is on: Leaders in the U.S. House and Senate want to cut funding for bicycling and walking.

Today, July 7, 2011, Rep. John Mica (R-FL), chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is holding a press conference to announce his vision for the next federal transportation bill. We anticipate he will include provisions that eliminate dedicated funding for biking and walking.



In order to preserve these critical dollars, we will need you to act immediately.  After the press conference, we’ll work with our partners at American Bikes to craft an urgent action alert to send to your members and supporters tomorrow afternoon.  Our best chance to change the bill is before the official language is released.  To do that, we’ll need all hands on deck, urging their members of Congress to preserve dedicated funding for biking and walking.



The attack has started in the U.S. Senate, too.  Last week, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), the lead Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, stated that one of his top three priorities for the transportation bill is to eliminate ‘frivolous’ spending for bike trails.


If we don’t act quickly, dedicated funding for biking and walking programs may be written out of our transportation system for the next two to six years.  And, once those programs are cut, there’s no guarantee we’ll get them back!


Thank you in advance for your help in this urgent issue.

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