League Welcomes New Secretary of Transportation

Congressman Ray LaHood Is known as An Independent thinker

Congressman LaHood has served in the United States House of Representatives since 1994, where he recently served on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, which determines spending on projects around the country. He was also a former member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

During his tenure in the House of Representatives, Congressman LaHood proved to be an independent thinker who fosters the kind of personal relationships that build trust across partisan and ideological lines.  We have also heard from transportation leaders that Congressman LaHood does not bring with him an established transportation ideology or articulated transportation vision to his new position.  This will be a refreshing change and we look forward to the opportunity to work with the new Secretary to create a new transportation vision for the next 50 years that will support real transportation choices for America and recognizes the importance of bicycling for both transportation and recreation.

Election Results

Bicycling and the 111th Congress

As we look ahead to the challenge of increasing opportunities for bicycling in the new transportation bill, we are fortunate to have many of our key Congressional supporters returning in the 111th Congress.

Key bike caucus members who were re-elected by strong margins such as Representatives Oberstar (D-MN) with 68 percent, Blumenauer (D-OR) with 75 percent, Petri (R-WI) with 64 percent, and on the Senate side Senators, Collins (R-ME) with 69 percent, Durbin (D-IL) with 67 percent, Mark Udall (D-CO) with 52 percent and Tom Udall (D-NM) with 61 percent.

Unfortunately, the Congressional bike caucus did lose a few members, most notably Representative Chris Shays (R-CT) after 21 years in the House. Congressman Shays was a key supporter of Complete Streets legislation. Two other Senate races, which have not been called yet and may influence the caucus, are in Minnesota and Oregon respectively. In Minnesota, all precincts have reported and the unofficial results show incumbent Senator Coleman (R) ahead of Al Franken (D) by a mere 676 votes out of 2.9 million cast. In Oregon, vote counting was halted with only 74 percent of the precincts counted (Oregon conducts all voting by mail). At this point, incumbent Senator Gordon Smith leads Jeff Merkley (D) by 10,000 votes.

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