Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer
Chuck SchumerNYC 24-hour subway service resumes May 17 Schumer demands restoration of 24-hour New York subway service Overnight Health Care: US to ban most travel from India | 100 million Americans now fully vaccinated | Schumer backs Sanders on health care moves MORE (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Sherrod Brown
Sherrod Campbell BrownOn The Money: Incomes, consumer spending soared in March | Harris, senators work behind scenes on jobs package | Biden cancels some border wall construction The Hill’s Morning Report – Biden launches blitz for jobs plan with ‘thank you, Georgia’ Harris, senators work behind scenes on jobs package MORE (D-Ohio) announced a new $73 billion plan on Tuesday aimed at replacing the country’s mass transit buses with clean vehicles.
The proposal seeks to replace the country’s 70,000 buses and 85,000 cutaway vehicles and transit vans, prioritizing funding for areas with the worst air quality first, according to a press release.
A summary said the plan, called Clean Transit for America, will authorize the money for the procurement and deployment of zero-emission buses and infrastructure, including charging stations related to it.
While the summary doesn’t give many specific details on how the $73 billion will be divided, it says $60 million will go toward a workforce training program for zero-emission buses and $500 million will be administered through the Federal Transit Administration to go to transit agencies to lessen the burden of retraining workers.
“To reduce the carbon in our atmosphere and address the climate crisis, we must transform our transit system,” Schumer said in a statement.
“The Clean Transit for America proposal will replace dirty, diesel-spewing buses, create new American jobs, help save the planet and protect public health, particularly in our country’s most vulnerable communities,” he added.
President Biden
Joe BidenGarland to emphasize national security, civil rights in first congressional appearance as attorney general Afghan president: ‘Critically important’ for US, NATO to fulfill security funding commitments Schumer ‘exploring’ passing immigration unilaterally if talks unravel MORE has similarly expressed a desire to lessen emissions from buses, pitching electrification of at least 20 percent of the country’s school bus fleet in his $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan.
The transportation sector is the country’s largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions and was responsible for 29 percent of emissions in 2019.
