Congressman Earl Blumenauer

The bailout bill passed the Senate and is awaiting a vote in the House today.  This bill has gotten many additional unrelated items added to it, presumably to gain the vote of certain legislators.

Congressman Earl Blumenauer is our biggest bicycling advocate.  He voted against the first bailout bill.  And although he did not request it, this new bailout bill includes his bicycle commuter legislation.

What does this bike commuter legislation do?  Currently, employers get a tax break when they provide company cars or pay for their employee’s use of public transit in order to get to work.  This legislation would add bicycles as a tax break.  This would give employers a financial incentive to provide a bicycle and cover the expenses associated with riding it to work.

According to the Congressman’s web site, this legislation “provides a strong incentive for employees to bike to work, which is a cleaner, healthier, more efficient mode of transportation.”

Even though Blumenauer’s bike bill is in the bailout, he’s indicating he will vote against the overall package.

In February Congressman Earl Blumenauer introduced a House Resolution that “recognizes that increased and safe bicycle use for transportation and recreation is in the national interest” and outlines general federal policy changes to support increased biking.

The outlined policies really tie together all of bicycling advocacy causes from Complete Streets to Safe Route to Schools to mountain biking access to bike commuting and much more.

You can view the complete House Resolution 305 on-line. Last week the Resolution was passed by the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. It was on the House floor this week but no vote was taken due to a lack of quorum. Its current status is also on-line.

Help get this passed

One easy option for cyclists to help get this passed is to simply call their representative. Here’s the list of phone numbers for the Detroit-area congressional delegation.  You can also find your representative on-line::

• Representative Joe Knollenberg, 202-225-5802
• Representative Thaddeus McCotter, 202-225-8171 ** BILL CO-SPONSOR **
• Representative Sander Levin, 202-225-4961
• Representative Carolyn Kilpatrick, 202-225-2261
• Representative John Conyers, 202-225-5126
• Representative John Dingell, 202-225-4071

You can ask them to support House Resolution 305 from Representative Blumenauer. It’s simple and takes less than a minute. Just let them know that you’re a cyclist from the Representative’s district and you want them to support this bill.

And, if Represenative McCotter is your congressman, make sure you thank them for co-sponsoring the resolution.