Congress

Transportation was on President Obama's mind as he toured the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, VA Tuesday. In a brief, 14-minute speech, the president touched on both car-to-car communications and safety technology, as well as the need to maintain funding for the rapidly depleting Highway Trust Fund. Aside from his speech, the president also sampled one of HRC's driving simulators (shown above), which he likened to "something like Knight Rider."

It would be the first federal hike in gas taxes since 1993.

"We're hearing there may be up to 100 deaths linked to this." – Rep. Diana DeGette

Using America's interstate system could get more expensive in some places in the near future. Provisions in the White House-endorsed, $302 billion transportation bill would allow states to get permission from the federal government to impose tolls on them to raise money for infrastructure upkeep. Of course, some states already charge to drive on the interstates – the New Jersey turnpike, for example – but for the most part charges are rare on the federally funded roads.

Prepare for a big political debate about the nation's infrastructure in the coming weeks. The Obama administration has sent a bill covering interstate repair funding for the next four years to Congress. While that might seem somewhat benign, the proposal is likely to prove contentious because it would be partially financed by ending some tax breaks to businesses. This likely won't go over well in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Toyota brought its new i-Road, a three-wheeled, all-electric low-speed vehicle that debuted in 2013 at the Geneva Motor Show, to the Capitol for some of our elected officials to test out. As easy as it is to forget that politicians are people, too, it was refreshing to see a human side to many of them a

The families of those who died in General Motors cars with defective ignition switches want prosecutors to go after GM insiders responsible for letting the problems fester for more than a decade - and perhaps for covering them up.

GM CEO Mary Barra worked to distance herself from a problem that originated more than a decade ago.

The Department of Justice will investigate General Motors to see whether it failed to recall more than 1.37 million defective cars in timely fashion, according to a report published by Reuters on Tuesday afternoon.

Amid the dust, euphoria and apocalyptic overtones of last year's King of the Hammers race, there was a fight going on to save the Johnson OHV (Off-Highway Vehicle) area for public use. Part of the area's 188,000 acres borders the 29 Palms Marine Base, and the Marines wanted to claim 16

The cost of a gallon of fuel may go up if a Democratic representative from Oregon gets his way. Earl Blumenauer has reportedly proposed a bill in the House of Representatives to raise the federal gas tax 15 cents per gallon in a bid to cover a shortfall in transportation funding (we told you so?). The current federal tax is 33.4 cents per gallon on gas and 42.8 cents per gallon of

Seeing representatives (and often top executives) from the Big Three automakers lobbying in Washington on behalf of the industry is nothing new. But General Motors, Ford and Chrysler aren't the only companies manufacturing automobiles in the United States these days. So too are a growing number of foreign automakers, chief among them Japanese companies, which a

With the second day of the US federal government shutdown now behind us, we're getting a lot of information on how the closure is affecting people across the country. For the green car world, the biggest impact we know of right now is that the US Environmental Protection Agency is operating with a skeleton staff. According to Reuters, the EPA "will take one of the biggest hits of any federal agency" and only has seven percent of its work force at the office today.

Congress is considering a revised version of the Open Fuel Standard Act, an Act that was originally introduced two years ago but failed to pass. Representatives Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) introduced a bipartisan bill that would require more and more new vehicles to be able to run on at l

The battle over selling a higher ethanol blend of gasoline in light-duty vehicle fuel is back in the headlines, as some members of Congress are now suggesting an overhaul of the 2007 ethanol mandate, the Detroit News says.

As we get ready for a Congressional hearing later today, news of money that Fisker Automotive owes to the US government is on the mind of regulators and the public. Therefore, the US Department of Energy has announced that it did recently collect $21 million from the struggling automaker. The DOE says that the $21 million was paid back April 11. The compan

Mr. Musk Goes to Washington? Jimmy Stewart references aside, that's the approach Tesla Motors chief Elon Musk may take in his crusade to get factory-owned dealerships legalized.

House Republicans have been critical of the Obama Administration over new-energy loans to companies such as Tesla Motors, and will hold a hearing later this month to discuss struggling California-based Fisker Automotive, the Wall Street Journal says.

President Obama wants to know how many clean cars $2 billion can buy. In an announcement expected later today, the President is expected to ask Congress to use $2 billion that the government has raised from allowing oil and gas exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf to fund clean energy transportation. That means plug-in vehicles, better batteries, biofuels and compressed natural gas vehicles.

Lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems continues to be a source of drama and intrigue, from bankruptcy and court filings to investor relations and national security.