I received the following from League of American Bicyclists today:

[quote:d1f5b66ff7][b:d1f5b66ff7]Federal Safe Routes Program Under Attack[/b:d1f5b66ff7]

Take Action!: [url]http://capwiz.com/lab/utr/1/EZCPMSCAYQ/JJBAMSCAYU/5350426926[/url]
Urge Your Representative to Support Safe Routes To Schools


House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) has targeted the federal Safe Routes to School program established under the 2005 Federal Surface Transportation Bill (SAFETEA-LU) as wasteful government spending in his weekly "YouCut program".

Each week representative Cantor asks people to vote for which of five options they would cut from the federal budget. Republicans then hold a floor vote in the House of Representatives to try to eliminate the program that gets the most votes.

This week, the federal Safe Routes to School program is one of Rep. Cantor's targets. He argues that SRTS duplicates other bicycling and walking programs, and that bicycling and walking infrastructure is a local government responsibility. We need your help making sure that Members of Congress understand the value of Safe Routes to School and support it.

Please take a few minutes to send a message to your Member of Congress to ask them to vote against any effort to cut Safe Routes to School.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.[/quote:d1f5b66ff7]

[b:d1f5b66ff7]Below is my email to Paul Hodes:[/b:d1f5b66ff7]
[quote:d1f5b66ff7]Paul Hodes,

It has come to my attention that House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) has targeted the federal Safe Routes to School program established under the 2005 Federal Surface Transportation Bill (SAFETEA-LU) as wasteful government spending in his weekly "YouCut program".

Being an avid cyclist, runner, and environmental steward I urge you to fight this action by Mr. Cantor to cut this program. It really is a no brainer, as encouraging alternative ground transportation like walking, cycling, and running in this country encourages better health leading to less medical costs (win #1), alternative transportation like a lot of other countries promote, reduces green house gases and our depency on foreign oil thus being good for the environment and national security (win #2 & win #3 respectively), and cycling / running / walking is just fun safe recreation for all (win #4).

I hope you will fight this action by Mr. Cantor and continue to support programs that really have a broad impact.

Ryan O'Brien[/quote:d1f5b66ff7]

Here is a link about the Safe Routes to School program for more information: [url]http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/saferoutes/[/url]

Please feel free to use my email as a template to contact your representative.

Ryan