To:
Jackson, Ryan[jackson.ryan@epa.gov]
From: Morning Transportation
Sent: Fri 7/14/2017 2:04:45 PM
Subject: POLITICO'S Morning Transportation, presented by Citizens for On Time Flights: Whip it good
-- How do you solve a problem like the HTF? -- Delta joins the A(TC) team
By Lauren Gardner and Stephanie Beasley | 07/14/2017 10:00 AM EDT
With help from Brianna Gurciullo and Tanya Snyder
WHIP IT GOOD: House Republicans got to work Thursday night whipping members on Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster's plan to spin air traffic control operations away from the FAA. Shuster and members of his staff darted across the House chamber to chat with Republicans as the lawmakers voted. (Side note: We haven't seen a whip count yet, but the bill isn't likely to be scheduled unless the leadership is confident it will pass. Friday, when the House releases the floor schedule for next week, will be key.)
What a difference a year makes: House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters earlier in the day that the bill, H.R. 2997 (.1.15) had "changed substantially" from 2016, when leadership declined to bring it to the floor for a vote. In response to a question from POLITICO about whether President Donald Trump's influence this time around changed the political dynamics, Ryan said: "I think the president's support did help."
INBOX ALERT: A series of emails sent by officials at FAA and DOT this week promoting Shuster's bill are making the rounds among member offices and industry groups, raising some eyebrows about their propriety. Chris Brown, FAA's assistant administrator for government and industry affairs, recently sent emails - one of which had the screaming headline "ATC Reform ALERT - General Aviation Benefits from the AIRR Act" - touting the "benefits" of an air traffic control overhaul for general aviation and noting "a lot of misinformation out there" about the effort. MT has seen two more emails, which are largely derivative of Brown's, that were blasted out by DOT officials from the secretary's office, including one addressed to "stakeholders." The FAA said in a statement that the agency is "providing fact-based information in response to questions and issues that we have been consistently asked over the course of the FAA's reauthorization." As of press time, the DOT secretary's office had not responded.
ACROSS THE DOME: All's quiet on the Senate front, as senators and staff continue to talk through issues with language in that chamber's bill, S. .1405 (.1.1.5), that would loosen training requirements for some commercial pilots. "I've never been able to see why that was not a solvable problem, but it might not be," Senate Commerce Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) told MT. Meanwhile, the committee's top Democrat, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson , said he's optimistic lawmakers can compromise - though his "preference is [for] it to be taken out."
IT'S FRIDAY: Thanks for tuning in to POLITICO'S Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on all things trains, planes, automobiles and ports. Lauren and Stephanie are at the helm, so send along your tips, feedback and lyrics to lgardner@politico.com or @GardnerJLM and sbeasley@politico.com or @Steph Beasley.
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"Once you step on/You might never get off of the commuter train/Doesn't go very far away, but just the same/It's a trip and a half1 (h/t Allison Fultz of Kaplan Kirsch Rockwell)
GET LISTENING: Follow MT's playlist on Spotify. What better way to start your day than with tunes (picked by us and readers) that are all about flying, driving, commuting and sailing?
HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE THE HTF? Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao testified Thursday before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over DOT. When subcommittee Chairwoman Susan Collins brought up the Highway Trust Fund, Chao said the Trump administration is considering ways to shore up the accounts in the long run and a vehicle miles traveled fee could potentially be on the table. "We actually have begun to look at perhaps using different kinds of measurements for funding highways, and one of which is the mileage, using mileage traveled as a parameter as well," Chao said, pointing to VMT pilot programs at the state level.
Collins not moved on ATC: The Maine Republican told reporters after the hearing that Chao's testimony didn't ease her concerns about the idea of breaking up the FAA. "I was not persuaded," Collins said. "I worry that this would end up being dominated by a couple of big carriers, and I don't agree that outmoded technology is responsible for a lot of the delays."
Stay tuned: Heads up, self-driving car geeks. Chao said DOT will release "a new book of guidelines for autonomous vehicles" as early as September.
Also coming soon: Chao said that DOT's Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings has investigated the now-infamous United incident from April and will publish the results "shortly."
DELTA JOINS THE A(TC)-TEAM: Shuster got a big win Thursday when Delta Air Lincs announced it would drop its opposition to his proposal to remove air traffic control from FAA. Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the carrier is now "working constructively" with Shuster on his bill, according to USA Today. Delta was the only major carrier that didn't support the ATC spin-off plan. Bastian said Delta was not "philosophically opposed to privatization for privatization's sake," but wanted to make sure that the plan would include "proper governance, transparency, and cost efficiency."
NO RED SIGNALS HERE: MT caught a sneak peek of report language for the House DOT spending bill, and you can expect the committee to elaborate more on its expectations for how the department should carry out the Capital Investment Grant program that the administration has proposed winding down. The language we've seen says the panel "supports the President's commitment to invest in infrastructure, and therefore maintains its position to recognize the need for a robust" grant program, and that it "directs" the secretary to allow projects to move through CIG program phases as they meet the standard requirements, ending with a full funding grant agreement for those that hit the benchmarks.
** A message from Citizens for On Time Flights: We should be outraged that a critical piece of our nation's infrastructure is "stuck in the 1950s." But that's where America's air traffic control
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system is today. ATC reform will bring us into the 21st century. That will mean fewer delays, enhanced safety and reduced emissions. Learn more at OnTimeFlights.Org. **
DEMS WARN OF PUBLIC TRANSIT SOFT TARGETS: Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee issued a report laying out how Trump's request to cut funding for public transit security to help fund a U.S.-Mexico border wall could leave the United States "highly vulnerable to terrorist attacks." Trump's fiscal 2018 budget proposal would slash $52 million for public transportation security assistance - exactly the kind of "soft targets" terrorists increasingly hit, Democrats noted. The administration has also proposed reducing TSA's VIPR teams from 31 to eight. VIPR teams are deployed to airports and transit stations. "Budgetary cuts of this magnitude to a variety of important counterterrorism efforts will have significant negative impacts," according to the report.
ABA chimes in: The House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee approved a fiscal 2018 DHS spending bill earlier this week, and the American Bus Association is pressing appropriators to include at least $10 million in funding for the Intercity Bus Security Program in the bill. There is currently no funding in the bill for that program. "As with public transit operators and Amtrak, our industry should be equally prepared to mitigate these threats and respond to emergency situations, especially when these modes operate at shared terminal facilities," ABA said in a letter sent to the House Appropriations Committee.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR: The House Energy and Commerce Committee plans to mark up legislation on driverless cars July 19,reports Tanya Snyder. They had hoped to introduce bills this week, but they're still working out details - like whether to introduce a flurry of individual bills or one big bill. Democrats - who had earlier complained of being left out of the process but who are working closely with committee leadership now - are trying to make some changes to the bill text. They're looking to include a measure on hot cars and some way to dial back the number of exemptions to safety standards and language barring states and cities from making their own rules on driverless cars.
Elsewhere: Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said he's hoping to introduce similar legislation in the Senate before the August recess - which now starts two weeks later than planned, thanks to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's tough love on health care and other agenda items.
DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK: Were you worried that the often floated and perpetually cast aside concept of using repatriated overseas corporate tax earnings for infrastructure was dead? Well, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Tax repatriation is in vogue again among lawmakers. Tanya reports that Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told the American Road and Transportation Builders Association on Thursday that senior Republicans and the Trump administration are "ruminating" on the idea of including a repatriation component in a tax overhaul package expected to be introduced this fall. The plan could build on a bipartisan plan previously discussed by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Wyden said.
SHIFTING GEARS: Regina Hopper is stepping down from her post as president and CEO of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America. She will become senior vice president of
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global policy for GRIDSMART Technologies
GARVEY TO RECEIVE POGUE AWARD: The International Aviation Club of Washington, D.C., will announce today that it is awarding this year's L. Welch Pogue Lifetime Achievement Award to former FAA Administrator Jane Garvey. The club is honoring Garvey for "her many contributions to shaping policy, her efforts to mitigate the effects of Y2K on the air traffic system and her leadership after the terrorist attacks of 9/11," per IAC President Jodie MoxleyRamos. The award dinner will take place in September.
THE AUTOBAHN:
- "Why Your Airline Says It's Sorry." The New York Times.
- "Lyft explains why Shuttle, its most bus-like service, is not, in fact, a bus." Quartz.
- "U.S. FCC approves new spectrum for vehicle radar systems." Reuters.
- "The awful decline of the New York City subway system." The Atlantic.
- "Self-driving taxis could have a vomit problem." Bloomberg.
- "New directive may expand Trump travel ban." POLITICO.
- Travelers flying from Casablanca to the U.S. may now bring electronics on board. TSA.
THE COUNTDOWN: DOT appropriations run out in 79 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 79 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 1,175 days.
** A message from Citizens for On Time Flights: Innovation is in America's DNA. If this weren't the case, we'd still be watching black-and-white televisions, computers would be the size of refrigerators, and phones would be tethered to walls. Yet when it comes to our nation's air traffic control (ATC) system, we're using WW-II era technology. Today, controllers sequence planes for take-off using paper strips and track them in flight with ground-based radar. This outdated and inefficient system is responsible for nearly half of all flight delays, yet efforts to reform and improve it have stalled. American taxpayers deserve a 21st-century ATC system that delivers enhanced safety, fewer delays and cancellations, reduced emissions and lower costs. Opponents say reforming the system is too complicated. That's a copout. Since when has a challenge kept America from innovating? Congress has the opportunity to fix the ATC system's structure while giving taxpayers the modem system they deserve. Visit OnTimeFlights.Org to learn more. **
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