- Fairfield Daily Republic: Wolk ag-based climate bill clears Assembly committee
- Sacramento Bee: Uber, Lyft carpooling bill pulled ahead of key committee vote
- Fox and Hounds: Road Tax Approach Similar to Prop 30 Strategy
POLITICO Morning Transportation for 7/14/2015
By JENNIFER SCHOLTES and HEATHER CAYGLE, with help from Seung Min Kim
HOUSE FIRES FIRST, UNVEILS HIGHWAY PATCH: Looking to stave off any potential momentum for a longer Senate bill, House Republicans unveiled their year-end highway and transit funding patch late Monday. The bill, which would fund surface transportation programs through Dec. 18, relies on roughly $8 billion in cobbled-together tax compliance and revenue measures. Pro Tax’s Katy O’Donnell has more on the pay-fors: “The House bill includes a handful of nickel-and-dime offsets, including a budget tweak to the way TSA fees are scored, a measure requiring the value of an estate to be reported the year it is inherited and additional reporting requirements for lenders on outstanding mortgages.” A summary of the offsets: http://1.usa.gov/1DdmVJu. Bill text: http://1.usa.gov/1fE9FJc.
So why the rush? It’s a little unlike Congress to get ahead of something three weeks before the deadline, rather than waiting until the absolute last minute to act. So Ways and Means Republican Charles Boustany gives MT a little insight: “I think Chairman [Paul] Ryan was hoping we would get something out early and get it to the Senate knowing that the Senate will probably ping it back and we may have to do some back-and-forth,” Boustany said Monday evening. The Louisiana lawmaker also conceded that it’s beneficial for the House to move a year-end patch first, before Senate leaders can rally support for a longer deal. “That might be part of it because we know we do have a difference of opinion between House and Senate on how to do this,” he added.
A little more on that TSA offset: The single biggest offset in the House package would be a two-year extension of the current TSA security fee airline travelers pay to fly. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin actually previewed the plan in a press gaggle Monday afternoon. “What I understand now is, Republicans may raise the price of airline tickets to pay for building highways. That’s the latest I heard. A new TSA charge,” Durbin said. “I heard that’s a Republican pay-for. I think it’s a short-term.” Turns out Durbin was half right. Remember that TSA fee hike that went into effect last year as part of the Ryan-Murray budget deal? The bipartisan agreement raised the charge to $5.60 for a one-way trip for deficit-reduction purposes. Well the House GOP plan would keep that fee structure in place for an additional two years (through fiscal 2024 and 2025) in order to offset this year’s five-month transportation extension. Congressional math is fun, huh?
NOT TO BE OUTDONE: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch are expected to talk over various funding options at today’s Republican caucus lunch. McConnell and Hatch have made no secret of their desire to move a multiyear highway and transit bill before the July 31 deadline, going against the wishes of House Republicans and Senate Democratic leader-in-waiting Chuck Schumer, who want a shorter patch to build momentum for an international tax overhaul/highway funding package.
Rumor mill: Some of the pay-fors reportedly being considered by Senate Republicans include tax compliance and TSA tweaks similar to those in the House bill. But Senate Republicans could also pursue more controversial revenue raisers that would bring in a lot more money (enough to fund a five-year bill), including tweaks to the federal employee retirement fund and selling off wireless spectrum.
IT’S TUESDAY: Good morning and thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and ports.
Reach out: jscholtes@politico.com or @jascholtes, and hcaygle@politico.com or @heatherscope.
In honor of Ms. Swift rocking D.C. tonight: “I was riding shotgun with my hair undone in the front seat of his car…” http://bit.ly/1Iopqhu
A TSA THROWBACK TO WAYS OF OLD: Lawmakers looking over the TSA’s new 10-step plan for overcoming failures divulged in this spring’s leaked IG report are now acknowledging that checkpoint security will probably need to get slower to be better. And while Congress’ homeland security leaders are supportive of taking additional screening steps, they are noting that the proposed changes seem to signal some backsliding to policies of the past. “If walking back allows us to identify more vulnerabilities, then that’s good. But what does that say for all the tens of millions of dollars that we’ve spent on technology that was supposed to move us forward?” House Homeland Security Committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, told POLITICO. Much more from Pro: http://politico.pro/1eXqzl1.
WHITE HOUSE AIMS TO FLESH OUT AMTRAK BOARD: Just a few days after nominating Derek Kan to be a member of the Amtrak board of directors, the president has sent the Senate two more picks. The White House is opting for a reappointment of Anthony Coscia to a five-year term and to seat Derek Tai-Ching Kan.
CLINTON SUBTLY CRITICIZES LIKES OF UBER, LYFT: She was careful not to call any companies out by name, but Hillary Clinton made her mention (as planned) on Monday of the employment challenges posed by “sharing economy” companies like Uber and Lyft. While on-demand services are “creating exciting opportunities and unleashing innovations,” she said, they are also “raising hard questions about workplace protections and what a good job will look like in the future.” Pro Technology’s Tony Romm explains that the presidential hopeful also took aim at companies she said “mislabel employees as contractors to avoid offering them greater benefits, like health care. Those comments come at a time when Uber, in particular, is fighting against labeling its drivers as employees.” http://politico.pro/1L3plT6
Tweet du jour: Sen. Rand Paul: “.@HillaryClinton’s ideas about Uber and Lyft are out of touch. We need more innovation, not less.” http://bit.ly/1eXhQPR
Tony reports that “Republican White House hopefuls looking to boost their tech cred are racing to hitch a ride on Uber … Jeb Bush gave the popular ride-hailing service its latest GOP plug on Monday, announcing plans to request an Uber this week during a visit to San Francisco, where he’ll speak about the power of disruptive technology. Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz also have heaped praise on the company … For the GOP’s hopefuls, Uber offers a perfect political backdrop. It allows them to link their brands with a hip service that’s popular with millennials. It dovetails with the Republican argument against big government standing in the way of innovation. And it gives them an opportunity to court Silicon Valley’s powerful tech industry, which is increasingly donating to national officeholders.” A lot more on that: http://politico.pro/1IX3dbp.
The walk-back: As criticism flooded in following Clinton’s speech, her camp was quick to note that her remarks weren’t calling out “any one company.” In a statement on Medium, the chief technology officer for Hillary for America wrote: “I’ve been surprised to see these common-sense comments get misrepresented as an attack on the sharing economy. As Hillary mentioned, the sharing economy is creating exciting new opportunities that are helping Americans work more flexible hours and earn a little bit of extra cash by renting out a spare room, selling products they design themselves, or even driving their own car.” http://politico.pro/1RvrZVA
COMMERCE BILL SPARKS RECALL RULES SHOWDOWN: Senators who have long been pushing proposals to bar rental car companies from selling or renting vehicles that have been issued safety recalls are seizing on the opportunity to talk about their plans in contrast to more lenient legislation: the Senate Commerce Committee’s title of the EPW transportation bill set for markup on Wednesday. Several senators are pointing today to a letter http://politico.pro/1O9bRU5 Honda wrote this month reiterating its backing of a bill (http://1.usa.gov/1HrdOsD) that would hold rental car companies to the same standard as auto dealers for requiring the fixing of recalled vehicles. “I call on Republicans to stop their efforts to undermine this simple idea — that it should be unlawful to rent or sell a vehicle with a safety defect,” Sen. Barbara Boxer said in a written statement.
The Commerce bill would allow rental car companies to rent vehicles without fixing defects as long as they notify renters in writing before the drivers accept their agreements.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Ed Markey join with transportation safety advocates on a conference call this morning to criticize the Commerce Committee bill (http://1.usa.gov/1O52Sn3), while pushing their own broad highway safety measures. Meanwhile, the Governors Highway Safety Association praises the Commerce measure, saying this week that the bill “will provide needed stability and consistency for state highway safety agencies to reduce the number of crashes, injuries and fatalities on America’s roads”: http://prn.to/1HZ40tx.
AEROSPACE GROUP HIRES THREE NEW VPs: POLITICO Influence reports that the Aerospace Industries Association has brought on three new vice presidents — John Luddy for national security and acquisition policy, Doc Syers for legislative affairs and Paul Paolozzi for communications. Luddy joins from his consulting practice, Vector Solutions; Syers from ITT/Exelis; and Paolozzi from the office of the undersecretary of the Army.
MT MAILBAG: Forget all this talk of another short-term patch, the Transportation Construction Coalition has a big (and seemingly impossible) dream for Congress: Pass a six-year bill, and do it within the next three weeks. TCC, which is made up of 31 of the big dog transportation groups, blasted the letter out to all 100 members of the Senate on Monday. Despite the monumental obstacles to a long-term bill (like, oh say, coming up with $90 billion or so in extra money), Senate EPW leaders called the letter “a sensible yet urgent call to action.” “No more excuses — let us pass the six-year Environment and Public Works Committee transportation bill, and pass it now,” EPW Chairman Jim Inhofe and ranking member Barbara Boxer said in a statement. The letter: http://1.usa.gov/1K2ywmy.
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ):
— Just what we wanted: Airplane seats that force you to stare at each other. The Washington Post: http://wapo.st/1UWG0Lb
— GM ignition switch death toll climbs to 124 victims. The Detroit News: http://bit.ly/1Je4XZw
— On Asia’s flights, potentially dangerous mistakes go unreported. The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1JeJIa0
— The clearest explanation yet for why millennials are driving less. CityLab: http://bit.ly/1GixJ9d
— Questions from riders about Metrorail schedule plan. The Washington Post: http://wapo.st/1O2KeeQ
THE COUNTDOWN: Highway and transit policy expires in 18 days. DOT appropriations run out and the FAA reauthorization expires in 80 days. The 2016 presidential election is in 486 days.
Tags: transportation