- San Francisco Chronicle: Better ferry service could ease Bay Area traffic woes
- Contra Costa Times: BART budgets for less crowded, cleaner, on-time trains
- San Jose Mercury News: Roadshow: More South Bay streets going on a ‘diet’
- Fairfield Daily Republic: Interchange project marks major milestone
- Independent News: One Bay Area Topic of Meeting
- National Journal: A Big Fight Over a Small Slice of the Transportation Pie
- Marinscope: Council discusses housing element changes
POLITICO Morning Transportation for 4/23/2015
By JENNIFER SCHOLTES, with help from Heather Caygle
SENATORS MARCH AHEAD WITH FACT-FINDING FOR FAA REAUTH: The Senate Commerce Committee’s aviation panel this morning holds the second in its rapid-fire series of hearings on reauthorizing the FAA, focusing this time on scrounging up money for aviation infrastructure. The subcommittee heard earlier this week from a top FAA official and is slated to hear from an agency head again next week, but today is all about input from airlines and airports. Watch live at 9:45 a.m.: http://1.usa.gov/1O8Cw7j
‘Get out of the way’: Todd Hauptli, president and CEO of the American Association of Airport Executives, is expected to tell the lawmakers that raising the cap on passenger facility charges is the best way to give airports the resources they need to pay for infrastructure without digging the country further into debt. “If the federal government can’t — or won’t — provide airports with enough federal funds, it should get out of the way and let airports generate local revenues themselves,” Hauptli said in a written statement this week.
‘Already-deep coffers’: Offline, those who represent travelers are making a case for retaining the cap on the passenger facility charge. “It’s time for the airports to stop looking to business travelers to fill their already deep coffers,” Michael McCormick, the Global Business Travel Association’s executive director and COO, said in a written statement ahead of the hearing. “It’s clear: travel should be promoted, rather than taxed ad nauseam.” The group says the majority of its members oppose a fee hike and that airports don’t need the money.
ROGERS SPARES TRANSPORTATION FUNDING FROM DEEPEST CUTS: The House Appropriations Committee has just agreed on a spending blueprint that demands deep cuts from President Barack Obama’s domestic budget. But Pro’s David Rogers explains that Chairman Hal Rogers has learned from past mistakes and is “taking care to add money to protect transportation and housing programs, a giant bill which famously undid the whole appropriations process two summers ago.” Read on: http://politi.co/1EdEYTB
THURSDAY — ALMOST THERE: Good morning and thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and ports.
Regardless of your mode of transportation, we hope you’ve got a little good-Samaritan inspiration on your commute this morning after hearing about those guys who jumped down to hoist a man and his wheelchair from the Metro tracks yesterday, just before a train was set to arrive: http://bit.ly/1FfP5rK.
Reach out: @jascholtes or jscholtes@politico.com.
“Texas plates, candy-apple red Rodeo.” http://bit.ly/1DjJkEX
FREIGHT LEADERS HIT UP THE HILL: Those in the freight movement industry will gather again this morning to wrap up the Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors’ annual meeting. The group’s members were on the Hill this week, hearing from Reps. Peter DeFazio, Earl Blumenauer, Alan Lowenthal and Richard Hanna. On the Senate side, aides from the Commerce Committee and EPW laid out legislative prospects for transportation policy, and Sen. Tom Carper gave his two cents.
Help wanted: As the coalition readies for day two of its annual meeting, one overarching message is emerging from lawmakers, staffers and industry folks: Nobody is exactly sure what’s going to happen with the Highway Trust Fund over the next few months. Sure, Congress isn’t going to let the fund run out of money in mid to late July, but just how and when they get to a solution is still unclear. Lawmakers have different ideas for what a short-term fix should look like — some say a policy extension through July, while others are pushing for more robust patches that go through September or until the end of the year — and no clear consensus has emerged. Rep. Richard Hanna summed it up well on Wednesday: Congress is better at working with an alarm clock than a calendar (for better or worse). And now that there’s some wiggle room in funding levels, this issue could drag on well into summer before a path forward emerges.
BROWN MAKES ‘BUY AMERICA’ TRANSPO PUSH: Sen. Sherrod Brown is expected to use his time behind the microphone this morning at the Banking Committee’s hearing to again encourage his colleagues to bolster requirements that give preference to American-made materials for taxpayer-funded transportation projects, pointing to the fact that current Buy America rules do not require manufacturers to make buses and rail car frames with American steel. At the panel’s 10 a.m. hearing on reauthorizing surface transportation programs, the senator is also expected to press industry witnesses for their take on plans for the next transportation bill lawmakers are working on while reviewing the FTA’s safety authority under MAP-21. Watch live: http://1.usa.gov/1aOxHxK
TRANSPORTATION UNIONS BUCK PAC MONEY FREEZE: The Air Line Pilots Association, the Transport Workers Union of America and United Transportation Union are among the unions defying the AFL-CIO’s moratorium on federal PAC contributions. Pro’s Brian Mahoney and Marianne Levine explain that a slew of unions are declining to participate in the campaign spending freeze AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka imposed last month to pressure Democrats into opposing President Barack Obama’s trade agenda. More from Pro: http://politico.pro/1bxVy5V.
CHAFFETZ DENOUNCES FAA’S ABSENCE AT ‘GYROCOPTER’ BRIEFING: House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz says the FAA is going to have “a lot of explaining to do” at the hearing his panel is holding next week on the “gyrocopter” that landed on the Capitol lawn last week. The chairman emerged Wednesday night from a briefing on the incident, slamming the FAA for not showing up to the meeting. “I think their absence speaks volumes,” he told reporters. “But they didn’t seem to show up to the event of the gyrocopter either.” The chairman said his panel will question FAA officials during next week’s hearing on “the core question about visibility,” noting that the Florida mailman was able to fly the gyrocopter for about 30 miles in restricted airspace. http://politico.pro/1DQuM1T.
Human error: Chaffetz said “human error” was to blame for the incident and that multiple weapons systems were focused on the mailman before a decision was made not to fire. Chaffetz and his Democratic counterpart, ranking member Elijah Cummings, both said the federal government needs to send a message to would-be terrorists that any aircraft flying so close to the Capitol will be shot down. “I want them to be taken down and taken down hard,” Chaffetz said. “If it was up to me, I would have taken care of the problem.” More from POLITICO’s Lauren French: http://politi.co/1Gkmb8J.
PETS ALLOWED TO RIDE ILLINOIS AMTRAK FOR GOOD: So you mean to say 200 animals rode on trains in Illinois last year and none of them pooped in the dining car? It’s hard to believe, but the train service and the state’s DOT released a statement this week explaining that pets have been allowed to accompany passengers traveling between Chicago and Quincy for nearly a year, and “during that time, some 200 animals have accompanied passengers without a single complaint or incident.” The test run went so well, they say, that the program is now being made permanent instead of expiring this month. Amtrak’s pet rules: http://bit.ly/1EcFOQs.
The bulldog coalition: In the passenger rail bill the House passed last month, Rep. Jeff Denham added language requiring Amtrak to do a broader pilot program to allow at least one car on each train for passengers carrying “a domesticated cat or dog in the same manner as carry-on baggage.” Denham’s furry friend, Lily the French bulldog, would be his canine companion of choice for train travel. A refresher on those pilot program provisions: http://politi.co/190bgWf.
FEINSTEIN DRAFTS DRONE REGULATION MANDATES: Sen. Dianne Feinstein says she’s working on legislation to close gaps in the FAA’s ability to regulate drones, raising concern about the agency’s inability to control the use of small recreational drones and to influence drone manufacturers. The senator mentioned Wednesday the idea of requiring drone makers to include copies of the FAA’s “Know Before you Fly” pamphlet with the drones they sell and to include geofencing technology in the devices. More from our Kathryn A. Wolfe: http://politico.pro/1zMYl0r.
COLLINS PRODS ADMINISTRATION TO WEIGH IN ON PAY-FORS: Sen. Susan Collins chastised the Obama administration this week for not taking a stance on how to fix the Highway Trust fund, telling Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx that “simply saying that we are happy to work with Congress is not an acceptable answer.” The Maine Republican noted that DOT’s Grow America plan would only last six years, even if it were enacted and paid for. Foxx told Senate appropriators that deciding how to fill the trust fund is “a very tough question, because there are lots of academic ideas, but at some level it becomes a question of what can get the political support to actually pass.” Kathy’s got more details on that exchange: http://politico.pro/1QlVJB1.
HOUSE LAWMAKERS AIM TO REVAMP AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER HIRING: A bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a bill this week that would restore preferred status for hiring air traffic controllers who have gone through the Collegiate Training Initiative, who are qualified veterans, or who have gained experience through an FAA air traffic control facility or DOD installation. The legislation would stop the agency from using biographical assessments to disqualify applicants and would allow candidates to reapply if they have “aged out” of qualification. http://1.usa.gov/1PlXltf.
NONPROFIT NABS RAHALL AND LaHOOD: The World Affairs Council has added former Transportation chief Ray LaHood and former T&I ranking Democrat Nick Rahall to its board of directors.
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ):
— Families ditch cars for cargo bikes. The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1d2GTjM
— Massachusetts governor proposes overhaul of Boston’s transit system. AP: http://abcn.ws/1DkPDIa
— What Apple’s auto ambitions mean for Tesla. The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1G9raq4
— Drivers want new safety technology, but it will cost them. AP: http://bit.ly/1DkUGs1
— Oil train inspections turn up defects in New York. The Albany Times Union: http://bit.ly/1Eu48PH
— New Mexico regulators adopt new rules for Lyft, Uber. AP: http://bit.ly/1aTO8Jb
— American Airlines CEO gives up cash in shift to stock only. Bloomberg Business: http://bloom.bg/1bxmMtt
— Chicago’s Metra to spend $80 million to help launch safety system. The Chicago Tribune: http://trib.in/1EfDhFi
— Transport chaos as public sector strike hits Brussels. AP: http://yhoo.it/1Eu60Ik
— Boeing faces ‘steep climb’ to cash goal on Dreamliner costs. Bloomberg Business: http://bloom.bg/1DkSGAg
THE COUNTDOWN: Highway and transit policy expires in 38 days. DOT appropriations run out and the FAA reauthorization expires in 160 days. The 2016 presidential election is in 566 days.
Tags: policy, transportation