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POLITICO Morning Transportation for 7/7/2015
By JENNIFER SCHOLTES
FOUR-WEEK SPRINT TO EXPIRATION BEGINS: Both House and Senate lawmakers ease back into work this afternoon, beginning the four-week legislative push to August recess. And there is sure to be a lot of brain-racking in these final days before the July 31 expiration of transportation policy, followed by the impending brink of the Highway Trust Fund that’s already got a balance low enough to stifle infrastructure construction commitments.
POLITICO’s Seung Min Kim reports that “just coming up with the $11 billion to keep the highway program running temporarily — let alone fully address a national infrastructure riddled with crumbling roads and bridges — is enough of a headache. And finding the $90 billion lawmakers need for a long-sought multi-year highway bill will be nearly impossible for a GOP that’s strongly averse to raising money with new taxes but has little room to cut further out of budgets already sliced to the bone. … Balancing the highway issues against a hefty to-do list will be a challenge for Republicans who control both ends of the Capitol, particularly with lawmakers eager to scatter across the country for the August recess. … GOP aides say lawmakers are still trying to figure out how long to extend funding, which would in turn determine the price tag.” More from Seung Min: http://politi.co/1IG8GmM.
A long line: In a scheduling note on what the Senate will be up to in the next few weeks, “Highway Legislation” was listed this week along with work on the chamber’s education bill, nominations, appropriations, Iran sanctions and conference negotiations on the defense policy bill.
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.
“Well I walked over the bridge, into the city where I live.” http://bit.ly/1LMXAx4
NEW MARCHING ORDERS FOR THE FLOUNDERING TSA: With newly seated Administrator Peter Neffenger at its helm, the TSA will try over the next few months to get better at its core mission: ensuring U.S. airplanes are never again used as weapons or fall victim to terrorist attacks. In swearing in (http://politico.pro/1Rh5Zh6) the new agency chief on Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson launched immediately into the topic on everyone’s mind — the TSA’s many shortcomings — as Neffenger vowed to take on the colossal task of trying to improve the agency that failed to pinpoint fake explosives and weapons during the vast majority of covert tests. Without so much as introducing the new administrator standing beside him, the secretary acknowledged the shocking inspector general findings leaked last month and outlined a 10-point plan to help Neffenger and his agency fix these latest failings. A refresher on that inspector general report: http://politico.pro/1LZ28Ov.
Action plan: Johnson is ordering the agency to do more manual screening like using handheld metal detectors, conduct more random testing for trace explosives and revert back to refreshers on basic training for the entire workforce by the end of this summer. He’s also calling on the TSA to reevaluate the screening equipment tested in the IG investigation, revise its procedures to focus on the specific vulnerabilities the report exposed and rethink performance standards for checkpoint screening equipment. Johnson said this list of directives is only a reaction to the latest round of IG testing and is not meant to be “the all-inclusive future” of the TSA. “We must continually and comprehensively reevaluate and reevaluate what is best for aviation security.” A complete rundown on the 10-point plan: http://politico.pro/1Rh5TWN.
Targeting PreCheck: Issuing an order that will please so many on Capitol Hill, the secretary is also calling for the agency to take another look at its policy of selectively funneling travelers from regular lines into less-intensive PreCheck lanes (http://politico.pro/1G3Dp70). That announcement comes less than two weeks after the House Homeland Security Committee approved a bill that would force the agency to stop the practice altogether.
HAMMERING OUT A U.S.-JAPAN AUTO TRADE DEAL: Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler travels to Tokyo today to try to wrap up outstanding auto-industry trade issues with Japan. Word came Monday that trade ministers are scheduled to meet at the end of the month in Maui to try to close the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, Pro’s Adam Behsudi reports: http://politico.pro/1figsYN.
CALLING ALL ISRAELI ‘WAZERS’: In Gush Dan, the greater Tel Aviv metro area, Google is giving commuters a chance this week to test out its RideWith app through Waze that lets carpoolers connect and pitch in for gas and wear-and-tear based on mileage. The Israeli news site Haaretz was the first to report (http://bit.ly/1fhulXb) on Monday that the Internet giant would launch its worldwide carpooling pilot in Israel, with plans to tweak and expand the app to other countries.
BUSINESS TRAVEL FORECAST: The Global Business Travel Association’s Foundation is releasing a report today on the latest business travel trends, showing that about $74.1 billion was spent on business travel in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2015 and predicting a total of $302.7 billion will be spent on business travel this year. “Trip volume expectations are down slightly from last quarter, primarily due to a weaker than expected first quarter GDP,” the report says. “Despite slightly lower volume levels, we expect business travel spending to perform better than we anticipated last quarter, growing a forecasted 4.9% in 2015. This is in line with the growth levels we have seen over the last three years. … In 2016, we expect that higher prices and continued growth in volume will drive spending forward by 5.4% to $318.9 billion.” The report: http://politico.pro/1J1Vp3M.
‘TURN SIGNALS: THE ORIGINAL TEXT MESSSAGE’: Utah officials are getting goofy with their driver safety signs this summer, flashing messages like “That seatbelt looks good on you” and “Steering wheel: Not a hands free device” on digital roadside signs. The Associated Press reports (http://abcn.ws/1JQAHqw) that the campaign is getting so much notice that the state’s Department of Transportation is getting calls from folks suggesting new safety messages.
MT MAILBAG: Three trucking and highway safety groups wrote to Sen. Deb Fischer this week thanking her for introducing a bill last month that would overhaul the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. There is a need for “more clarity” in the agency’s regulations, “sounder cost-benefit analyses, timely responses to rulemaking petitions, and improvements on the use and application of guidance documents to regulate the motor carrier industry,” reads the letter, signed by the American Trucking Associations, Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance and Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. The letter: http://politico.pro/1JKlmug. The bill: http://1.usa.gov/1NMIRS9.
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ):
— Rich Russians are begging Elon Musk to sell them Teslas. Bloomberg Business: http://bloom.bg/1gkzePh
— Hogan’s Purple Line trims would eliminate some station elevators, art. The Washington Post: http://wapo.st/1KNBIkA
— Mexican new-car sales rebound as used-car imports from U.S. dwindle. The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1IFQ3PH
— Noisy traffic linked to higher stroke rate. The Washington Post: http://wapo.st/1JQALGH
— Jet noise from National Airport pushes D.C. and Virginia residents to sound off. WAMU: http://bit.ly/1H7i9Ol
— New Honda CEO shifts focus to technology. The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1JJosi1
— A fleet of ‘robocabs’ could dramatically slash vehicle emissions, study suggests. The Washington Post: http://wapo.st/1gjJR53
THE COUNTDOWN: Highway and transit policy expires in 25 days. DOT appropriations run out and the FAA reauthorization expires in 86 days. The 2016 presidential election is in 492 days.
Tags: policy, transportation