NATIONAL NEWS
The Hill: Senate sends highway bill to Obama
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/214026-senate-sends-highway-bill-to-obama
After the House rejected Senate changes, senators held their noses Thursday and voted 81-13 for a $10.9 billion bill to fund highway projects through May 2015.
Politico: Senate clears highways, transit patch, punting the issue until May
The nation’s highway and mass transit programs can breathe easy for another 10 months after Senate Democrats relented Thursday and cleared a GOP-crafted $11 billion extension they had overwhelmingly rejected two days ago.
Associated Press: Lawmakers employ gimmicks to replenish highway, transit trust funds
Congress is providing $11 billion to prevent a 28 percent reduction in federal highway and mass transit spending at the peak of the summer construction season. The Senate passed a House-written bill to augment federal gasoline and diesel fuel taxes for keeping the federal Highway Trust Fund solvent through next May.
Washington Post: Senate sends VA, transportation bills to Obama on eve of summer recess
In a sprint to the finish line before a five-week break, the Senate on Thursday night approved bills to aid the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs and to extend federal highway funding through May.
Washington Post: Wonkbook: What Congress got done just before going on summer recess
What made it: House's highway bill, bipartisan VA bill. "Senators voted 91 to 3 to approve legislation injecting more than $16 billion into VA to help deal with extensive treatment delays and a recent record-keeping scandal....On transportation, the Senate voted 81 to 13 in favor of an $11 billion stopgap highway measure after weeks of squabbling with the House over the scope of the legislation. The bill, which replenishes the Highway Trust Fund, will keep about 6,000 state highway and transit projects rolling through next spring. Both measures now go to President Obama." Josh Hicks and Ashley Halsey III in The Washington Post.
STATE NEWS
Los Angeles Times: California bullet train project wins major court victory
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-0801-bullet-decision-20140801-story.html
In a victory for California's bullet train project, an appellate court Thursday overturned a lower court ruling that found the state had failed to comply with the law in developing a funding plan for the $68-billion line between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
My San Antonio: New mayor says “pause” not end of streetcar
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/New-mayor-says-pause-not-end-of-streetcar-5660601.php
Mayor Ivy Taylor addressed the VIA Metropoltian Transit board Thursday and reiterated the city's hope that the agency will “pause” its downtown streetcar plan, explaining the need to develop a multimodal transportation plan that's in the best interest of the entire community.
The Times-Picayune: What New Orleans public transit can glean from Houston's reset of its bus routes
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/07/what_new_orleans_public_transi.html
Houston's public transit managers picked up a large eraser 18 months ago and wiped clean that city's map of its tangled bus routes. Then they studied where people traveled, picked up a marker, and drew an entirely new system with better-balanced routes and shorter wait times - all at no extra cost.
Delmarva Now: Public transportation sees increase along Eastern Shore
Upticks in the economic landscape and expansion of medical assistance transportation results in an increase in people using public transportation in the region, according to the Tri-County Council for the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland.
Star Tribune: Ridership projections reveal tricky calculus for transit planners
http://www.startribune.com/local/blogs/269446811.html
How many people will board the five proposed Southwest light rail stops outside of downtown in Minneapolis? Depends on how optimistic you are about transit-oriented development.
POLITICO MORNING TRANSPORTATION
By Adam Snider | 8/1/14 5:53 AM EDT
THE HIGHWAY TRUST FUND HAS BEEN RESCUED! …FOR TEN MONTHS: Less than three hours before the calendar flipped to August 1, the day DOT was set to start cutting highway reimbursements to states, the Senate cleared an $11 billion, ten-month Highway Trust Fund patch on an 81-13 vote. President Barack Obama is expected to swiftly sign it once it’s been formally sent to the White House. The late vote culminated a week of finger-pointing, floor speeches on the need to pass a long-term bill and some legislative ping-pong between the House and Senate. The lower chamber voted down the Senate’s changes earlier Thursday, sending the longer patch back to senators two days after it amended the bill to cut it to $8 billion with a December sunset.
Final bump in the road averted: There was even some last-minute drama over whether the Senate would try to jam the House after the lower chamber’s surprise decision yesterday to pull a bill offering funds to deal with the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border and to hold a Friday session. Some senators had hoped the upper chamber — which is done voting until September, though there is a session today — could once again approve the shorter Senate bill and leave the House with the option of passing it or being blamed for lower highway payments to states. Sen. Bob Corker — a Republican in favor of a gas tax hike who wanted the December expiration — said before it was all said and done that lawmakers were wary of all the “brinksmanship” and back-and-forth on the issue. Kevin Robillard and I break it all down: http://politico.pro/UPezaV
Ron Wyden’s transportation timeout: Getaway day is famous for lawmakers running — sometimes literally — from the floor right after the final vote to their offices or their rides to the airport waiting just outside the Capitol steps. But Ron Wyden wanted to talk transportation. The Finance Committee chairman was on an elevator with another reporter after the final vote last night when he spied MT before the doors closed and asked “do you have something on transportation?” When told yes, Wyden politely told the other reporter to wait a minute, stepped off the elevator and told his staff to do the same, and proceeded to talk about the need to pass a long-term transportation bill and his support for Build America Bonds. After chatting with MT for a few minutes, Wyden got back on the elevator and resumed his unrelated chat with the other reporter.
The industry consensus, in brief: MT can’t include all of the statements received — and doesn’t want anybody to feel left out — so here’s a brief summary of just about every comment that came flooding into my inbox last night: We’re happy the Highway Trust Fund won’t be going broke, but this short-term patch that punts the issue to next year is the second-worst option. Congress needs to keep working on a long-term bill and should still pass something this year, even if the extension runs through May 2015. Congress has put off dealing with this critical issue in a meaningful way for far too long.
Indebted to the debt limit? Transportation advocates have long looked for a massive legislative package on which they can hitch a ride and win approval for a gas tax hike or other large funding boost. The supercommittee fell apart a few years back, but supporters were encouraged by the inclusion of gas tax language in both of the Simpson-Bowles sets of recommendations. Now, with transportation funding and policy set to last until May 2015, some will turn their attention to the next big item in early 2015 that could be the vehicle for a large transportation bill. MT would simply point out that the national debt limit — always a contentious issue that many lawmakers try to tie to other matters — needs to be addressed again by March.
GOOD MORNING, AND WELCOME TO AUGUST. Thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and ports. It’s been 224 years since the first U.S. census showed the young country had a population of nearly 4 million. The 2010 census found nearly 309 million people. Don’t be shy — pass along your tips, news, complaints and more: asnider@politico.com. And please follow on Twitter: @AdamKSnider and @POLITICOPro.
“My bedroom feels just like a parking lot…” http://bit.ly/U7hrzl
CALIFORNIA HSR GETS COURT VICTORY: A California state appeals court yesterday overturned two previous decisions by lower courts blocking the sale of nearly $10 billion in bonds approved by voters in 2008 for the state’s high-speed rail project and calling on the California High-Speed Rail Authority to revise its funding plan. “We welcome the court's ruling,” CHSRA Board Chairman Dan Richard said in a statement. “The High-Speed Rail Authority has always been committed to building a modern high-speed rail system that will connect the state, precisely as the voters called for when they passed Proposition 1A.” The project remains under heavy fire from Republicans on Capitol Hill, however, including House T&I railroads panel Chairman Jeff Denham. NBC Bay Area has more: http://bit.ly/1rV097K
TANK CAR RULE OFFICIAL TODAY: DOT will publish in today’s Federal Register its previously-announced proposed rule on railroad tank car standards and a separate but related advance rule on oil spill response plans. Read the tank car NPRM (http://1.usa.gov/1kpmEPO) and the oil spill response ANPRM (http://1.usa.gov/1uMlTVm).
NTSB REPORTS ON ELLICOTT CITY DERAILMENT: The National Transportation Safety Board issued an “accident brief” on a 2012 derailment in Ellicott City, Md., that killed two people sitting on the bridge when coal spilled from the rail cars. The derailment was caused by “a broken rail with evidence of rolling contact fatigue,” the safety agency said. The two people were trespassing on the bridge and were not a factor in the derailment, investigators said. See the report: http://1.usa.gov/XkeJsD
In other NTSB news: At yesterday’s House Oversight subcommittee hearing on marijuana and transportation, NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart said the agency’s investigators are wrapping up work on a study on drug use in general aviation. “In general aviation, our investigators sometimes see evidence of drug use by pilots involved in accidents. So we decided it was time to look at this issue more in depth,” Hart said at the hearing held by former T&I Chairman John Mica. “In September we will meet to discuss drug use in general aviation by examining toxicology testing results conducted on fatally injured pilots.” More: http://go.usa.gov/Nash
RENTAL CAR COMPANY WARNED GM YEARS AGO: Bloomberg has the scoop on an early warning GM got about its ignition switch problems: “More than seven years before General Motors Co. began the biggest wave of auto recalls in history, an investigator for Vanguard Car Rental USA Inc. contacted the carmaker about a fatal rollover crash in California. A driver in a new Chevrolet Cobalt rented from Vanguard’s Alamo unit lost control on a warm, dry and clear day in September 2006. Traffic had been light, according to the police report. The sedan drifted across lanes, got caught in a gravel median and rolled over. The seat belt was buckled. The air bag didn’t deploy. The driver was killed.” Full story: http://bloom.bg/1s7rORf
PILOT SHORTAGE OR PAY SHORTAGE? You’ve probably seen the reports of a looming pilot shortage as more and more pilots from the Baby Boomer generation reach the mandatory retirement age of 65. The Air Line Pilots Association, however, argues that the problem is the “rock-bottom” starting pay for regional airline pilots, which a new fact sheet shows can be as low as $14,616 a year for first-year pilots at Great Lakes Airlines. ALPA President and pilot Lee Moak said in a statement that the low salaries have “become a serious deterrent for anyone considering becoming an airline pilot or, if they are already qualified, for choosing to work in the profession in the United States.” See the fact sheet: http://bit.ly/1tykLTR
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ)
- PHMSA issues rule on transportation of lithium batteries, with a focus on shipping them via air. Read it: http://1.usa.gov/1nXgozy
- The FAA proposed a number of fines yesterday; the largest was $428K against Air Methods Corporation for operating two helicopters that didn’t comply with regulations. http://1.usa.gov/1zzKzQ1\
- Amazon Prime Air isn’t the only one trying to deliver goods by drone — a drone carrying marijuana and other contraband crashed near a South Carolina prison. WJLA: http://wj.la/1o9SZcy
- FAA sends rule on third-class medical certificates to the DOT for review, Administrator Michael Huerta announced yesterday. AOPA: http://bit.ly/UOwpKU
- Tesla Motors and Panasonic read deal to build “Gigafactory” battery plant. USA Today: http://usat.ly/1oS0sOc
- Meanwhile, Tesla reports its second-quarter loss at $62 million due to higher spending, double what it was a year ago. Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1obtgQU
THE COUNTDOWN: DOT appropriations run out in 61 days. FAA policy is up in 426 days. The mid-term elections are in 95 days and the 2016 presidential election is in 830 days.
THE DAY AHEAD: None.
Help me help you: Have a transportation-related news conference, event, meeting, briefing or something else we should know about? Email transpocalendar@politicopro.com with all the details to get it on our Pro calendar.
THE END. Until Monday morning’s issue, that is. Have an excellent weekend.
Stories from POLITICO Pro
Senate clears HTF patch, punting the issue until May
Senate clears HTF patch, punting the issue until May back
By Kevin Robillard and Adam Snider | 7/31/14 9:12 PM EDT
The nation’s highway and mass transit programs can breathe easy for another 10 months after Senate Democrats relented Thursday and cleared a GOP-crafted $11 billion extension they had overwhelmingly rejected two days ago.
But as happy as transportation interests will be to have something — anything — in place soon, the bill’s passage nevertheless represents a defeat for asphalt, trucking and other business groups that have long pushed for a hike in the gas tax and a five- or six-year transportation bill.
The Senate’s 81-13 vote sends the legislation to President Barack Obama for his signature mere hours before the Transportation Department said it would need to begin cutting payments to states and on the brink of a five-week congressional vacation. Failure to act would have put 700,000 jobs at risk, according to the administration.
Though the Senate’s actions may seem incongruous, in the end, it turned out exactly how most observers expected — with the Senate making a statement but, ultimately, acceding to the House’s version of a bill and ensuring money remains flowing to states for transportation projects.
But that wasn’t without some last-minute drama over what exactly the Senate would vote on. A rumor circulated Thursday afternoon that — because the House is likely to be in session on Friday — the Senate might again pass its shorter, $8 billion extension, forcing the House to either accept that bill or be blamed for the highway account running low on funds in the middle of the busy summer construction season.
The House had rejected the Senate’s version of the patch earlier Thursday and planned to leave town, forcing the Senate to accept its bill.
“I would doubt, just to be candid, that any brinkmanship is tried in this way,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Thursday when asked about the odds of the Senate jamming the House on the stopgap.
The bill cleared Thursday raises revenue from a controversial budget technique called pension smoothing as well as boosting customs fees; the money then gets funneled into the Highway Trust Fund, which can no longer maintain program funding at status quo levels on an 18.4 cents-per-gallon gas tax. This is the 10th short-term extension of the program in the past half-decade.
“A vote against this motion is a vote to shut down transportation and construction projects,” House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) said in a floor speech before the House voted to approve the same measure, 272-150. “The American people deserve better.”
Road and concrete interests reacted swiftly and predictably, chastising Congress for what they see as running from the chance to enact a long-term fix this fall.
“The mere fact that lawmakers punted — instead of summoning the courage to craft a long-term, sustainably financed solution to the Highway Trust Fund — is perfectly emblematic of this Congress,” Association of Equipment Manufacturers President Dennis Slater said in a statement. “While a laudable few lawmakers deserve credit for their efforts to tackle this problem, many other members of Congress deserve tough questions from their constituents during the coming August recess.”
Senate Democrats, along with Corker, had led an effort to extend federal transportation program until only December, believing that would present the best chance for a long-term bill. While Democrats still hold out hope for action this year, Shuster was doubtful anything could pass in 2014.
The Pennsylvanian said it wouldn’t be “fair to the American people” to let members who are leaving Congress vote on how to fund the bill without facing political repercussions.
“I don’t know if the lame duck is going to produce anything, let alone a fix in funding that needs to be debated with a full contingent of members, not 30 or 40 that can pretty much vote for whatever they want and say, ‘See ya,’” Shuster told reporters Thursday after the House vote.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), who led the shorter extension effort with Corker and Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), tried to put a more optimistic spin on the final outcome.
“We are mightily encouraged by the events of this past week,” Carper said. “Seventy-nine senators said at the end we want to do our job this year.”
On Tuesday, the Senate voted 79-18 in favor of the three-month extension. But a drafting error left the bill $2 billion short of funding, driving the final stake in the heart of its chances in the House, where success was already slim. Carper said he believed the “spirit” behind the earlier vote was still alive, and said he thought the Senate could pass a long-term bill in 2014.
Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), ranking member of the House Transportation Committee, made similar noises.
“There is no reason Congress can not come together and pass a long-term surface transportation bill this fall,” Rahall said on the floor.
But several Republican committee members have expressed doubts any such action would happen, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp — who crafted the legislation cleared Thursday night — has repeatedly ruled out action in the lame duck.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), the ranking member of the House Transportation Highways and Transit Subcommittee, blasted Republicans on the floor for their failure to take up a long-term bill and predicted an additional ten months would do little to push Congress closer to a deal.
“Short-term funding is like no funding,” she said. “Time is not the problem. Will is.”back
NATIONAL NEWS
The Hill: Senate sends highway bill to Obama
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/214026-senate-sends-highway-bill-to-obama
After the House rejected Senate changes, senators held their noses Thursday and voted 81-13 for a $10.9 billion bill to fund highway projects through May 2015.