NATIONAL NEWS
The Washington Post: Congress recklessly refuses to top up the Highway Trust Fund
FIRST THERE was the “fiscal cliff”; now congressional dysfunction has brought the country to the edge of the “highway cliff.” Federal money needed for the nation’s roads and rails will begin disappearing Friday if lawmakers refuse to act. This crisis may not have the same stakes as the fiscal cliff, but it is just as unnecessary. It stems from the same problem: Too many members of Congress are too cowardly or too shortsighted to accept the viable solutions in front of them.
Wall Street Journal: House, Senate Scramble to End Impasse Over Highway Bill
http://online.wsj.com/articles/senator-sees-highway-bill-as-bipartisan-victory-1406735749
House Republican leaders pushed ahead with their preferred plan on federal highway spending, setting up a Thursday vote designed to force the Senate to accept a $10.8 billion measure funding highway projects through May 2015.
The Hill: Obama to Congress: Finish highway bill before recess
President Obama pushed lawmakers on Wednesday to finish working on a bill to extend federal transportation funding before they leave Washington for the August recess.
The Hill: Senate Dems to House: Amended highway bill can be fixed
Senate Democrats said Wednesday that their amended version of a bill to save federal transportation funding could be fixed in time to beat a Friday deadline for Congress to reach an agreement.
Fiscal Times: Short-term Highway Bill Sets Stage for Congressional Collision
Senate Democrats and Republicans rejoiced Tuesday night: They had banded together to pass a version of a short-term highway trust fund bill that would do more than merely kick the can down the road for another year before facing up to the festering problem of inadequate funding for the nation’s infrastructure program.
City Lab: What Congress Should Be Talking About When It Talks About a National Transportation Plan
Late Tuesday, with federal transportation funding set to run dry by the end of the week, the U.S. Senate approved a funding patch that would stem the tide through mid-December. That stands in contrast to a House-approved patch that would fund transportation through May. The Senate hopes the earlier deadline will motivate Congress to craft a long-term plan this term—a rather optimistic goal, considering it can't even agree on a short-term fix with a construction shutdown staring it in the face.
STATE NEWS
Falls Church News-Press: Metro’s Silver Line Opens, F.C. Now Challenged to Capitalize
http://fcnp.com/2014/07/30/metros-silver-line-opens-f-c-now-challenged-to-capitalize/
The much-anticipated first phase of the new Metro Silver Line, extending public transit service from Falls Church to Reston, enjoyed a grand opening with tons of dignitaries and a few small souvenirs on Saturday, and was flawless in its run through its first business commuter day Monday.
Finance & Commerce: Downtown East, North Loop projects in line for Met Council grants
Some of Minneapolis’ biggest players are up for site investigation and project development grants for transit-friendly projects near light rail stops.
Texas Public Radio: San Antonians Reflect On Mass Transit Following Streetcar Project Derailment
http://tpr.org/post/san-antonians-reflect-mass-transit-following-streetcar-project-derailment
VIA's multi-million dollar modern streetcar plan will have to take a new track as the city and county have indicated both will withdraw their support from the project. The city of San Antonio stated its intent to remove its $32 million pledge, leaving many to cheer or chastise its decision.
POLITICO MORNING TRANSPORTATION
By Adam Snider | 7/31/14 5:45 AM EDT
With help from Kevin Robillard and Alex Guillén
TODAY’S THE BIG DAY: The end of the road for the latest Highway Trust Fund saga should come today, though there have been plenty of bumps in the road and could be one more today. The House will take up the Senate’s trust fund patch today, but only to disagree with the upper chamber’s changes, putting the ball back in the Senate’s court. The House is set to adjourn for the August recess this afternoon, leaving senators to either accept that version — and its May 2015 expiration — or let the fund’s highway account run out of money, forcing DOT to cut reimbursements to states. Lawmakers in both chambers have fired verbal volleys at the other over the issue — but the criticisms don’t break down on straight party lines. Senior House T&I Democrat Peter DeFazio, for example, said that he still hadn’t “fully digested the Senate’s error.” “They’ll send it over there,” he said of the House proposal. “I expect the Senate will cave.”
The possible bump in the road: There’s one small hitch in the House’s plan, however. If Democrats unite against the House extension that they voted for two weeks ago, Republicans will have to flip some of the 45 member in their own caucus that voted against the original House bill. The Senate bill is also short on funding thanks to a drafting error, but House Republican leadership was staunchly opposed to the bill before that news broke yesterday. Kevin and I break it all down for Pros: http://politico.pro/1s5mJIi
One rule to rule them all: The House Rules Committee approved a rule late last night setting up today’s vote on disagreeing with the Senate’s amendments to the original House bill. It allows a motion from House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster, or his designee, to disagree to the Senate changes, but does not allow a vote on the Senate bill.
Have we mentioned? DOT will have to start cutting highway project reimbursements to states starting tomorrow if Congress doesn’t act.
DRIVING THAT TRAIN, HIGH ON COCAINE: The House Oversight and Government Reform panel chaired by former T&I head John Mica holds a hearing today on how the federal government deals with marijuana and transportation safety, something that’s taken on added importance with several states legalizing the drug and more looking to do the same soon. Mica has combined transportation and pot before — famously saying a few years ago that some of his critics were “smoking the funny weed” (http://politi.co/zWVe8s) and holding up a fake joint at a hearing earlier this year. Acting NTSB Christopher Hart and officials from NHTSA and DOT are among the witnesses. More on the hearing: http://1.usa.gov/1ttMUez
How to: The Huffington Post’s Jennifer Bendery asked Mica yesterday if his hearing — titled “Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Operating While Stoned” — would be a “how-to lesson.” Mica’s reply: “Come and find out.” http://bit.ly/UMzj2X
GOOD MORNING. SAY FAREWELL TO JULY. Thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and ports. Today is National Heatstroke Prevention Day — a reminder to not leave children in hot cars, which have claimed the lives of 18 children so far this year. Don’t be shy — pass along your tips, news, complaints and more: asnider@politico.com. And please follow on Twitter: @AdamKSnider and @POLITICOPro.
“I saw a cyclist get hit by a car … ” http://bit.ly/UjDhQG
SCHOOL’S IN FOR SUMMER: LIUNA’s “Getting Schooled in Infrastructure” tour, including a school bus that looks like it was crushed by a piece of a bridge, is in D.C. through week’s end as lawmakers trade barbs over replenishing the Highway Trust Fund. The bus has traveled over 6,000 miles in past months to raise awareness of infrastructure problems and the need for Congress to act. The bus will be at various spots today and tomorrow, including on the 100 block of C Street SE near the House side of the Capitol. See a picture of it, via Civil & Structural Engineer: http://bit.ly/1Azm0UH
TSA SUED OVER FEES: The two biggest airline industry trade groups in the United States and globally are suing the TSA over fee hikes they argue overstep the letter of the law. The International Air Transport Association is joining Airlines for America in filing the petition arguing the TSA is improperly implementing the fee hikes, which were included in last year's Ryan-Murray budget deal. The airline industry said the TSA is ignoring a $10 round-trip cap on the fees. “TSA is overstepping its bounds,” A4A President Nick Calio said in a statement. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, also charges the TSA is improperly charging the fees on flights originating outside the United States. A4A has also set up a “grassroots campaign” to overturn the hiked fee implementation: www.TSAdontbeTHATguy.com.
BUS ROLLOVER CRASH RULE UNVEILED: NHTSA is proposing a rule to protect passengers in large buses during rollover crashes that would require space around seats to be maintained so passengers could survive a crash. Seats, luggage racks and window glazing would also be required to remain attached during a crash. Emergency exits would be required to stay closed during a crash and still work afterward. NHTSA will test vehicles by tipping them over from a raised platform onto a hard surface. DOT said the test and requirements closely match rules for European buses. See an early version of the rule before it runs in the Federal Register: http://politico.pro/1oLRSQZ
STUNNING HEADLINE OF THE DAY: “Half of air traffic controller job offers go to people with no aviation experience.” The Chicago Tribune takes a look at the numbers, and how it fits into the FAA’s plan to deal with an aging air traffic controller base that is looking to retire: http://trib.in/1rI5R9B
OIL TRAIN RESPONDERS BILL PULLED: Sen. Heidi Heitkamp’s oil train responders bill was pulled from a committee markup yesterday morning because Sen. Ron Johnson planned to offer up a controversial Keystone XL-related amendment, according to a Senate Democratic aide. Heitkamp’s RESPONSE Act was included on a long list of legislation and nominees that were due to get a vote at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. But Heitkamp pulled the bill because Johnson planned to offer a “political poison pill,” the aide told Alex. A GOP aide fired back, saying that the Keystone XL-related amendment that Johnson offered was germane and did not have any significant logistical issues — but moving forward on the bill with Johnson’s amendment would have been tough politically for the panel’s Democrats. Text of the amendment in question: http://politico.pro/1xAp5j3
MEMBERS RIDE UBER, BUT NOT READY TO LEGISLATE ON IT: Scott Wong reports in today’s POLITICO paper: “Tech startups at the forefront of the ‘sharing economy’ such as Uber, Sidecar and Airbnb are grappling with a patchwork of regulations and bureaucratic red tape in cities around the country — but don’t expect Congress to fix the problem. Even as stories pile up about ridesharing services battling it out city by city — or sometimes, state by state — the feds have remained largely disengaged. No one on Capitol Hill is rushing to roll out legislation to provide protections for these companies as they tangle with some cities, states and powerful special interest groups such as the taxi and hotel industries. Even some fans of these apps in Congress say Washington should just butt out.” http://politico.pro/1s5HLqe
RECENT PLANE CRASHES NOT CHANGING MOST FLYERS’ PLANS: A new survey from Paragon Insights finds that 53 percent of those polled — all registered voters — think that flying a commercial airliner is safer than driving a car, in spite of the rash of high-profile plane crashes this year. Two-thirds of the respondents said that they are not any “less likely” to fly because of the recent crashes, although 48 percent of them said they had not taken a round-trip flight in the past year. Only 11 percent labeled themselves as a “frequent flyer.” See the full results, crosstabs and more: http://bit.ly/WObj1d
‘COLLISION COURSE’ ON TV: CNBC aired a four-part series over several hours yesterday, called “Collision Course,” that looks into the dangers of crashes with long-haul trucks. Check out the first part of the report — “Can truck companies clear their dirty safety record?” — that also includes links to the other three parts: http://cnb.cx/1k7GbUt
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ)
— Boeing to build its new line of Dreamliners, the 787-10, exclusively at a South Carolina plant that doesn’t have unions. Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1uHO3ki
— New report card grades the New York City subway lines — 7 is the best and 2 is the worst. Capital: http://bit.ly/1pFSiom
— Cato’s Randal O’Toole argues in new paper that bus rapid transit is the best public transportation option for nearly all U.S. cities. http://bit.ly/UCvFsx
— Bloomberg View piece on Bill Shuster’s Transparent Airfares Act: “By all rights, the legislation should be renamed the Opaque Airfares Act.” http://bv.ms/1tvGHyV
THE COUNTDOWN: There is one day remaining until DOT has to cut highway reimbursements to states because Congress hasn’t addressed the Highway Trust Fund. MAP-21 expires and DOT funding runs out in 62 days. FAA policy is up in 427 days. The mid-term elections are in 96 days and the 2016 presidential election is in 831 days.
THE DAY AHEAD: 9 a.m. — House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee hearing titled “Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Operating While Stoned.” 2154 Rayburn.
Noon — FMCSA holds a meeting by teleconference of the Unified Carrier Registration Plan Board of Directors to continue its work in developing and implementing the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement.
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.
MT OVER AND OUT. Enjoy your day.
Stories from POLITICO Pro
House banking on Senate blink on HTF extension
Congress wants no part of wading into ridesharing fights
House banking on Senate blink on HTF extension back
By Adam Snider and Kevin Robillard | 7/30/14 6:20 PM EDT
Despite a few bumps, the end of the road in the latest Highway Trust Fund saga is near, with the Senate likely on the losing end of the battle over how long to extend programs and how much money to provide.
The House is expected to take up a Senate-passed trust fund patch on Thursday, the final day the chamber is slated to meet before lawmakers leave town for the August recess. And right now the clock — and the votes — don’t stack up in the Senate’s favor. Not only is the recess looming, but the Department of Transportation has said it will start cutting highway reimbursements to states on Friday if Congress doesn’t act by then.
Several senior House Republicans — including Speaker John Boehner and Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) — have said the chamber will simply pass the original House bill that was approved two weeks ago.
“We’re going to send the House bill to the Senate,” Camp said Wednesday, echoing comments from Boehner on Tuesday.
Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), a former chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, described the 10-month patch as “doing the best we can,” noting his and the late Rep. Jim Oberstar’s (D-Minn.) own failures to pass a long-term bill as chairman. But he said the Senate would have little choice but to accept the House bill.
“The Senate’s playing around,” he said. “It’s not the 11th hour, but the 12th hour.”
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), a senior member on the Transportation Committee, said he still hadn’t “fully digested the Senate’s error.”
“They’ll send it over there,” he said of the House proposal. “I expect the Senate will cave.”
One potential hiccup in that plan would be if House Democrats vote en bloc against the bill, which saw 45 GOP “no” votes several weeks ago. Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) identified those “no” votes as key to forcing the GOP to adopt the Senate bill.
But that also relies on every House Democrat uniting against the Republican proposal. Three Democrats said the caucus likely won’t decide on the issue until a Thursday morning meeting.
“Still talking,” House Transportation Committee ranking member Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) said in a brief interview when asked about Democratic strategy.
Another factor that plays to the House’s advantage is a drafting error in the Senate bill that left it $2 billion short of what’s needed to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through December, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and surface transportation panel Chair Tom Carper (D-Del.) acknowledged the mistake Wednesday afternoon, but repeated calls for the House to pass the Senate’s bill.
“The House could easily fix this error and send the bill back to the Senate,” the duo said in a statement, adding that the Senate “has already corrected a much more drastic error in the House’s bill — one that could have blown an $11 billion hole in the federal budget.”
Boxer and Carper also held a press conference Wednesday morning, before news of the $2 billion shortfall broke, calling on the House to follow the Senate’s lead.
Boxer singled out the House’s fiscal conservatives, saying that the Senate’s $8 billion measure costs less than the $11 billion one in the House. “We are more fiscally conservative,” she told reporters.
A Senate Republican, however, predicted that the Senate will end up having to simply pass the House’s bill. The House is slated to adjourn for five weeks on Thursday afternoon, leaving senators to either pass the original House bill or let the trust fund run dry.
“I guess the way forward is that the House sends us back the House bill and then a majority votes for it,” the senator said in an interview. “That’s not the best plan anybody ever came up with, to send their bill over and just get back exactly what the House sent over the first time. And the House won’t send it ‘til they leave, I assume.”
Burgess Everett contributed to this report.back
Congress wants no part of wading into ridesharing fights back
By Scott Wong | 7/30/14 3:37 PM EDT
Tech startups at the forefront of the “sharing economy” such as Uber, Sidecar and Airbnb are grappling with a patchwork of regulations and bureaucratic red tape in cities around the country — but don’t expect Congress to fix the problem.
Even as stories pile up about ridesharing services battling it out city by city — or sometimes, state by state — the feds have remained largely disengaged. No one on Capitol Hill is rushing to roll out legislation to provide protections for these companies as they tangle with some cities, states and powerful special interest groups such as the taxi and hotel industries. Even some fans of these apps in Congress say Washington should just butt out.
“Those are issues that should be regulated at the local and state level — not the federal level,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a frequent Uber rider, said in an interview. “The idea that some sort of federal standard or standard regulation would apply across the whole country, I’ve never heard that brought up before.”
“I imagine these companies think it’d be great to come up to Washington and get one rule for the whole country,” he added. “But I think they’d live to regret that.”
At the moment, an organized lobbying effort for new uniform federal regulations hasn’t materialized. But these startups have been quietly pitching the idea at conferences and in meetings with the media and business groups.
At the Share Conference in May, Sunil Paul, co-founder and CEO of Sidecar, one of three popular San Francisco-based ride-sharing apps, called for the creation of a federal “safe harbor” law for the sharing economy. Essentially, this would give companies that help private citizens share resources they own — like their car or home — permission to operate in cities and states around the country under a standardized national set of rules.
Unless you’re a multi-billion-dollar operation like Uber, Paul said, dealing with a myriad of different local and state regulations bogs down business growth and stifles innovation.
The California Public Utilities Commission last fall legalized ride-sharing services, so long as the companies agreed to a new set of permits and safety standards, including driver background checks. But Paul said many jurisdictions around the country are simply using the PUC’s set of rules as a baseline, then adding more regulations on top of that.
“Every city, every jurisdiction we interact with, they pile on their own special ingredients,” Paul said in a phone interview on Wednesday. “It’s just resulting in a tangle [of regulations] that is fine if you’re Uber and you’ve got a billion dollars, but it is not fine if you’re Sidecar or other innovative companies. … We all need some clarity.”
This summer, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles banned Uber and Lyft from operating in the Commonwealth, though the state says it’s now reviewing license applications submitted by the companies. Taxi companies, however, have sued to keep the ban in place. And after weeks of battling regulators, Lyft has finally launched in New York — though it will only allow service by commercially licensed drivers, not drivers of private vehicles.
For now, most lawmakers are taking a wait-and-see approach. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), whose district is in the heart of Silicon Valley, said she hasn’t been approached by any startups to introduce a “safe harbor” bill. She said it’s an idea worth looking at but needs a lot more information and data.
“It should be examined,” the former county supervisor said in a recent interview. “I come from local government so I understand local control, so I’d be willing to examine it. But I’m not going to move on something that is just anecdotal. It would really need to apply across an entire sector."
“We don’t legislate anecdotally — at least I don’t,” Eshoo continued.
A spokesman for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, whose district includes the headquarters of Uber, Sidecar and Lyft, also was non-committal about whether Pelosi would take up the cause.
“Leader Pelosi is proud of the innovative business models emerging from San Francisco that increase competition, improve choice and reduce costs to consumers,” said spokesman Drew Hammill. “As we examine regulations on ridesharing and other sharing-economy services, our focus must be on ensuring essential consumer protections while not stifling innovation or reducing competition.”
Rubio, a possible 2016 presidential hopeful who spoke at Uber’s Washington, D.C. headquarters earlier this year, said he’s been more concerned about whether local and state regulators are imposing the right rules on sharing economy startups, or more specifically, the taxi industry.
Last week, the senator said, a taxi driver at the Miami airport didn’t take credit card payments and complained that Rubio’s destination was too close to the airport. That experience leaves a bad impression for tourists visiting Miami, he said.
“What I’ve criticized are the local regulators,” Rubio said. “They don’t make a tremendous amount of sense, and there’s an example, oftentimes, of established industries using government to protect itself at the expense of an innovative competitor.”back
NATIONAL NEWS
The Washington Post: Congress recklessly refuses to top up the Highway Trust Fund
FIRST THERE was the “fiscal cliff”; now congressional dysfunction has brought the country to the edge of the “highway cliff.” Federal money needed for the nation’s roads and rails will begin disappearing Friday if lawmakers refuse to act. This crisis may not have the same stakes as the fiscal cliff, but it is just as unnecessary. It stems from the same problem: Too many members of Congress are too cowardly or too shortsighted to accept the viable solutions in front of them.