NATIONAL NEWS
USDOT: U.S. Transportation Secretary Foxx Recommends $3.5 Billion to Expand Transit Options that Improve Access to Jobs and Opportunities
http://www.fta.dot.gov/newsroom/news_releases/12286_16684.html
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today highlighted $3.5 billion recommended in President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget to advance the construction or completion of 31 rail, bus rapid transit and streetcar projects in 18 states. These projects, competitively funded through the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Capital Investment Grant (CIG) Program, would create thousands of construction and operations-related jobs and help communities expand transportation choices that offer new ladders of opportunity for residents.
Smart Growth America: New and expanded urban development programs included in President Obama’s 2017 budget proposal
President Obama released his proposal for the fiscal year (FY) 2017 federal budget yesterday, and it outlines the President’s lofty political ambitions for the coming year. The proposal focuses on five main goals: continuing the country’s economic and fiscal progress, supporting innovation, creating opportunity for all Americans, national security and global leadership, and improving how government works. Smart growth strategies play an important role in achieving several of those goals — here are some specifics of what the budget would mean for programs related to housing, urban development, and transportation.
Boston Globe: Computer as driver? ‘Yes’ from feds boosts self-driving cars
Computers that control cars of the future can be considered drivers just like humans, the federal government’s highway safety agency has decided.
Salon: Too many Flints to count: America’s infrastructure is rotting — and poisoning our children
“I know if I was a parent up there, I would be beside myself if my kids’ health could be at risk,” said President Obama on a recent trip to Michigan. “Up there” was Flint, a rusting industrial city in the grip of a “water crisis” brought on by a government austerity scheme. To save a couple of million dollars, that city switched its source of water from Lake Huron to the Flint River, a long-time industrial dumping ground for the toxic industries that had once made their home along its banks. Now, the city is enveloped in a public health emergency, with elevated levels of lead in its water supply and in the blood of its children.
The Hill: AIRR Act anything but conservative
http://thehill.com/special-reports/269047-airr-act-anything-but-conservative
Private monopolies run by special interests should not get to raise taxes and set regulatory policy for the United States. That is unfortunately what Congress is about to do to the aviation industry.
ARC: 77 U.S. Cities Rise To The Smart City Challenge
http://arc.applause.com/2016/02/10/applicants-smart-city-challenge/
Somewhere in America, there is a city that has moved one step closer to a cash windfall of $50 million that will pull its transport infrastructure out of the dark ages and into a smart future.
STATE NEWS
The Detroit News: Patterson: Widening of I-75 to begin this summer
Work on widening congested Interstate 75 through Oakland County will begin this summer, County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said Wednesday night.
Washington Post: Obama administration proposes $125 million for Purple Line construction
Maryland’s plan to build a light-rail Purple Line in the Washington suburbs would receive $125 million in federal aid in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, under the Obama administration’s proposed transit budget released Wednesday.
Mass Transit: Foxx Announces $57M for Grand Rapids’ Laker Line BRT
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced that President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget includes $57 million for construction of Grand Rapids’ Laker Line Bus Rapid Transit Project. The project is one of 31 transportation projects in 18 states recommended to receive a share of $3.5 billion in federal funding through the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Capital Investment Grant (CIG) Program.
KHON: Bill would ban pedestrians from using cell phones in crosswalks
http://khon2.com/2016/02/10/bill-would-ban-pedestrians-from-using-cell-phones-in-crosswalks/
Crossing the street while using your cell phone could one day get you in trouble.
MLive: $57M federal grant could fund Michigan's second bus rapid transit system
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2016/02/57m_federal_grant_could_fund_m.html
A $57 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation could largely pay for Michigan's second bus rapid transit system, a 13-mile route that will link downtown Grand Rapids with Grand Valley State University in Allendale.
WNYC: NJ Transit, Rail Unions on Collision Course Toward Possible Strike
http://www.wnyc.org/story/nj-transit-strike/
Rail workers descended upon the Newark headquarters of NJ Transit Wednesday, using the public comment period of the agency's monthly board meeting to urge leaders to reach a deal before a March 13 strike deadline.
POLITICO Morning Transportation
By Martine Powers | 02/11/2016 05:45 AM EDT
With help from Heather Caygle, Lauren Gardner and Kathryn A. Wolfe
THE GLOVES ARE OFF: If you thought things started getting spicy during Wednesday's T&I Committee FAA reauthorization hearing, just wait for today: It's markup day, and clashes over Chairman Bill Shuster's air traffic control proposal are pretty much guaranteed. And now that we know where most of the major players stand on the bill (H.R. 4441), the big question looms: Will there be enough support from T&I Republicans interested in spinning off ATC operations from the FAA - despite staunch opposition from other GOP members, as well as practically all the Dems - to jam through a bill that would reach the House floor later this month, as Shuster hopes? Either way, with about 100 amendments filed - minimum butt space requirements, anyone? - it's bound to be a long day.
'A brutal hearing': If you missed the highlights from Wednesday's hearing, MT has you covered. Our Heather Caygle was there, and painted a detailed picture of the wide array of criticisms of the bill brandished by both Dems and Republicans: It was, she writes, "a brutal hearing ... that saw the chairman's brainchild absorbing punches from all sides," with Shuster "leaning on his chairman perch to extinguish fires on all fronts and tamp down fears that stripping air traffic control from the FAA ... would benefit the major airlines and not much else." One low point for independent ATC supporters: When the Reason Foundation's Robert Poole wasn't able to definitively say that airline customers would see the cost savings promised to come about as a result of the bill. "There's a large potential for the costs coming down; ... whether airlines will pass along costs savings that accrue to them in terms of tickets, that I cannot answer," Poole said. Not exactly a glowing affirmation.
Another count against Shuster's bill: A Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday, at Rep. Peter DeFazio's request, outlining the challenges facing an ATC that operates separately from the FAA. Our Kathy Wolfe and Heather have the details here , but this'll give you the gist: "NextGen ... procedures ... might be more difficult to do if the ATC entity and safety regulator are separated. ... A restructuring could result in the safety regulator being more vulnerable to funding challenges because the safety regulator would no longer have the ability to shift resources among programs as FAA has some ability to do. ... It may face challenges hiring skilled staff because it would be competing with the ATC entity for skilled labor."
The best offense is ... : Defense was the name of the game for Shuster - not only against criticisms of the bill's contents, but also beef with colleagues over the timing and speed with which the bill was rolled out. "To try to make this sound like it's a last-minute deal is just absolutely not the case," Shuster said, adding that for all their criticism, Democrats have yet to produce a comparable alternative option. DeFazio had been poised to offer a wholesale bill but opted for "targeted amendments" instead. More from Shuster: "I want everybody to realize this. This has not been done in the dark and it has not been done at the last minute. ... We've worked together on large parts of this bill in the same bipartisan spirit as other bills this committee has passed and sent on to the president."
Thune speaks: One of Shuster's most important allies will be Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, and he's offering more insight into how he's feeling about the bill: "In terms of the revenue structure ... it is a user-fee based system today and I think that the closer that we can stay to what's in place today, the more likely we'll have, I think, support among people from the community that are going to be impacted by this."
A+ Beyoncé reference: Who else has qualms about the bill? Folks in defense. Rep. Rick Larsen used his opening statement to trot out a timely Super Bowl reference , highlighting concerns that the Department of Defense would get left behind during the transition to a new oversight regime for air traffic control. "This bill gives the department a mere advisory role on the board of directors, a demotion from its current equal footing partnership with the FAA," Larsen said, noting that the Pentagon controls about 15 percent of U.S. airspace. "Giving DoD a mere advisory role with no other discussion about the challenges reminds me of the role Coldplay had in the Super Bowl halftime show - billed as a headliner but quickly outshined. Sorry, Coldplay."
IT'S THURSDAY: Good morning and thanks for tuning into POLITICO's Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on all things trains, planes, automobiles and ports.
Your MT host Martine is back in the saddle - er, back in the driver's seat, or back behind the wheel, or back in the cockpit, or whatever transportation-related analogy you most prefer. What have I missed? Send updates here: mpowers@politico.com or @martinepowers.
"Fishing boats sail past the shore/No singing Mayday any more." (h/t Maggie Chan)
UP IN THE AIRR: The updates keep on coming. Here are some other developments from Wednesday related to the AIRR Act and aviation issues.
Drone discipline: Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) has filed an amendment that would punish people with up to one year in prison for flying a drone within 2 miles of an airport or other restricted flight zones.
Ticket advertisements: An amendment filed by Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) would give airlines more wiggle room on how they present ticket prices in advertisements and online ticket sales - a modification of a 2012 DOT rule that required airlines to advertise the full price of a ticket, including taxes and fees.
Plane noise and public feedback: Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) says she's concerned that the ATC overhaul proposal doesn't include enough of a process by which the public can lodge concerns about airline activities - a criticism that dovetails with one of her most vocal points of advocacy, battling airplane noise. "Because the private corporation would not be a governmental agency," she said in a statement, "what recourse would be available if the corporation issued rules or policies that would necessitate public feedback?"
About that butt space: The amendment by Rep Steve. Cohen would require the DOT to "establish minimum dimensions for passenger seats on aircraft operated by air carriers, ... including minimums for seat pitch, width, and length ... necessary for the safety and health of passengers."
Rural airports: Rep. Don Young said he opposes a provision in the House FAA bill that would eliminate overflight fees for the EAS program, which pays subsidies to airlines to keep them flying into smaller, often rural airports.
Battery wars: Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) filed a separate piece of legislation that would empower the FAA to ban bulk shipments of lithium-ion batteries from passenger airliners - the same stipulation that DeFazio wanted to see in the AIRR Act but was not included in Shuster's draft.
TSA workplace protections: Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) introduced legislation (H.R. 4488 ) to improve labor rights for TSA workers. Among the concessions: collective bargaining, whistleblower protections, and protections against discrimination based on age or handicap.
Long-haul flights at Reagan National: "Virginia's senators fired a rifle shot today over one of their least-favorite perennial issues in the FAA bill, warning lawmakers to stay away from trying to expand long-haul flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport," our Kathy Wolfe writes . "The House bill in its current form doesn't contain language that would expand long-haul slots at Reagan National, but in a statement today, Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine warned that ... [they would put up a fight against] any amendments to try to tack on a slot expansion."
CRICKETS FROM FOXX ON FAA: The FAA bill has been floating around the halls of Congress and the interwebs for a week, so you'd think the Transportation secretary has an opinion by now, right? Well, our Lauren Gardner asked him during a Wednesday call with reporters whether he'd take a stance before the markup, but he declined to answer the question right then since it was unrelated to DOT's capital investment grant announcement. We followed up with the department afterward to see if it'd comment, but the cone of silence remains in place.
MT SCOOP - THUNE TALKS TO STB: It's been a couple months since Congress passed the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act, and Thune had his first meeting with STB Chairman Daniel R. Elliott III this week to talk implementation. Here's what an aide in the meeting told MT about the confab: "Chairman Elliot committed that the STB will fully comply with each requirement and deadline set in the law. He even mentioned all three board members had, as authorized by the new law, their first ever collaborative meeting together and described it as a success. The chairmen agreed to stay in close contact as implementation proceeds."
CP GOES WITH A GENTLER APPROACH: Canadian Pacific announced its intentions to submit a resolution to Norfolk Southern shareholders that would request the board of directors "engage in good faith discussions" with Canadian Pacific about a potential railroad merger - a more delicate approach than previous reports of plans for a hostile takeover. In its statement, CP expressed confidence that friendly talks are what NS shareholders have been asking for all along, and that the resolution would simply make that ask more formal. CP CEO E. Hunter Harrison: "We are not asking NS shareholders to vote on the existing proposal; we are simply asking them to vote in favour of having their board talk to us. ... [We] believe this is a fair and measured approach to getting a deal done."
Agree to disagree? Norfolk Southern's board members say they're not interested. "NS has already met with CP and publicly provided clear detail regarding the NS Board's concerns. ... We believe further discussions are not in the best interests of NS shareholders unless CP offers NS shareholders compelling value and addresses the regulatory issues inherent in its proposal."
'It did not come up': You'd have thought that the controversial takeover proposal would have come up during Thune's meeting with the head of the STB, but no dice. The aide who attended the meeting said the issue was not discussed between the two chairmen.
DOT TALKS BIG BUCKS FOR FTA GRANTS: The Department of Transportation recommended 31 transit projects to share $3.5 billion in capital investment grants for rail, bus and streetcar initiatives in 18 states. Our Lauren Gardner explains : "Many of the recommended projects - such as a proposed bus line in Grand Rapids, Mich., and longer platforms for Dallas' light rail system - are needed due to heavy use straining existing service, [according to] acting FTA Administrator Therese McMillan."
TAKATA RECALLS CONTINUE: German automakers are recalling 2.5 million cars in the United States with airbag inflators produced by Takata, and NHTSA critics Sens. Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal wasted no time lambasting the announcement as inadequate. "The glacial pace of Takata's decadelong recall process is confusing to the public and leaves lives in danger," the Democratic senators wrote. "We call on NHTSA to require Takata to publish a list of all makes and models for which they have supplied airbags since 2000, to recall all of these vehicles, and to publish the testing results and failure rates so the public can assess the risk these airbags pose. This latest recall by Volkswagen, which includes models as recent as 2014, is another scary reminder that no car is safe - not even newer cars - when it contains airbags prone to violent explosions."
Chart bonanza: Bloomberg Gadfly on "Takata's Exploding Liabilities": "The problem is that companies facing trouble on this scale need to provide as much clear information as possible. That's not happening."
EXITS AND ONRAMPS: Nathan J. Robinson, associate administrator for the Federal Transit Administration, is moving on to a new gig with the Senate Appropriations Committee THUD Subcommittee.
MEA CULPA: We indicated in Wednesday's MT that appropriators have final say over how much PTC grant money will be doled out in fiscal 2017, when actually the FAST Act ensures that all $199 million comes out of the Highway Trust Fund. Apologies for the error.
POLITICO Caucus: Energy and the Election in South Carolina. Join us as we bring POLITICO's South Carolina Caucus members together for a deep-dive discussion, featuring a variety of perspectives, about the energy policy issues facing the next president. Speakers include: Hillary For America Energy Policy Adviser Trevor Houser, The Hoover Institution's Jeremy Carl, The Electric Cooperatives of S.C.'s Mike Couick, Bold Nebraska's Jane Kleeb, Coastal Conservation League's Laurin Manning, MWR Strategies' Mike McKenna, Brawley Templeton's Catherine Templeton, Inez Tenenbaum, and Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough's David Wilkins. Feb. 11, 3 p.m. - Alumni Hall, College of Charleston - Charleston, S.C. RSVP: http://bit.ly/1SBndFz or Livestream: POLITICO.com/live
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ):
- "End of the Line for Model Trains? Aging Hobbyists Trundle On." The Wall Street Journal.
- "Analysis of the Obama Administration's FY2017 Budget Proposal for Transportation." American Road and Transportation Builders Association.
- Sikh actor flies home to New York, wearing turban, after two-day standoff with Aeroméxico. The New York Times.
- "Cargo Airline Expanded Flights Believed to be For Amazon." The Wall Street Journal.
- "I-66 widening will happen soon whether it makes sense or not." Greater Greater Washington.
- Senators discussing penalties for flying drones near White House. POLITICO Pro .
- Obama and Ryan find common ground in budget blueprint. POLITICO Pro.
THE COUNTDOWN: DOT appropriations run out in 232 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 49 days. The 2016 presidential election is in 270 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 1,694 days.
THE DAY AHEAD:
10 a.m. - House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee markup of the FY2017 Budget Views and Estimates of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; and H.R.4441, the "Aviation Innovation, Reform, & Reauthorization Act." 2167 Rayburn.
10 a.m. - Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson delivers the annual State of Homeland Security address, "DHS: Progress in 2015, Goals for 2016," during an event hosted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Aspen Institute Homeland Security Group. Woodrow Wilson Center, 6th Floor Flom Auditorium, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
10:15 a.m. - House Judiciary Committee hearing on "Is The Investor Visa Program an Underperforming Asset?" 2141 Rayburn.
1 p.m. - House Science, Space, and Technology Committee markup of H.R.4489, the "FAA Leadership In Groundbreaking High-Tech Research and Development Act." 2318 Rayburn.
6 p.m. - American Public Transportation Association's Transportation Tuesday program will feature U.S. DOT Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Budget and Programs Shoshana Lew. Assistant Secretary Lew will review key elements of the Obama Administration's FY 2017 budget proposal.
Did we miss an event? Let MT know at transpocalendar@politicopro.com.
Stories from POLITICO Pro
Shuster, DeFazio spar over ATC overhaul Back
By Heather Caygle | 02/11/2016 05:45 AM EDT
House Transportation leaders continue to spar over how best to modernize air traffic control, with no détente in sight heading into tomorrow's critical markup.
Rep. Peter DeFazio called the GOP plan to hand over ATC control to a nonprofit board "the largest devolution of public assets" in modern history during today's hearing on the House GOP's FAA bill, accusing Chairman Bill Shuster of using expediency to try to ram through an unpopular idea that hasn't been properly vetted.
"I feel that we should perhaps slow down a little bit here, think about alternatives," DeFazio, the committee's top Democrat, said in his opening remarks.
"I believe [the proposal] jeopardizes all of the other work, the essential work in that bill," he added.
Shuster spent much of his opening statement trying to sell the benefits of yanking ATC control from the FAA and attempting to tamp down accusations that his idea was a hurried plan that Democrats had no input on.
"Again, I want everybody to realize this. This has not been done in the dark and it has not been done at the last minute," he said.
"We've worked together on large parts of this bill in the same bipartisan spirit as other bills this committee has passed and sent on to the president... [but] We do have an honest policy agreement on the approach to fixing ATC."
GAO report outlines challenges for ATO transition Back
By Kathryn A. Wolfe and Heather Caygle | 02/11/2016 05:45 AM EDT
A Government Accountability Office report out this morning outlines 18 pages of potential pitfalls regulators must face when considering splitting air traffic control off from the FAA.
Using other countries with corporatized systems as a guide, the GAO outlines problems including just what might happen to what's left of the FAA, which will still have broad oversight authority of the new entity.
The report "raises very, very serious questions which will not be answered between today and tomorrow," said Rep. Peter DeFazio, who requested the report. "I regret it only came out today but this whole thing is being hurried through."
According to the report, separating responsibilities could become murky, which could also impact coordination necessary between the FAA and the new body. It also raises the possibility that what remains of the FAA could still be significantly impacted by the same budgetary uncertainties that the overhaul is supposed to fix - for part of the system, anyway.
"A restructuring could result in the safety regulator being more vulnerable to funding challenges because the safety regulator would no longer have the ability to shift resources among programs as FAA has some ability to do. Additionally, one expert stated that another potential impact to the safety regulator is that it may face challenges hiring skilled staff because it would be competing with the ATC entity for skilled labor," the report notes.
It also raises potential problems involving overseeing the scope and magnitude of fees set by any new board; financial risks and liability borne by a new entity; valuation and transfer issues related to the FAA's many facilities that would be transferred to a new entity; and others.
Thune: FAA bill should resemble current fee structure Back
By Heather Caygle | 02/11/2016 05:45 AM EDT
Sen. John Thune said today that he's open to an air traffic overhaul but cautioned that whatever plan Congress settles on shouldn't deviate too far from what various aviation sectors currently pay to use the system.
"In terms of the revenue structure, you know, I think in a lot of respects, most of the people that we hear from would like to keep the current structure in place," Thune told reporters today. "It is a user-fee based system today and I think that the closer that we can stay to what's in place today, the more likely we'll have, I think, support among people from the community that are going to be impacted by this."
Commerce Committee spokesman Frederick Hill expanded on Thune's comments later, suggesting Thune was saying that garnering support may hinge on maintaining the proportion of what various sectors currently pay into the system.
"Chairman Thune continues to believe that the House air traffic control reform proposal deserves fair consideration," Hill said. "From the input we have heard, such a change appears more viable if there is confidence that it will have a minimal impact on the proportional assessments for airspace users."
Rep. Bill Shuster's FAA proposal would shift air traffic control to a nonprofit board of mostly industry representatives that would be empowered to set new user fees. To address concerns from general aviation groups, Shuster's bill exempts from the new fee structure piston-powered planes and business jets that don't carry cargo or passengers for-hire.
Young: FAA bill will eliminate rural airport funding Back
By Kathryn A. Wolfe | 02/11/2016 05:45 AM EDT
Rep. Don Young laid out a critique of the House's FAA bill, tearing into it for a provision he says will eliminate the Essential Air Service program.
"In this bill we eliminate - they say you do not - we eliminate EAS, in the sense that I have to take and fight each year to get appropriations to fund it," Young said. "That's wrong. EAS is crucial to my state."
Young was referring to a provision in the House's bill that would eliminate overflight fees for the EAS program, which pays subsidies to airlines to keep them flying into smaller, often rural airports. EAS currently is roughly half funded with overflight fees - a guaranteed funding stream - and the rest is made up from annual appropriations.
The EAS program was created as Congress' promise of continued access for small communities when it deregulated the airline industry in 1978. It has come in for regular criticism along with attempts to cut the scope of the program. But EAS has many supporters, especially in the Senate where rural interests are well-represented, and Young's critique will no doubt be shared in the upper chamber.
NTSB: Administration needs to tighten lithium-ion battery regs Back
By Kathryn A. Wolfe | 02/11/2016 05:45 AM EDT
The NTSB is joining the fray over regulating bulk shipments of lithium-ion batteries on planes, issuing a recommendation today that asks the administration to limit the density of batteries loaded in one place and also suggests they be kept away from flammable liquids.
The NTSB's recommendations are based on a 2011 Asiana Airlines flight hauling lithium-ion batteries from Korea to China that crashed after the pilots reported a cargo fire. The two pilots died.
Based on its research, NTSB notes that by the time an aircraft's smoke monitors detect a fire inside a container, "there is little time until the fires reach levels that can compromise the integrity of the cargo compartment and then threaten the structure and systems of the aircraft."
NTSB's letter observes that a 2012 law restricts DOT from issuing lithium-ion battery regulations that are stricter than ICAO standards. However, the NTSB notes that the same law allows PHMSA to issue regulations if it has evidence that ICAO's instructions are deficient enough to have contributed to an on-board fire that could be addressed by additional measures.
"The NTSB believes that the circumstances and findings in the Asiana Flight 991 accident constitutes such credible evidence that demonstrates a deficiency in cargo segregation requirements that would permit the [rules] to be changed to be more stringent than the current ICAO requirements," NTSB wrote.
Tech, business coalition backs Shuster on lithium batteries Back
By Heather Caygle | 02/11/2016 05:45 AM EDT
A coalition of business and technology groups is backing language in Rep. Bill Shuster's FAA bill that would continue to prohibit the FAA from outlawing lithium battery shipments on planes.
The House GOP bill "will ensure the continued harmonization of lithium battery regulations with international standards and implement a balanced approach to a controversial issue that assures safety while protecting American commerce and vital supply chains," the group wrote to Shuster and Rep. Frank LoBiondo.
Signees include a broad spectrum of industry groups ranging from the National Association of Manufacturers to the Consumer Technology Association.
The coalition echoes Shuster's stance that ICAO -- not the FAA -- is the best body to regulate lithium battery shipments on passenger and cargo planes since the issue is an international one with global economic implications.
"The problem is not the carriage of lithium batteries on aircraft, but the proper handling of those products," they wrote. "What is needed now is tough enforcement of these rules."
Peter DeFazio and the Air Line PIlots Association have opposed Shuster's plan to keep the FAA prohibition in place.
Virginia senators: Hands off slots at Reagan National Back
By Kathryn A. Wolfe | 02/11/2016 05:45 AM EDT
Virginia's senators fired a rifle shot today over one of their least-favorite perennial issues in the FAA bill, warning lawmakers to stay away from trying to expand long-haul flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The House bill in its current form doesn't contain language that would expand long-haul slots at Reagan National, but in a statement today, Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine warned that any amendments to try to tack on a slot expansion would "seriously complicate this work right out of the gate."
Of course, no matter what the House does when it marks up its bill Thursday, the Senate's eventual draft could - and usually does - contain its own expansion of long-haul slots, which the Virginia duo also warned against.
"When the Senate considers this bill, we will use whatever means available to us to stop proposals that undermine Northern Virginia's airports and jeopardize access of communities across the East Coast and Midwest to our nation's capital," they said.
DOT recommends 31 transit projects for capital grants Back
By Lauren Gardner | 02/11/2016 05:45 AM EDT
The Department of Transportation recommended 31 transit projects today to share $3.5 billion in capital investment grants for rail, bus and streetcar initiatives in 18 states.
While Congress ultimately appropriates the grant funding in annual spending bills, DOT and FTA's project recommendations are influential. The $3.5 billion was initially proposed in the Obama administration's fiscal 2017 budget request yesterday.
Many of the recommended projects - such as a proposed bus line in Grand Rapids, Mich., and longer platforms for Dallas' light rail system - are needed due to heavy use straining existing service, acting FTA Administrator Therese McMillan told reporters.
FTA's report to Congress is available here. Project profiles can be viewed here.
DOT recommends 31 transit projects for capital grants Back
By Lauren Gardner | 02/11/2016 05:45 AM EDT
The Department of Transportation recommended 31 transit projects today to share $3.5 billion in capital investment grants for rail, bus and streetcar initiatives in 18 states.
While Congress ultimately appropriates the grant funding in annual spending bills, DOT and FTA's project recommendations are influential. The $3.5 billion was initially proposed in the Obama administration's fiscal 2017 budget request yesterday.
Many of the recommended projects - such as a proposed bus line in Grand Rapids, Mich., and longer platforms for Dallas' light rail system - are needed due to heavy use straining existing service, acting FTA Administrator Therese McMillan told reporters.
FTA's report to Congress is available here. Project profiles can be viewed here.
Senators discussing penalties for flying drones near White House Back
By POLITICO Pro Staff | 02/11/2016 05:45 AM EDT
Senators from the Homeland Security and Judiciary committees are discussing legislation on criminal penalties for flying drones near the White House, Sen. Tom Carper said today.
"I believe we'll need to continue to work with our colleagues on Judiciary to make sure that we get the language dealing with criminal penalties for flying a drone over the White House just right," Carper said at a business meeting this morning of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
President Barack Obama in January 2015 called for commercial drone regulation - without mentioning any specific penalties for flying near 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue - after a small unmanned aerial vehicle landed on the White House grounds.
"The drone that landed in the White House you buy in Radio Shack," Obama said at the time.
Obama and Ryan find common ground in budget blueprint Back
By Sarah Wheaton | 02/11/2016 05:45 AM EDT
President Barack Obama won reelection by campaigning, in part, against Paul Ryan and his budget plan, arguing that they'd be disastrous for the little guy. As House speaker, Ryan is railing against Obama's latest $4.1 trillion budget blueprint, calling it "a progressive manual for growing the federal government at the expense of hardworking Americans."
But underneath the heated rhetoric, the two leaders are finding a sliver of common ground - their shared commitment to fighting poverty.
In a promising sign, Obama and Ryan discussed the anti-poverty measure during their lunch in the Oval Office last week, the first such one-on-one meeting since Ryan ascended to speakership last November.
"Certainly Speaker Ryan has made very clear that he's interested in pursuing bipartisan efforts around reducing poverty," senior administration officials told reporters on Tuesday morning.
The measure at issue is an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit that has been credited with pulling millions of Americans out of poverty. Obama's proposal released Tuesday would double the credit for childless workers and parents who don't live with their children, and would also lower the eligibility age for single workers to 21. Ryan has supported both moves.
"This is the best chance we've had in a long time, and that's because of Paul's commitment to it, and the president's commitment, for that matter," said Arthur Brooks, president of the conservative American Enterprise Institute who has participated in poverty forums that both Obama and Ryan have convened over the past year. "They both want it, they both know it's the right thing to do, I think it's probably gonna happen."
The White House is also hoping to find common ground with Republicans on budget items such as cybersecurity and cancer research funding. But fighting poverty is an issue that both Obama and Ryan see as part of their legacies. And it provides some hope that the two men can ease their years-long, pitched battle over their budgets, and create some needed goodwill during Obama's final year in office.
Obama alienated Ryan, the GOP's resident budget wonk even before he ran as Mitt Romney's running mate, by excoriating Ryan's sweeping budget proposal at a speech in 2011. That plan, with a Medicare voucher program and tax breaks paid for with deep cuts to infrastructure and research, was "less about reducing the deficit than it is about changing the basic social compact in America," Obama said.
He didn't realize Ryan was in the room for the speech at George Washington University, and Obama later said it was a "mistake" to go after him so hard. But just a year later, in his 2012 reelection campaign, Obama ran aggressively against Ryan's vision, calling it "thinly veiled Social Darwinism," and his campaign considered Romney's embrace of both the man and his budget plan a gift.
But Ryan has been interested in right-leaning approaches to alleviating poverty since his years as a policy aide to the late Jack Kemp, a self-proclaimed "bleeding-heart conservative." He's been visiting inner-city neighborhoods and meeting with ex-convicts with the civil rights activist Bob Woodson since 2013, and in June, he called for a "new battle plan" in the war on poverty.
Since becoming speaker, Ryan has already sought to use his influence to steer the GOP discussion toward poverty, hosting a forum with most of the party's presidential contenders in South Carolina last month.
The earned income tax credit was a major part of that discussion. Unlike other government assistance programs favored by liberals but viewed on the right as "income redistribution," Brooks said, "EITC is really about rewarding work."
Expanding EITC has been part of Obama's budget proposals for the past few years; the difference this time is that Ryan, who vocally supports it, is in charge. But one sticking point remains: how to pay for it. Some previous proposals have relied on new tax revenues to cover the cost. That's a nonstarter for Ryan, who would prefer to cut energy or agriculture subsidies.
"Speaker Ryan supports the policy, but the question is how we cover the cost," said his spokesman Doug Andres in an email. "The speaker does not think we should raise taxes on small businesses or go deeper into debt to do it. We need to cut wasteful spending. If we can agree on that, then there's an opportunity to move forward on a policy proposal with a great deal of merit."
In a budget briefing for reporters Tuesday, Obama's Council of Economic Advisers chairman Jason Furman said the White House would be "happy to work together with Congress on an acceptable pay-for."
However, Furman added, "What you wouldn't see flexibility on is the principle that this proposal is meant to reduce poverty. So if you cut one thing that's helping to reduce poverty and use it to expand something else that would reduce poverty, you haven't made the type of improvements that we envision."
A newer White House request for the next fiscal year is $2 billion for a new set of pilot programs with states that would give poor families a little extra help with emergency one-off payments, to make rent or get a car repair without losing a job or a home.
Requests to help some longer-standing elements of the administration's anti-poverty plan are likely to go nowhere, including a proposal that would encourage more states to expand Medicaid under Obamacare by continuing the 100 percent federal match.
"I don't think anything that we've said today has tried to paper over the significant differences between the priorities that are identified by the Republicans and the priorities that we've identified," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday. "Given those significant differences, it's all the more important that we capitalize on those areas where common ground does obviously exist."