With help from Tanya Snyder and Oriana Pawlyk
— The end of Roe v. Wade has significant implications for travel and transportation, and one justice weighs in on potential travel bans for individuals crossing state lines to get an abortion.
— Both parties in Congress push for a federal government ban on the use of Chinese-made drones.
— Top Republicans and Democrats on the House Transportation Committee say NTSB’s authority to investigate accidents involving commercial space vehicles must be protected.
IT’S MONDAY: You’re reading Morning Transportation, your Washington policy guide to everything that moves. As always, send tips, pitches, feedback and song lyrics to [email protected]. You can find all of us on Twitter: @alextdaugherty,@TSnyderDC and @Oriana0214.
POLITICS OF TRAVEL: Long journeys via roads, airports and rail lines will become, for some people, the only way to access abortions after the Supreme Court revoked the constitutional right to an abortion that has been in place for half a century. Abortions are now illegal or will soon be illegal in at least 16 states, while other states are likely to pursue additional restrictions. But there was a significant line in Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s opinion as it relates to potential travel bans on individuals seeking to cross state lines to obtain an abortion.
“As I see it, some of the other abortion-related legal questions raised by today’s decision are not especially difficult as a constitutional matter,” Kavanaugh wrote. “For example, may a State bar a resident of that State from traveling to another State to obtain an abortion? In my view, the answer is no based on the constitutional right to interstate travel. May a State retroactively impose liability or punishment for an abortion that occurred before today’s decision takes effect? In my view, the answer is no.”
It’s worth mentioning that a constitutional right to interstate travel, much like abortion, is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, though freedom of movement has been recognized as a foundational right.
LINE IN THE SAND: The Association of Flight Attendants on Friday re-released its May statement blasting the overturning of Roe v. Wade and calling on “airline management to stand with us and for equality, anti-discrimination, and mutual respect” and show its commitment to employees and passengers. Minutes later, Seattle-based Alaska Airlines said it will “provide employees with extensive benefits to support your health and well-being, no matter where you live.”
“This includes reimbursing travel for certain medical procedures and treatments if they are not available where you live,” Andy Schneider, Alaska’s senior vice president of people, said in a statement. “Today’s Supreme Court decision does not change that.”
EMPLOYER EFFECTS: American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, which are both based in Texas, did not say whether their employees would receive additional health and travel benefits. A Southwest spokesperson told the The Dallas Morning News that the airline will “evaluate the landscape,” while American has not publicly weighed in on the decision. Most abortions in Texas will be illegal within 30 days.
Employers across the country started publicly announcing travel and lodging subsidies for employees needing to travel to access reproductive health care, including Dick’s Sporting Goods and Condé Nast.
DRONES BE GONE: House appropriators on Friday voted to include a provision within the fiscal 2023 Department of Homeland Security spending bill that would ban the agency from procuring and subsequently using Chinese-made drones and related parts with ties to the People’s Republic of China and its military, Oriana reports. The amendment was agreed to by voice vote.
BEIJING IS WATCHING?: There’s no cohesive federal government approach to drones manufactured in China, with agencies offering their own piecemeal solutions to avoid using the tech. Chinese drones constitute a majority of the world market, and there’s concerns that China’s government could gain access to data captured by drones used by U.S. government agencies. Many of the bans in place still offer exceptions, like in the case of the DoD as well as the Interior Department, which grants waiver authority in emergency situations.
“The concept is simple: If the Department of Defense has identified Chinese companies as a national security risk, DHS should not be buying equipment from them or their affiliates,” said Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), who offered the provision toward the manager’s amendment.
FREE RIDE: The Justice Department arrested four people on charges they participated in a multimillion-dollar scam to defraud Amtrak by bribing employees of the rail agency to submit bogus claims to Amtrak’s health insurance plan. DOJ said the Amtrak health care plan paid at least $9 million from claims linked to providers connected to the fraud.
WEARING A WIRE: An undercover agent posing as an Amtrak employee met with one of the people charged and submitted false claims on the undercover agent’s behalf and later received a cash payment for allowing their insurance information from Amtrak to be submitted for bogus claims. As a result of the fraudulent claims, which were captured on video and audio, DOJ said the Amtrak health care plan paid $31,840.
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STATES PRIME FOR DRONE HIGHWAYS: As the FAA determines how to proceed with pilots flying their drones outside the pilot’s normal visual range, a new report suggests some states are better equipped to take it to the next level by implementing aerial corridors above public rights of way — aka drone highways — to expand drone commerce when the time comes. Authored by Brent Skorup of the Mercatus Center, a free-market-oriented think tank. Skorup’s “scorecard” for states factors in six main elements: airspace lease laws, avigation easement laws, state drone task force (or the willingness to create one), air rights, designated test space, and investing in a drone job market.
OOOOk-lahoma: Currently, the best place for drone commerce to grow is Oklahoma, according to Skorup’s methodology. “They do a lot of things right,” Skorup told POLITICO, adding that the state already has a drone program office up and running and with more than 1,000 square miles of tribal land courtesy of the Choctaw Nation dedicated to drone services testing. States coming in behind Oklahoma are North Dakota and Arkansas tied for second, then Arizona, Minnesota and North Carolina.
Skorup said he didn’t find a single geographic trend — such as an abundance of rural space over urban space, etc. — that makes some states more attractive. “You need lawmakers and state regulators knowledgeable about the technology, about some legal issues and knowledgeable of the federal policy,” he said. And per the center’s research, “states are improving over time,” Skorup said. Read more here.
RESPECT MY AUTHORITY: Top leadership from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Friday said NTSB’s authority to investigate accidents involving commercial space vehicles must be protected, Oriana reports. T&I leaders rejected arguments that the FAA should have primary authority for such probes.
BIPARTISAN AGREEMENT: The NTSB is working to codify its investigatory authority pertaining to accidents involving commercial space vehicles. But Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), chair of the committee, and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), chair of the Aviation Subcommittee, as well as ranking members Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Garret Graves (R-La.), in a Friday letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, said they object to recent comments they say FAA officials have made about which agency has principal investigatory authority.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) has hired Annika Olson as political and legislative representative, and she will lobby Democrats and Republicans on aviation safety and labor issues. She previously served as assistant director of policy research at UT Austin.
— “Biden’s state gas tax holiday plea lands with a thud among Dems.” POLITICO.
— “Now airlines say delays and cancellations are the FAA’s fault.” Travel Pulse.
— “Homeland Security funding bill clears House committee.” POLITICO.
— “Who’s responsible for the T’s safety issues? ‘Plenty of blame to go around’ says transportation expert.” WGBH.
— “Murphy administration sends $58.3M to NJ Transit after missing months of payments.” northjersey.com.
— Beijing offers cash subsidies to spur demand for new energy cars.” Bloomberg.
— “The quest to beat high gas prices.” The New York Times.
— “He went on a solo train trip at age 8. Now he advocates for more trains.” The Washington Post.
