With help from Brianna Gurciullo and Alex Guillén
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— The White House and Congress are gearing up to push for infrastructure legislation in the next coronavirus response package.
— DOT could require passenger airlines that receive upcoming government assistance to keep flying to certain points in the United States.
— Pandemic or not, the Trump administration is moving ahead with its rollback of Obama-era auto emissions standards.
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ALL IN ON INFRASTRUCTURE? There’s now a full-throated push on from the White House to include infrastructure in the next round of coronavirus legislation. Here’s the presidential proclamation, by way of tweet: “With interest rates for the United States being at ZERO, this is the time to do our decades long awaited Infrastructure Bill. It should be VERY BIG & BOLD, Two Trillion Dollars, and be focused solely on jobs and rebuilding the once great infrastructure of our Country!”
There’s an appetite for action on the Hill, too, Pro Energy’s Anthony Adragna reports with an assist from your host. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) and Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) all chimed in they’re on board.
But the concept is already facing opposition from the right. “This is a recipe for some of the most wasteful log rolling we would ever see,” said Marc Scribner, a senior fellow at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, citing a panicked legislature and executive branch focused on how many zeroes get added on the price tag. There’s no evidence that infrastructure investment is a good short-term economic stimulus, and we know little about what travel and infrastructure use will look like a year down the road, Scribner told POLITICO.
AT A MINIMUM: DOT could require passenger airlines that receive government loans or grants to keep flying to domestic points they served before March 1, though they would be able to reduce their flights to an extent. That’s what DOT proposed Tuesday in an order that has a Thursday deadline for comments. It isn’t yet proposing service requirements for all-cargo airlines, which are seeing more demand than passenger airlines and “need maximum operational flexibility to respond to changes in cargo flows.”
REGIONAL AIRLINES’ PLEA: Among other asks, they are pressing Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to not seek “warrants” or “other financial instruments” from them as they try to secure grants. “Since most regional airlines do not have the ability to take on debt, access capital markets, or issue warrants or equity, any condition to do so would render these carriers unable to obtain assistance, and force these carriers to immediately furlough tens of thousands of aviation employees,” Faye Malarkey Black, the head of the Regional Airline Association, wrote in a letter to Mnuchin and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.
AIRLINES CAN AFFORD TO GIVE REFUNDS, DEMOCRATS SAY: Nine Democratic senators wrote to the major U.S. airlines on Tuesday asking them to give full cash refunds to passengers who have to cancel due to coronavirus, now that they’ve been offered billions in rescue funds. “We believe your company has a moral responsibility to provide real refunds, not travel vouchers, to consumers, and to support State Department efforts to repatriate any American citizens trying to come home,” they wrote, according to Reuters.
ONE PROVISION THAT GOT LEFT OUT: As Capitol Hill was racing to put together an economic stimulus package last week, federal health officials asked Republicans to include language that would “require airlines to digitally collect traveler data in exchange for receiving the largest government bailout in history,” The New York Times reports. MT readers will remember that’s been an issue for weeks, as the CDC has struggled to get all of the data it needs from airlines to adequately track potential coronavirus cases. But the CDC was rebuffed, according to the Times, as “Senate aides were concerned about the privacy implications of such a requirement and didn’t want to impose extra burdens on an already distressed industry.”
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DEREGULATION GOES ON: As expected, the Trump administration issued a final rule on Tuesday rolling back tougher Obama-era fuel efficiency targets for cars and small trucks, and easing the rules for the nation’s biggest greenhouse gas-emitting sector. As Pro Energy’s Alex Guillén and Zack Colman report, the EPA and NHTSA confirmed that the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles rule will require automakers to improve their fuel efficiency at a rate of 1.5 percent per year through model year 2026, far below the 5 percent gains required under the prior rule.
The agencies say the rule would shave $1,000 off the sticker price of new cars and avoid 3,300 on-road fatalities, Alex and Zack write, but “they did not initially offer details on how much more consumers would spend on gasoline or how many premature deaths would result from higher pollution associated with refining more gasoline to power less fuel-efficient vehicles compared with the Obama targets.” Environmentalists and congressional Democrats argue that the rulemaking process has been flawed, making questionable assumptions about vehicle fatalities, fleet turnover, consumer price sensitivity and human health and climate change consequences.
DÉJÀ VU: President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday to promote the rule, writing: “My proposal to the politically correct Automobile Companies would lower the average price of a car to consumers by more than $3500, while at the same time making the cars substantially safer. Engines would run smoother. Positive impact on the environment! Foolish executives!” If that sounds familiar it’s because Trump tweeted almost exactly the same thing on Aug. 21 — at that time citing just $3,000 in savings.
The $2,100 question: The EPA and NHTSA said the rule would reduce upfront costs by $1,000 and total ownership costs by $1,400. The White House on Tuesday did not answer queries about the president’s source for the $2,100 discrepancy.
RESEARCH GOES ON, TOO: The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute is launching a new four-year study to “provide the trucking industry, regulators, and the general public with practical guidelines for safely integrating automated driving systems into current fleets.” The project will be funded by a $7.5 million grant from DOT. The team will work with Pronto, a safety technology company, to retrofit existing heavy vehicles with automation tech.
CRUISE MONEY RUNNING OUT: Having been intentionally excluded from being eligible for government help in the last coronavirus response package, at least one cruise line is turning to other means to try to stay afloat. Carnival Cruise Line is trying to raise $6 billion to survive the pandemic, our Tanya Snyder reports. In a series of news releases and SEC filings, Carnival announced plans to offer a variety of stock and notes. “We cannot predict when any of our ships will begin to sail again and ports will reopen to our ships,” the company said in an SEC filing. “Even once travel advisories and restrictions are lifted, demand for cruises may remain weak for a significant length of time”
— “Captain of aircraft carrier with growing coronavirus outbreak pleads for help from Navy.” San Francisco Chronicle.
— “It may be years until passenger demand returns to 2019 levels for U.S. airlines.” The Points Guy.
— “JetBlue to cut flights in and out of hometown New York by as much as 80%.” Reuters.
— “Florida docking plan in the works for ill-fated cruise ships.” Associated Press.
— “Washington state OKs facial recognition law seen as national model.” Wall Street Journal.
DOT appropriations run out in 181 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,278 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 181 days.
