With help from Brianna Gurciullo
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— Negotiations over the next coronavirus response package could turn into a fight over climate politics as infrastructure plans come into focus.
— Flight attendants stepped up their push for the Treasury Department not to force airlines to offer stake in their companies in exchange for payroll grants.
— The coronavirus pandemic has forced the National Transportation Safety Board to curtail travel to some accident crash sites.
IT’S THURSDAY: Thanks for tuning in to POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on all things trains, planes, automobiles and ports. Get in touch with tips and feedback at [email protected] or @samjmintz.
“Things haven’t been the same / since you boarded that junk train” (written and performed by Michael Harrington of the National Automobile Dealers Association!)
LISTEN HERE: Follow MT’s playlist on Spotify. What better way to start your day than with songs (picked by us and readers) about roads, railways, rivers and runways?
COMING UP ON THE HILL: Debate over the next phase of coronavirus response legislation could quickly turn into a fight over climate politics. As our Tanya Snyder wrote Wednesday, House Democrats are pushing to include a climate-heavy infrastructure plan they outlined two months ago, even amid renewed Republican calls to reject anything resembling the “green new deal.”
Dueling quotes: “As we work to address the immediate health emergency, mitigate the economic impact and lay the foundation for a strong recovery we must take bold actions to renew America’s infrastructure,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
Here’s House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy: “We cannot afford the distraction of continued attempts to force partisan objectives into our response.”
The conservative political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity is launching a new digital ad campaign targeting members of key House committees, asking people to sign on to a letter opposing gas tax increases. Some Democratic proposals for infrastructure investment have proposed at least indexing, if not increasing, the federal gas tax.
Worth noting: Senior GOP senators say it’s way too early to talk about another coronavirus response, pushing back on Pelosi’s ambitious timeline for a new relief bill by the end of April.
SILVER LINING: In Florida, state officials are taking advantage of empty roads to accelerate infrastructure projects, POLITICO’s Bruce Ritchie reports. Gov. Ron DeSantis directed state highway officials to accelerate $2.1 billion in transportation projects over the next few months. He said he was excited about the improvements but that “it’s sad we’re in this situation” because of the coronavirus.
COMING DOWN THE AISLE: Three leading flight attendants’ unions stepped up their call on Wednesday for the Trump administration not to require that airlines cough up a stake in their companies in exchange for payroll aid. As our Brianna Gurciullo reports, the unions warn that language in the rescue bill signed into law last week, which allows the Trump administration to accept financial instruments in exchange for payroll grants, “threatens whether workers will ever see the promised relief.”
The unions wrote in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that they “support the inclusion of warrants on the loans carriers can receive,” but the $29 billion in grants for airlines are different because “they’re a direct pass-through to workers.”
Democrats echoed that message. Loans can be conditioned, but “the payroll pass-through can’t be delayed,” said House Transportation Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.). And Pelosi said: “We do believe the Treasury Department should get a good return for taxpayers on these loans to the airlines and to address non-payroll expenses, but we do want them to honor what our conversation was, which is that this is just a stopping off point for the check, it goes to the airline and directly to the employee.”
Meanwhile, general aviation groups want the Treasury Department to “provide flexibility” to GA carriers and fixed-based operators as they apply for loans or grants. “The majority of general aviation air carriers and FBOs are not publicly traded and have limited liquidity in the current environment,” the heads of the National Business Aviation Association and the National Air Transportation Association wrote in a letter to Mnuchin.
OBJECTION: The National Air Carrier Association, which represents ultra low-cost airlines, on Wednesday said it opposes the minimum service requirements DOT has drafted for passenger carriers that take government loans or grants. The group claims DOT’s methodology “unjustly discriminates against, and penalizes, air carriers that provide seasonal air services.” NACA suggested that, instead, scheduled passenger airlines propose schedules for April and May, and then potentially be required to “serve underserved cities based on prior year service, adjusted for holiday and other seasonal demand profiles.”
WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH THE MAX? Boeing, which still hopes its 737 MAX will be back in commercial service by the middle of this year, is facing “the ultimate work-from-home challenge: certifying an airplane with regulators who are self-isolating on different continents,” Bloomberg reported Wednesday. One analyst said the jet’s return could be delayed by up to three months.
TRUMP AGAIN FLOATS TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS: President Donald Trump said Wednesday he’s “certainly looking at” domestic air travel restrictions but also conceded “once you do that, you really are clamping down an industry that is desperately needed.” As our team reports, the comments came after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally, tweeted late Tuesday that it is “time to consider limiting or banning domestic and international air travel for next 30 days.”
“It’s a very, very rough decision,” Trump said. “We are thinking about hot spots where you go from spot to spot — both hot. We will let you know fairly soon.” He referred both to airlines and trains as possible targets for restrictions. “When you start closing up entire transportation systems and opening them up, that’s a very tough thing to do.”
TRUMP: ‘WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING’ ABOUT CRUISE PASSENGERS: Two cruise ships — carrying at least nine people who have Covid-19 — were set to dock at Port Everglades in Florida this morning, the Miami Herald reported. “I’m speaking with the governor about that a lot, and it’s a tough situation,” Trump said during Wednesday’s coronavirus task force briefing. “You have people that are sick on those ships, and states don’t want to take [them]. They have enough problems right now. … But we have to, from a humane standpoint. We don’t have a choice.”
Trump added that Canadian and British authorities will help their citizens return home. “They’re in big trouble — no matter where they’re from,” he said. “I mean, they’re dying, so we have to do something, and the governor knows that, too.” Earlier this week, DeSantis spoke out against the idea of passengers disembarking in the state.
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WORK THAT CAN’T BE DONE FROM HOME: The NTSB’s investigations are being hit by the coronavirus, Brianna reports. The agency has had to forego travel to the scenes of seven accidents and “serious incidents” since mid-March, including a plane crash in Texas and helicopter crash in Iowa.
It’s not prohibiting trips to crash sites altogether, though. To protect NTSB staff and their families, the agency is determining the need for travel on a “case-by-case basis,” a spokesperson said, and will weigh the circumstances of the accident, the amount of information that could be gathered in other ways and the risks associated with travel.
IGS, ASSEMBLE: Mitchell Behm, DOT’s acting inspector general, was added to the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, which will be overseeing the implementation of the $2 trillion CARES Act. The committee, led by acting Pentagon IG Glenn Fine, will be made up of 21 inspectors general.
NEW NUMBERS SHOW GRIM SITUATION AT DHS: Hundreds of employees at the agency are infected and thousands quarantined, according to an internal report obtained by the Los Angeles Times. Some of the hardest hit divisions are TSA and CBP, where frontline workers have had to continue staffing airports and customs offices.
At TSA, 129 employees have tested positive and 4,084 are under quarantine. At CBP, 64 employees are infected and 640 quarantined, according to the report, which the Times got from a congressional aide.
— “Truck traffic to Canada slows as virus stifles supply, demand.” POLITICO Pro Canada.
— “State Department halts passport services for travelers unless it’s a family emergency.” USA Today.
— “Truck hauling toilet paper catches fire on Texas interstate.” Associated Press.
— “American Airlines apologizes for mistakenly offering dozens of pilots voluntary leave amid coronavirus.” CNBC.
— “Pandemic revives hope of federal aid for Texas highways, ports, rural internet.” Houston Chronicle.
— “Nearly 3,000 sailors to leave carrier amid virus outbreak.” Associated Press.
DOT appropriations run out in 180 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,277 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 180 days.
