With help from Alex Daugherty and Tanya Snyder
— Phil Washington, President Joe Biden’s pick to head FAA, will finally get his turn before the Senate Commerce Committee.
— Congress is back from its recess, offering a chance to take lawmakers’ temperature on potential rail safety legislation.
— FHWA issued a new policy memo that replaces its “fix it first” guidance.
IT’S MONDAY: You’re reading Morning Transportation, your Washington policy guide to everything that moves. I’m your host, Kayla Guo. Send tips, thoughts and recipes you like to [email protected]. Find us on Twitter @kaylaguo_, @alextdaugherty and @TSnyderDC.
WASHINGTON ON WASHINGTON: It’s the start of a busy week, but MT has you covered. On Wednesday, look for Phil Washington, the CEO of Denver International Airport whose nomination to head the FAA has been mired in turmoil, to finally get his hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee. The battle lines have already been largely drawn, with Republicans likely to poke holes in Washington’s relative lack of aviation experience, his likely need for a waiver to serve and more. And for Washington, it’s a chance to defend his reputation, in a public venue, for the first time since Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) first issued a statement calling into question his involvement in a lawsuit out of Los Angeles involving a county supervisor.
MERGER FIGHT: We could see the Justice Department file a lawsuit to block the pending merger between JetBlue and Spirit as soon as Tuesday, when an agreement among the parties expires. But as Josh Sisco reports, that timeline could slip, possibly even into next week. Still, the die appear pretty much cast. Last week, the CEOs of the two airlines met with the leadership at the Justice Department’s antitrust division, Josh reports, “as part of a final bid to convince the government to not challenge the deal.”
Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories.
AIRLINES TALK MERGER: Speaking of, JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes and Spirit CEO Ted Christie sat down with POLITICO to argue that fares would go down and consumer choice would expand if their merger is approved. They also talked DOJ, the mood they sensed on the Hill and consumer sentiment toward aviation. Pros can check out the conversation.
EYES ON THE HILL: As the Ohio train derailment’s fallout continues and the political theater surrounding it simmers, national attention turns to Congress — and whether lawmakers want to take on the powerful rail lobby and tackle the rail safety changes DOT has called for.
— Though we saw calls for action from both sides of the aisle when the issue hit the headlines, the prospects for sweeping legislation emerging out of this polarized environment are dim. That would require lawmakers banding together after a political firestorm that saw some Republicans calling for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s resignation early on, intense GOP attacks over the administration’s response — now including a House Oversight investigation — and Twitter spats between Buttigieg and Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
— But interest in the topic remains high. Reps. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), Rep. Donald Payne, Jr. (D-N.J.) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-N.C.) — the ranking and vice ranking members of the Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials subcommittee — praised the DOT’scall to action on rail safety, which included a substantial to-do list for Congress.
— Seven Pennsylvania Democratic representatives called on Buttigieg Friday to formally suspend a rule proposed by the Trump administration that allows for the transportation of Liquified Natural Gas by rail “without the necessary operational controls, equipment standards, and accident response protocols,” they wrote.
— Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) also called on DOT Friday to “review and improve their inspections practices with a specific focus on maintenance and safety of railroads” and for the FRA to “revisit” the cost-benefit analysis on ECP brakes that prompted the Trump administration to withdraw an Obama-era brake proposal.
— And on the GOP side, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Rubiosigned a letter asking Buttigieg if the two-person crew minimum — a standard the rail lobby has sought to get rid of — was adequate. Chair of the T&I Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials subcommittee Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) said in a statement that he “will work in a bipartisan effort to ensure our freight rail system is as safe as possible and prevent tragedies like this from occurring again.”
— Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Tom Carper (D-Del.) and ranking member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), meanwhile, have called for a hearing on the crash, while Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) sent letters to the Class I railroads requesting information about their hazardous materials transport safety practices.
MORE RAIL POLITICS: House Oversight Republicans are launching an investigation into the Ohio train derailment, Jordain Carney reports. They started with a Friday letter from Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and committee Republicans to Buttigieg requesting documents and communications related to his response to the train derailment, including when he found out about it and what guidance he might have gotten on how to respond. “The American people deserve answers as to what caused the derailment, and DOT needs to provide an explanation for its leadership’s apathy in the face of this emergency,” the lawmakers write. Buttigieg tweeted a response reminding the lawmakers that the NTSB is an independent agency, and saying he’d respond “appropriately.”
NEW CALLS TO END LNG-BY-RAIL: Seven Democratic Pennsylvania representatives on Friday called on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to suspend a Trump-era rule permitting the transportation of liquified natural gas by rail. In the wake of the high-profile derailment of a train carrying other chemicals along the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, the representatives wrote that they believe “the Trump Administration did not perform the necessary analysis or propose adequate safeguards for the rail transportation of LNG-by-Rail.” They added that they are particularly concerned because proposed LNG export terminals along the Delaware River in Pennsylvania could mean the transportation of LNG by rail through their districts.
The Biden administration has moved to reconsider the Trump-era rule, Reg. 2137-AF40, and issued a proposed rule in November 2021, Reg. 2137-AF55, that would temporarily suspend the authorization while it works on a permanent change. Both the final rule on the temporary suspension and the proposed more permanent rulemaking, Reg. 2137-AF54, were expected to be completed late last year. A DOT spokesperson said the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is currently reviewing more than 7,000 comments submitted on the proposed suspension.
DID YOU GET THE MEMO? FHWA is issuing a new policy memo that will supersede one issued in December 2021, Alex reports, minus any language advising states to use their infrastructure money to fix up existing assets — guidance that Republicans argued was an attempt to circumvent the infrastructure law.
— The new memo, distributed to FHWA staff on Friday afternoon and obtained by POLITICO, instead states that “the maintenance of existing roads and highways in a state of good repair is an important tool to ensure the effective use of Federal funding,” adding that “different states have different needs when it comes to transportation assets that must be reconfigured and modernized, expanded and added, or retired and replaced.”
— The document, which also lays out FHWA’s goals for infrastructure law funds that are doled out in discretionary grant applications, is intended to mollify GOP concerns that the 2021 memo was an attempt by the Biden administration to go beyond what Congress was willing to require as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law.
NEW LABOR LEADER:? The White House is considering Deputy Labor Secretary Julie Su and Association of Flight Attendants President Sara Nelson to take the reins of the Department of Labor after Labor Secretary Marty Walsh steps down in March, The Washington Post reports. Labor leaders have also recommended DeMaurice Smith, outgoing executive director of the NFL’s union, as a possible candidate. Organized labor has come out strong for Su, though Smith and Nelson, who won an endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), could still be tapped among several potential candidates.
FIRST IN MT: A coalition of airport service workers led by the SEIU and CWA are urging Senate Commerce Committee leaders to include in this year’s FAA reauthorization a bill first introduced last Congress that would require airport service workers to be paid prevailing wage and benefits set by the Labor Department. Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced the legislation last Congress, though a formal bill has yet to be reintroduced this session. SEIU, CWA and UNITE HERE, sent a letter shared with MT to Cantwell and Cruz urging the forthcoming bill’s inclusion in the larger package.
Former Rep. John Olver (D-Mass.), who served as chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, died Thursday at his home in Amherst, Mass., The Boston Globe reports. He was 86.
— “Texas to invest $100B in 10-year transportation plan.” Allied News.
— ”Kentucky transportation secretary gives Brent Spence update to House committee.” Link NKY.
— “How a NYC Subway Became Way Too Expensive.” Bloomberg.
