With help from Brianna Gurciullo
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— Following another tense hearing on the Boeing 737 MAX, House Transportation Chairman Peter DeFazio said he has ideas for potential changes to the FAA’s certification process, but he isn’t ready to make them public.
— The FCC will vote today to move forward with a proposed rulemaking, which would open up the spectrum designated for vehicle safety communications.
— DHS has no plans to extend next year’s REAL ID deadline despite the urging of lawmakers, a spokesperson told POLITICO.
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DEFAZIO SAYS FAA ‘ROLLED THE DICE’ WITH THE MAX: The Oregon Democrat released an FAA analysis on Wednesday, saying it showed the agency determined after the first MAX crash in October 2018 that there could be up to 15 more deadly crashes if a flight control feature on the jet wasn’t fixed. “Despite its own calculations, the FAA rolled the dice on the safety of the traveling public and let the MAX continue to fly until Boeing could overhaul its MCAS software,” DeFazio said.
Wednesday’s hearing on the MAX was tense. Several lawmakers said FAA Administrator Steve Dickson seemed to be avoiding saying that the agency made “mistakes.” Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) suggested Dickson had “been advised by counsel or somebody” to not do so. “Your counsel is giving you bad advice,” Meadows said. “Did the FAA at some point in this process make a mistake?” Dickson responded: “Yes.”
What happens next is not much clearer than it was before the hearing. DeFazio told reporters he’s still chewing over what changes he may propose to the FAA certification process. “I came up with some ideas during the hearing that I referred to staff, and we also identified some additional people we want to talk to about problems with the certification process,” he said. “I have previously given ideas to staff that I’m not prepared to talk about yet because we haven’t resolved exactly how we would do some of those things.”
There’s no “defined end point” for the committee’s investigation, DeFazio said. The panel is pulling in some people from the FAA for interviews next week. For his part, Dickson claimed it would be “premature” to talk about changes to the certification process before pending investigations related to the MAX have wrapped up.
As for the MAX’s return to the skies, Dickson told CNBC before the hearing that the FAA’s review work will continue into 2020.
FCC TO VOTE ON 5.9: Today’s the day the agency votes to move forward with a proposal to reallocate the spectrum designated for vehicle safety, opening it up to unlicensed use. Despite dissent from some in the auto and trucking industries and safety groups, as well as opposition from DOT, the vote to adopt the notice of proposed rulemaking is expected to be successful.
“This was going to be the next seat belt or airbag in terms of saving lives,” said David Friedman, a former NHTSA official now at Consumer Reports. “You’re talking about the ability to revolutionize the way safety could be done on cars. It opens the door to safer self-driving cars. It opens the door to cars communicating so they can effectively look around corners and through buildings.”
STB WILL REVIEW RATE PROPOSALS: The Surface Transportation Board kicks off a two-day hearing today to get public comment on several proposals to change the way the agency reviews freight rail rates. Shippers have praised the changes, which the agency says are mainly designed to streamline reviews. Rail customers want the agency to move toward a rate benchmarking model, which they say would compare contested rates to similar shipments instead of forcing shippers to complete the lengthy process of coming up with an entire hypothetical railroad business.
The Association of American Railroads says the STB’s “revenue adequacy” proposal threatens the rail industry and “runs contrary to basic economics.” The group said in a letter to lawmakers that it could produce “major repercussions” because it could result in the agency capping railroads’ rates.
DHS NOT PLANNING TO EXTEND REAL ID DEADLINE: Following up on something we wrote about Wednesday: After House Democrats said an extension could be necessary for requiring travelers to use REAL ID, DHS quashed the notion. A TSA spokesperson told our Stephanie Beasley there are currently no plans to extend the Oct. 1, 2020, deadline. Instead, DHS said it’s exploring possibilities for an online application process and plans to review options that may or may not require regulatory or statutory changes.
BILL CORNER: The Senate Commerce Committee approved a package of bills on Wednesday that would make it easier for parents to fly with small children and diversify the membership of FAA’s drone advisory panel, Stephanie writes. S. 2638 (116) would require small hub airports to have lactation areas in at least one men’s and one women’s restroom in every terminal by 2023. Medium and large airports must comply with a similar federal mandate by 2021. S. 2381 (116), calls for a federal review of TSA’s policies for screening breast milk, baby formula and other nursing products. And S. 2730 (116), would require a broad range of interests be represented on FAA’s drone advisory panel, including those from the agriculture, forestry and rangeland sectors.
AN EMOTIONAL MOMENT: At a joint hearing Wednesday of the Homeland Security and Oversight committees on harassment and bullying at the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Academy, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) said he got so emotional listening to the harrowing experiences of a lieutenant commander that “for a moment I thought I need to leave.”
Her too: “I have a member of my family who was raped in the army,” he said. “And I saw what happened to her. It took 10 years, most of those with expensive therapy, before she got justice. And she watched, while her life was in mass confusion, the person who had done this to her be elevated to captain.” He said he will “never just automatically assume” that a person who makes allegations like that is making it up or getting confused. “I have been dealing with this in my family,” he said. He also acknowledged that allegations have come up on his own staff.
DOC OF THE DAY: You can now read the NTSB’s full report on a self-driving Uber crash in March 2018 that killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona. The safety agency announced last month it had found that, among other things, a distracted backup driver and Uber’s “inadequate safety culture” were at fault in the incident.
MAP OF THE DAY: The New Urban Mobility alliance has launched a new platform to map the growth of new mobility in cities. The “New Mobility Atlas” uses open data to track the availability of shared transportation options in cities, including dockless scooters, bikes and mopeds. Unsurprisingly, D.C. shows up on the map as a major mobility hub.
— “Uber, DoorDash feeling the heat in blue state gig-worker push.” POLITICO Pro.
— “Fiat Chrysler’s UAW members ratify new four-year contract.” Reuters.
— “Auto Alliance, Global Automakers considering a merger.” POLITICO Pro.
— “Cruise, GM-backed self-driving company, teases life ‘beyond the car.’” The Verge.
— “The flight traffic jam that swallowed Europe.” Wall Street Journal.
— “Facial recognition is everywhere at China’s new mega airport.” Bloomberg.
DOT appropriations run out in 8 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,389 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 294 days.
