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Dickson defends himself


With help from Stephanie Beasley and Brianna Gurciullo

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FAA administrator nominee Steve Dickson explained his connection to whistleblower allegations from his time as a Delta executive in a new written response to lawmakers. But Senate Democrats still aren’t convinced.

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao criticized House Democrats for language in a recently-passed spending bill aimed at her.

Amtrak says it’s looking at “breaking up” its money-losing long distance routes, CEO Richard Anderson told a Senate committee.

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, feedback and song lyric suggestions at smintz@politico.com or @samjmintz.

“Here come again the midnight Lorry / I think I might be moving along / There’s a lot of places I got to get to / I know you’re out there but I never even met you / Take me to the land of no worry and then I’ll just keep playing this song.” (h/t Kathy Kirmayer)

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, rails, rivers and runways?

DICKSON DEFENDS HIMSELF: FAA nominee Steve Dickson defended his handling of a whistleblower complaint during his tenure as a Delta Air Lines executive in a new document filed with the Senate Commerce Committee, which is considering his nomination. As our Brianna Gurciullo reports, Dickson said in written answers to the committee that he “still thinks it was the right call to have a whistleblower who had reported safety concerns at Delta undergo a psychiatric evaluation.”

Dickson argues that the pilots’ statements and behavior “raised legitimate questions about her fitness to fly.” He also responded to a question about why he didn’t disclose the incident before his confirmation hearing, saying that he interpreted a committee questionnaire as being about his “personal conduct, my behavior both in general and as an officer of a large public company, or any instance in which I was a named party to a proceeding.”

What’s next: Committee chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) has expressed a desire to move forward quickly with the nomination, but it remains to be seen if Dickson’s latest response will quell concerns from Democrats.

They’re looking into what an aide described Wednesday as “inconsistencies” in Dickson’s responses. The Democratic committee aide wouldn’t expand on what those inconsistencies were. Meanwhile, Lee Seham, a lawyer representing whistleblower Karlene Petitt, sent an email to POLITICO saying Dickson was more involved in what happened to Petitt than his responses indicated.

ANOTHER BOEING SETBACK: The FAA has discovered a “new potential risk” that Boeing must address on the 737 MAX before the grounded plane can return to service. A source familiar with the discovery told POLITICO that during simulator testing last week, FAA test pilots found an issue that “affected their ability to quickly and easily follow the required recovery procedures for runaway stabilizer trim.” The new issue will push the timeline for re-certification back, with a test flight now not expected until July 8 at the earliest.

Huddling in Canada: Regulators and airlines met behind closed doors to check in about the MAX on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The meeting was organized by the International Air Transport Association. Regulatory agencies including Transport Canada, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and the FAA were in attendance at the meeting, which is the second of its sort organized by IATA.

CHAO FIRES BACK: Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said Wednesday that while she agrees with the sentiment of language in a House bill that would forbid funding from being used to violate federal ethics rules at DOT, that it’s nevertheless “a political, partisan attack.” “I think federal funds should not be used for personal gain. I certainly believe that and I haven’t done anything to the contrary. Nor has anyone else within the department,” she said at an event, as reported for pros by our Tanya Snyder.

She also dodged a question about the gas tax, instead calling for financing infrastructure through the private sector. And she railed against the size and budget of her own agency, noting that government agencies have gotten bigger since her last stint in the cabinet as Labor Secretary. “You would be amazed at what the federal government funds now,” she said. “We fund bike trails. We fund local projects.”

LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP: The evergreen issue of Amtrak’s long-distance routes came up again at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday. Your MT host was there, and wrote up the biggest takeaway for Pros: Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson said that the company should look at “breaking up” some of its money-losing long distance trains. “We are working hard to try to get ridership up, but it’s just clear that trips over 600 miles are not where consumers want to use Amtrak,” Anderson told the committee.

Unsurprisingly, several lawmakers representing rural states, who have fought to preserve the Southwest Chief line, didn’t receive that news well. Anderson got into several testy exchanges with senators including Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan).

Anderson, a former Delta Airlines CEO, also called riding in trains “far better than flying airplanes.”

LATEST ON AMTRAK POLICE CUTS: MT tried to ask Anderson after the hearing about whether he is moving forward with controversial plans to eliminate 20 percent of the railroad’s police force. He said he was rushing to catch a plane (yes, really) and directed questions to another executive who was with him, Stephen Gardner.

Gardner said Amtrak is always evaluating its police force and deployment levels, with the goal of being “nimble and flexible.” More from Gardner: “We remain in conversations with our appropriators and authorizers here. We obviously are talking to our union, and we have our police chief who’s leading this. But our goal is to maintain and in fact to improve safety and security across our network in all these different ways.”

INFRASTRUCTURE TALKS, TAKE TWO: House Democrats are hoping to get a second chance at infrastructure talks with the White House, Tanya reported Wednesday. House Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said he hopes they can reengage with President Donald Trump “especially now that at least press reports say he is becoming a bit disgruntled with Mr. Mulvaney and his Freedom Caucus attitude toward infrastructure and other important things.”

DEFAZIO LOOKING INTO DOT GRANTS: DeFazio also told Tanya he is planning a hearing on DOT grants leaning towards red states. DeFazio said his committee started looking into the agency’s prioritization and evaluation of grants months ago, but that recent reports “lend itself to concerns raised in news stories about the relationship between the secretary and the leader of the Senate.”

APPROVED: The House Transportation Committee approved bills that would reauthorize funding for the Coast Guard through 2021 and permanently ban smoking on Amtrak trains, both at a markup on Wednesday. Our Stephanie Beasley reports that an amendment to the Coast Guard bill would ensure that service members continue to receive pay during government shutdowns.

DID YOU KNOW: That Capitol Police policy prohibits electric scooters from being used on the Capitol Grounds? Del. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) wants to change that. She wrote to the law enforcement agency earlier this week asking it to change its policy to ensure that e-scooters are treated like other low-speed vehicles allowed to be used around the Capitol.

THE FUTURE IS HERE: Automated trucks are hitting the road, for real. Starsky Robotics said Wednesday that it has officially begun testing unmanned (remote controlled) trucks on public highways in traffic. Earlier this month, the company drove a heavy commercial truck with no driver for more than nine miles in Orlando, Florida. Check out footage of the trip here.

— “Tesla: Sales record within reach but deliveries are problem.” Associated Press.

— “EPA’s air pollution chief to step down amid ethics probe.” POLITICO Pro.

— “VW board puts Ford alliance on agenda forJuly meeting.” Bloomberg.

— “U.S., Argentina sign modernized air services agreement.” Reuters.

— “Chrissy Teigen brought gravy through TSA and exposed a weird loophole.” Washington Post.

DOT appropriations run out in 95 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,556 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 464 days.





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