— Congress has major transportation fights to resolve in the first weeks of 2024.
— DOT is looking into frequent flier programs after receiving complaints.
— California delays its zero emission trucks mandate.
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COLD, LONG WINTER: This week will continue to bring a relative lull as Congress keeps the holidays rolling, but the second week of January will begin a brutal stretch where the GOP-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate must resolve significant differences over transportation funding — and the Senate will need to show signs of movement on its FAA bill, S. 1939 (118), to meet the next authorization deadline set for the beginning of March.
The House was unable to pass its THUD funding bill last year amid intra-party fighting between some Republicans who want to dismantle funding for Amtrak and other Republicans (mostly in swing districts) who are opposed to $1.5 billion in Amtrak cuts currently in the THUD bill, H.R. 4820 (118). Democrats aren’t likely to support the bill with rail cuts included, leaving House Speaker Mike Johnson searching for a way to unite his caucus.
The House and Senate have until Jan. 19 to sort out their THUD differences or else face a partial government shutdown (other funding bills including defense have a Feb. 2 deadline). The House bill as written provides $99 million for the Northeast Corridor and $776 million for the nationwide Amtrak network for a total of about $876 million in fiscal 2024. The Senate THUD appropriations bill, which passed in November, includes $1.14 billion for the Northeast Corridor and $1.31 billion for the national network — an Amtrak funding level that is similar to fiscal 2023 levels.
And Senate Republicans railed against ongoing FAA authorization delays before leaving Washington for the holidays, accusing Democrats of moving the goal posts on issues like raising the pilot retirement age from 65 to 67. Senators from both parties returned from Thanksgiving with a compromise to resolve a monthslong fight over pilot training hours but other issues have crept up again. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has said she’s optimistic that the Senate can mark up, pass and conference a FAA bill with the House prior to the March 8 authorization deadline.
NO MELTDOWN: This year’s holiday travel season luckily did not have a repeat of 2022 — as flight delays and especially cancellations remained relatively low. Saturday was the busiest post-Christmas flight travel day and just 66 flights were canceled in the U.S. and 4,805 flights were delayed, per FlightAware, out of just over 48,000 flights scheduled according to FAA projections.
SWIPING FOR LOYALTY: DOT is probing airlines’ frequent flier and loyalty programs for potential action under the agency’s “unfair and deceptive practices” policies after receiving complaints, Oriana reports. DOT is “actively meeting with U.S. airlines and gathering more information on this issue,” said spokesperson Sean Manning. ”We plan to carefully review complaints regarding loyalty programs and exercise our authority to investigate airlines for unfair and deceptive practices that hurt travelers as warranted,” Manning said.
Senators from both parties are also interested in the programs. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Roger Marshall, (R-Kan.), requested this fall that DOT and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau probe whether airlines are marketing higher rewards points but not delivering on that promise. Durbin and Marshall have additionally introduced a bill, S. 1838, that would aim to increase competition among credit card networks. Airlines for America has lobbied against the bill, stating the legislation will have “negative impacts” on millions of consumers.
WAITING FOR PERMISSION: California is delaying a purchasing mandate for zero emission trucks because they don’t yet have the Biden administration’s permission to implement it, Blanca Begert reports. The California Air Resources Board said last week that it will not enforce its Advanced Clean Fleets regulation, parts of which came into effect on Jan. 1, until EPA either issues a waiver letting it implement its stricter-than-federal rules under the Clean Air Act or says that a waiver isn’t necessary.
The rule would prohibit the sale of ICE-powered trucks by 2035 and requires owners of trucking fleets to complete a transition to zero emission vehicles by 2042. CARB approved the ACF rule in April but didn’t apply for an EPA waiver until November. That didn’t give EPA enough time to approve it, which generally takes at least six months.
BIG PENALTY: The engine manufacturer Cummins agreed to pay a $1.675 billion civil penalty to resolve allegations from the Biden administration and California that the company violated the Clean Air Act by installing emissions defeat devices of hundreds of thousands of engines. Kelsey Tamborrino reports that the penalty would be the largest-ever civil penalty secured under the Clean Air Act and the second-largest environmental penalty under the law. Cummins said in a statement that it conducted an “extensive internal review” and worked with U.S. regulators for more than four years. It said that it has seen “no evidence that anyone acted in bad faith and does not admit wrongdoing.”
The Justice Department alleged that Cummins installed defeat devices on 630,000 model year 2013-2019 RAM 2500 and 3500 pickup truck engines, as well as allegedly installed undisclosed auxiliary emission control devices on 330,000 model year 2019-2023 RAM 2500 and 3500 engines. Attorney General Merrick Garland said that preliminary estimates suggest that defeat devices caused some engines to produce “thousands of tons” of excess nitrogen oxide emissions. The regulatory probe stretches back to 2019 and Cummins said it already recalled model year 2019 RAM 2500 and 3500 trucks and has initiated a recall of model years 2013 through 2018 RAM 2500 and 3500 trucks.
TRYING TO BOUNCE BACK: While air and intercity train travel have rebounded from Covid-induced lulls in demand, transit ridership levels continue to be well below pre-pandemic levels, Tanya reports. Transit ridership currently sits at around 77 percent of pre-pandemic levels, according to the American Public Transportation Association. In New York, subway ridership is stuck at about 70 percent of pre-pandemic levels for 2023, and MTA bus ridership is at just 64 percent. Nationally, commuter rail has consistently lagged behind other modes of transit, at about 62 percent of previous ridership.
APTA blames “persistent telework policies” for the slow recovery, though some transit agencies are trying to provide better service outside of the 9-to-5 commute to better accommodate service and manufacturing workers who are mostly back in person.
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