With help from Brianna Gurciullo
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— Congressional Republicans are open to the idea of aid for airlines as travel slumps due to the coronavirus.
— It will officially never be Infrastructure Week again as the group behind the advocacy week changes its name to get away from the punchlines and back to serious policy.
— Ethiopian investigators published an interim report into the Boeing 737 MAX crash which occurred there a year ago today.
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WEIGHING AID TO TRAVEL INDUSTRIES: President Donald Trump said Monday that his administration is working with industries including the airline and cruise sectors as they struggle with a travel slump due to the coronavirus epidemic.
It looks like some lawmakers might be receptive to aid for the airline industry including some Republican committee leaders our team talked to on Monday. “This is something that’s going to be quite a hit to the airlines if it lasts, and it’s something that needs to be looked at,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), ranking member of the House Transportation Committee, said Congress should consider taking action since airlines are “bearing the brunt” of the economic hit from the virus. “The worse it gets, there definitely may have to be something that comes from the federal government to help them,” he said, adding that he would prefer tax breaks to “direct money.”
ANGRY PHONE CALLS AND THREATS OF FINES TO AIRLINES: New details emerged about the administration’s conflict with airlines over passenger data, in a story published by CNN Monday. According to the report, administration officials have been threatening airlines with fines if they don’t meet CDC’s demands for data (which airlines have repeatedly said they’re not technologically equipped to meet). Health officials have even warned that they could recommend that the administration try to ground planes in the US if they can’t get the passenger data, according to CNN.
What’s next: There’s reportedly a March 14 deadline for airlines to start complying with the data requests before the administration starts using fees and other punitive options.
ON THE CRUISE FRONT: Health Secretary Alex Azar has urged the White House to actively discourage Americans from boarding cruise ships, Pro’s Dan Diamond reported on Monday. The State Department and CDC warned over the weekend that elderly and medically fragile people should avoid cruise ships, but Dan’s sources say there’s an internal push to go farther. One step under consideration: administration officials have debated whether to effectively ban Americans’ use of cruise ships for the duration of the crisis.
Some White House officials have balked at that, arguing that it could harm the U.S. economy and in particular Florida.
CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK: It was bound to happen: a high-profile transportation official has caught the coronavirus. New York Port Authority director Rick Cotton was diagnosed with the disease, New York officials said on Monday. And as POLITICO’s Dana Rubinstein reports, other transportation officials, who took part in a swanky event with Cotton last week, might need to worry about their own health.
Sign up for POLITICO Nightly: Coronavirus Special Edition, your daily update on how the illness is affecting politics, markets, public health and more.
RIP INFRASTRUCTURE WEEK: Tired of the perennial punchlines and getting ready to make another serious policy push, the official Infrastructure Week is changing its name. The week of advocacy, set to take place on May 11-18 this year, will now be known as United for Infrastructure, the same name as the nonprofit that organizes the event.
“We are much more than just a week. We didn’t want to keep being distracted by that,” said Zach Shafer, the group’s CEO. United for Infrastructure, a coalition which includes labor unions, business organizations, and transportation advocacy groups, was behind the infrastructure forum in Nevada last month which featured several presidential candidates diving into policy details.
Ed Mortimer, head of infrastructure policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said that the change is a response to “infrastructure week” becoming part of the political conversation. “We started this effort in a non-partisan way to highlight the importance of infrastructure to the nation. This name change helps us understand the fact that, whatever happens to be the political bills that are moving through Congress … business and labor are together on a sustained conversation around the country,” he said.
INTERIM REPORT ON ET302: Ethiopian investigators on Monday released an interim report on last year’s Ethiopian Airlines crash concluding that the training pilots received to transition from an earlier version of the 737 to the MAX was “inadequate.” Bloomberg reported that the investigators “dropped formal conclusions about the cause” of the crash “after pressure from other nations.” Today is the first anniversary of the accident.
FORD TAKES A STAND: Comments are flying into the FCC’s proposal to use the 5.9 GHz auto safety airwaves for Wi-Fi. Over on Pro’s Tech team, John Hendel wrote up the feedback from Ford Motor Company, which opposes the agency’s plan. Ford has strongly supported the new C-V2X vehicle communications technology, which stands to be allocated space in the FCC’s proposed arrangement, but says the overall plan is untenable. “We do think for purposes of safety, as well as the greater societal benefits, we think it’s necessary to preserve the entire 75 MHz for those safety applications,” Don Butler, who directs Ford’s connected vehicles efforts, told reporters Monday. He said the company’s testing has shown interference from Wi-Fi devices operating in the band.
Chris Brown has joined the National Air Carrier Association as vice president for government affairs and ultra low-cost carrier policy. Brown is a former FAA official, and has also worked for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and Airlines for America.
— “Two ‘Black Swan’ cataclysms leave Boeing facing uncertain future as 737 MAX grounding hits one-year mark.” Seattle Times.
— “Cadillac cancels Lyriq EV debut because of the coronavirus outbreak.” The Verge.
— “Dutch trial opens for 4 suspects in downing of flight MH17.” Associated Press.
— “U.K. urges EU to act on ‘ghost planes’ during coronavirus outbreak.” POLITICO Pro.
— “Italy expands travel restrictions to entire country to contain coronavirus.” USA Today.
— Boeing employee diagnosed with coronavirus. Boeing.
DOT appropriations run out in 203 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,300 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 203 days.
