Transportation

House committee says DHS is leaving it in the dark


With help from Tanya Snyder

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— The House Homeland Security Committee says DHS is leaving it in the dark about key parts of the agency’s response to the pandemic.

— JetBlue’s CEO predicted a “smaller airline” in the future, and said the carrier is weighing fare structure changes.

— DOT will hand out millions of cloth masks to transportation workers across modes, but a union leader says they’d prefer federal mandates that protect employees.

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“The faster we’re falling, / We’re stopping and stalling / We’re running in circles again.”

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DEMOCRATS IN THE DARK: The House Homeland Security Committee wrote an angry letter to DHS on Thursday, chiding the agency for its failure to respond to requests for information on a number of topics, including the Trump administration’s European travel restrictions and Project Airbridge, the federal government’s efforts to fly PPE to the frontlines of pandemic response. “As a result of the failure of DHS to provide documents and information the Committee has requested, the Committee lacks critical information on most aspects of the Federal response,” wrote Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).

Issues with Airbridge: The letter says that the committee has gotten troubling information from distributors involved in the PPE project, including that some used other methods, like ocean freight, to transport their products. Another outstanding concern: “It is unclear if flights were scheduled with the intention of moving specific volumes of supplies expected to meet some percentage of estimated or projected need, or whether other considerations informed the flight scheduling decisions,” the letter reads.

COMMITTEE REPORT CARDS: New ratings of committees’ oversight record out this week give a middling grade to the House’s transportation committee of jurisdiction, and a failing mark to the Senate’s. The Lugar Center’s congressional oversight hearing index, which compares committee oversight work in this Congress to past performance, handed a B- to Peter DeFazio and the House Transportation Committee, but Roger Wicker’s Senate Commerce might be in for oversight summer school with an F.

AIRLINE CEO DISHES ON THE FUTURE: JetBlue will emerge from the current crisis as a “smaller airline” and will likely have to resort to layoffs if not enough people volunteer to leave the company, CEO Robin Hayes acknowledged in an online video conversation with The Washington Post on Thursday. (The admission followed a similar one by American Airlines on Wednesday.) Hayes said the CARES Act gave the industry “time to breathe” and that without it, “the sensible thing to do would have been just to ground the fleet and furlough the vast majority of our people.” He said 60 percent of JetBlue employees have already opted to take at least some unpaid time off.

Passengers may be able to call in sick: Hayes brushed off the idea that any kind of ongoing change to seating configuration (like eliminating the middle seat) or passenger caps could be viable, but he did nod to a different “fare structure” that would “give people the ability to change flights more easily,” because it’s “not ever really going to be acceptable for someone who is unwell to feel that they’re being made to fly.”

Meanwhile, JD Power published its annual airline satisfaction study this week, with the survey of passengers taking on a markedly different flavor from past editions as the pandemic continues to dominate, well, everything. Among the findings: Customers want transparency and details about how they’re being protected, including sanitization and cleaning.

The medal goes to: Southwest Airlines won the highest customer satisfaction rankings for both short and long flights.

THE CASE AGAINST FLYING CARS: Not everyone’s excited about the prospect of flying cars swooping into a city near you. Kevin DeGood, director of infrastructure policy at the Center for American Progress, writes in a scathing new report that the technology represents “the technological apotheosis of sprawl and an attempt to eradicate distance as a fact of life for elites who are wealthy enough to routinely let slip the bonds of gravity.”

His advice to policymakers: Set aside “simplistic techno-utopian pronouncements,” focus on the most likely actual impacts of accelerating current development patterns, and spend public money on transportation projects which will benefit more people.

COVER UP: DOT will give out more than 15 million cloth masks to transportation workers as part of a broad Trump administration effort to keep equipping critical workers, the agency said Thursday. The facial coverings, which were obtained by FEMA, will be sent through the Postal Service to transit, rail, aviation, maritime, highway and pipeline workers.

Not enough for suffering workers: Larry Willis, president of the Transportation Trades Department (AFL-CIO), a coalition of 33 transportation unions, said that workers would rather see sector-specific mandates designed to protect workers. “What frontline transportation workers need today are mandatory health and safety rules and assurances that employers will follow those standards,” Willis said in a statement.

DOC OF THE DAY: The Association for Commuter Transportation published recommendations for employers and commuter and transportation organizations meant to keep people safe as they start to return to work. The suggestions include an emphasis on carpooling (as an alternative to public transportation), using parking areas more efficiently to account for more people driving on their own, and boosting telework.

John Young has joined the Federal Maritime Commission as counsel to Commissioner Carl Bentzel. Young is a veteran of maritime and freight policy, having worked at the American Association of Ports Authorities and on Capitol Hill.

— “Latin America grabs world spotlight for airline bankruptcies.” Reuters.

— “Airlines increase job cuts as pandemic crushes air travel.” Associated Press.

— “Nuro’s driverless delivery robots will transport medicine to CVS customers in Texas.” The Verge.

— “UPS Adds Peak Delivery Surcharge to Manage E-Commerce Demand Amid Coronavirus.” Wall Street Journal.

— “Elon Musk earns first performance-based payout from Tesla, worth more than $700 million.” CNBC.

— “How private jet owners got a subsidy from coronavirus relief funds.” NBC News.

DOT appropriations run out in 124 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,220 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 124 days.





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