With help from Daniel Lippman
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A STUNNING MOMENT: And just like that, 2020 kicked into yet another gear. By now, our readers are well aware that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Gingsburg died on Friday at 87. Following the news, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell quickly pledged to bring a nomination from President Donald Trump to the floor before the January inauguration and spent the weekend locking down votes — setting off a political firestorm that threatens to engulf much of Congress’ legislative agenda for the rest of the year.
Her legacy: As our Pro Energy colleague Alex Guillén tweeted, it’s unfortunate that the timing of Ginsburg’s death threatens to overshadow her remarkable achievements as a litigator, jurist and trailblazer for women in law and in the workplace. Here’s Alex’s take on her environmental legacy for Pros.
The aftermath: So, what does the political fallout from RBG’s death mean for transportation? The effects might be mostly minor, given lawmakers already signaled they plan to kick the can down the road for a surface transportation reauthorization until next year. And the window for Congress to complete work on legislation on autonomous vehicles and the Boeing 737 MAX was already very narrow.
However, this could do major damage to bipartisan and bicameral talks on a coronavirus relief package and aid for the airline industry, which is expected to furlough tens of thousands of employees after federal assistance expires in less than two weeks. It’s also worth watching whether congressional leaders’ plan to put out a continuing resolution today is affected by this turn of events.
WELCOME TO MONDAY: Thanks for reading to POLITICO’s Morning Transportation. If it moves, we cover it. Stephanie is taking you out for a spin today. Tanya will be in charge on Tuesday. Send her your tips, feedback and song lyrics at [email protected] or @TSnyderDC.
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, railways, rivers and runways.
WHERE THINGS STAND: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Transportation Chair Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) held a call with CEOs of several airlines, including United, American, Delta Air Lines and Southwest, Reuters reported on Friday. A Pelosi spokesperson later told MT that Pelosi and DeFazio had separate calls with the CEOs and aviation labor leaders, and “reiterated that preserving the tens of thousands of good-paying union aviation jobs currently at risk is a priority for Democrats in coronavirus relief negotiations.”
On bipartisanship: The spokesperson said the two lawmakers told the groups that Republican support for airline workforce relief had “finally grown enough” to be included in a coronavirus relief bill. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Our colleagues at POLITICO Playbook also scooped a letter United Airlines sent to House and Senate leaders as well as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday, urging them to resume negotiations on a relief bill.
A TASK FOR TSA? The bipartisan duo of Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) introduced a bill (S. 4623 (116)) that would require TSA to test temperature screening technologies, with the expectation of eventually rolling out a nationwide policy for checks at airports, your MT host reported on Friday. TSA has, so far, declined to perform the checks on its own and deferred to a recommendation that airports and airlines do them instead. However, airlines have mounted a monthslong push for federal action. Airlines for America, the Association of Flight Attendants International, the U.S. Travel Association and the Transportation Trades Department support the measure.
BACK AND FORTH: House Homeland Security Committee Republicans unveiled a two-year DHS reauthorization bill in an apparent challenge to the panel’s majority. Ranking member Mike Rogers (Ala.) said in an editorial for the Washington Examiner that it was unlikely for Democrats to introduce their own DHS legislation “with the resources and authorities it needs to stop the growing threats to our homeland.” He went on to criticize the “radical left wing” of their party, which he claimed favored abolishing DHS and defunding the police.
Some items in the GOP proposal:
— More than $8 billion in TSA appropriations for fiscal 2022, which is not allowed under current law.
— A new DHS task force to examine emerging threats to aviation and surface transportation security.
— Permits CBP to waive a polygraph requirement for certain potential hires such as former federal, state and local law enforcement officers and military veterans who have already passed polygraphs or background investigations.
— Biometric screenings of all Precheck members at checkpoints by Sept. 30, 2023.
— A TSA assessment of new technologies that might reduce interpersonal contact at checkpoints.
In response: House Homeland Security Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss) said in a statement to MT that “we have been working on legislation to reauthorize and reform DHS since the beginning of the Congress. There is text pending with the Department for feedback but with no Secretary in place, there has been no progress. Additionally, the Senate has not expressed interest in authorization legislation. Every day, we see more evidence of how the Department has been misused by the President to carry out his radical and cruel agenda. It needs to be reformed.”
IN RELATED NEWS: Thompson and Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) also sent a letter to acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf ordering DHS and CBP to turn over documents for the committee’s probe of the department’s temporary ban on Trusted Traveler enrollments for New York. The documents must be submitted by Sept. 25 “or the Committee will use compulsory measures to obtain them,” the lawmakers wrote. The panel is expected to hold a hearing on the investigation on Sept. 30.
THE LATEST ON IN-FLIGHT TRANSMISSION: A 27-year old woman with coronavirus may have infected 12 others traveling with her in business class during a 10-hour commercial flight from London to Hanoi in March (before most airlines required passengers wear masks), according to an early version of a CDC article slated for publication in November. Researchers traced the flight’s 217 passengers and crew and detected infections in 16 people total. “Seating proximity was strongly associated with increased infection rate,” the authors of the study said. They recommended airlines consider each passenger’s risk for infection, the number of passengers traveling and flight duration when implementing guidelines for reducing the spread of Covid-19 in-flight.
Separately, a CDC investigation revealed that at least 11,000 people may have been exposed to the virus on flights, The Washington Post reported over the weekend. Though, the agency said that without complete contact tracing, it has not yet confirmed a case of transmission on a flight.
OUTDATED: A DOT inspector general audit found the FAA’s standards for emergency airliner evacuations haven’t been updated in almost 30 years and its ongoing data collection related to evacuations is inadequate, our Tanya Snyder reported. “FAA also has not conducted sufficient research on passenger behaviors — such as evacuations with carry-on bags and the presence of emotional support animals — and seat dimensions to show how they affect evacuation standards,” according to the IG report.
The report was requested by DeFazio and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) in 2018. DeFazio called the report “eye-opening” and said its findings “demand action from the FAA.” Larsen said it highlighted “the need for the FAA to incorporate comprehensive data, including changing passenger behavior, into how the agency updates its airplane evacuation standards.”
— Elizabeth Greener, communications director at the American Forest Foundation, and Ted Greener, executive director of public affairs at the Association of American Railroads, welcomed Isabelle Rose Greener on Friday. She came in at 7 lbs, 12 oz, and joins big sisters Hannah and Claire.
— “In photos: The life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.” POLITICO.
— “Metro moves toward service cuts as talks stall on coronavirus aid bill.” Washington Post.
— “California LAO: Transit to take biggest state funding hit from driving reduction.” POLITICO Pro.
— “Hours after U.S.-Canada border closure extended to October 21, Trump says it ‘opening pretty soon.’” Reuters.
— “Uber self-driving car operator charged in pedestrian death.” CNN.
— “When a bus driver told a rider to wear a mask, ‘he knocked me out cold.’” The New York Times.
DOT appropriations run out in 9 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,104 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 9 days.
