With help from Tanya Snyder, Stephanie Beasley and Brianna Gurciullo
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— FAA nominee Steve Dickson advanced through the Senate Commerce Committee in a party-line vote Wednesday, setting up a potentially contentious debate for the full Senate.
— The Senate’s surface transportation reauthorization bill is expected to be released in two weeks.
— DHS’s use of facial recognition technology was in the spotlight during a Wednesday hearing where lawmakers pressed the agency on its use for transportation security and border protection.
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DICKSON GETS THROUGH COMMERCE: The Senate Commerce Committee approved Dickson in a party-line, 14-12 vote on Wednesday, setting up a potential fight in the full Senate over his confirmation. As our Brianna Gurciullo and yours truly reported, all 12 panel Democrats voted in opposition, citing his role in the handling of a safety whistleblower during his time as an executive at Delta Air Lines.
What’s next: Republicans, who say Dickson’s deep experience as a pilot and airline executive make him well-qualified, are unfazed by the opposition as their majority can approve the nomination without any Democrats. Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he’ll work with Senate leadership to schedule a floor vote. “I think he can be confirmed without a battle royale,” Wicker told MT.
Senate leaders could try to move fast: No. 2 Senate Republican (and former Commerce chairman) John Thune (R-S.D.) said that ideally, he’d like to approve Dickson in the few weeks before the August recess. “The position’s been vacant since January of ’18, so it’s been a year and a half, and it’s an important role, and I think we’ll want to make sure that it’s filled,” Thune said. “So my guess is that as soon as the paperwork gets done and they can report him to the floor that we’ll try and process him.”
It remains to be seen if top Senate Democrats will put holds on Dickson.
House Transportation Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said he will be watching Senate action on Dickson. “We’ll wait and see if he gets through the entire Senate,” DeFazio said. He said that he has read about the psychiatrist, and his staff is reviewing information from Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). “So, yeah, we’re concerned, obviously, and anything that impacts on safety, anything that could infringe upon a freedom of whistleblowers would be a tremendous concern to me,” he said.
Counterpoint: Delta took issue with a POLITICO story in which we cited a Democratic talking points document in opposition to Dickson’s confirmation, specifically concerns raised about the psychiatrist who diagnosed First Officer Karlene Petitt as bipolar, including that the doctor had threatened retaliation for whistleblower activity before. But according to Delta spokeswoman Lisa Hanna, the other “potential whistleblower” was terminated “for misconduct, including him knowingly presenting a false medical note” and other “disciplinary issues, conflicts with other employees and a general lack of professionalism.” Besides, she said, contrary to what the Democrats’ document said, the psychiatrist “was not chosen by Dickson or anyone on his team.”
Also passed during the markup: The nomination of Michelle Schultz to be a Surface Transportation Board member, and several bills, including one that would mandate that new cars include a system to alert drivers when they’ve left children in the back seat of cars.
SLOWDOWN COMING FOR U.S. TRAVEL: The growth in travel to and within the U.S. is expected to slow after 113 straight months of increases, according to the U.S. Travel Association. As our Tanya Snyder writes, the projected “softening” is due to “headwinds from the strong dollar and trade tensions.”
BILL TEXT COMING SOON: We’ll get our first look at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s surface transportation bill in about two weeks. In the meantime, Chairman John Barrasso teased Wednesday that the bill will be a five-year, formula-based surface transportation bill that he hopes will be paid for by highway users, including drivers of electric vehicles.
Barrasso also warned specifically against passing short-term extensions (which our reporting has shown is a likely eventuality). “We have an obligation to get this done,” he said at a hearing on the subject.
PsyOps: Carolann Wicks, senior policy fellow at the University of Delaware’s School of Public Policy and Administration, said that in addition to well-known negative impacts on states’ ability to plan, there are other, “psychological” consequences of short-term extensions that are less well-known: “When you’re trying to motivate your staff to continue to aggressively go after projects — work hard, keep them delivered on time — it’s difficult to maintain that energy level when there’s this roller coaster of ‘maybe we’ll have it, maybe we won’t.’”
One early hint about what will be in the Senate’s bill: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said his legislation to create a new competitive grant program to repair structurally deficient bridges is in the draft.
CORRECTION: Wednesday’s MT indicated that the three projects the FTA allocated money for were Small Starts. Actually, they’re big projects under the New Starts banner, receiving between 25 percent and 39 percent of their total project costs from the Capital Investment Grant program.
DHS GRILLED ON FACIAL RECOGNITION TECH: Our Stephanie Beasley was at a high-profile hearing on facial recognition technology Wednesday, and Pros can read her dispatch from the House Homeland Security panel here. Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) pressed a CBP official on the issue, arguing that the agency’s use of facial recognition tech on U.S. citizens was an expansion of policy by CBP and was never authorized by Congress.
Still waiting: CBP field operations official John Wagner said CBP and TSA have completed a draft report examining the privacy impacts of using biometric technology, which was mandated under last year’s TSA authorization. The draft is awaiting final approval but should be ready soon, he told the panel after Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.) noted the report was overdue.
What’s ahead: Austin Gould, TSA’s assistant administrator of requirements and capabilities analysis, said the agency plans to schedule a meeting with privacy groups later this summer to “ensure that they understand TSA’s limited use of biometric identification.”
NEW AT DOT: Alex Poirot recently started as FTA’s director of government affairs after working since February in the office of the secretary, where he focused on transit and motor carrier issues. Poirot worked for Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga.) before joining DOT, covering transportation and infrastructure, among other issues. And A. Bailey Wood Jr. started as the new non-career director of communications for FTA in April. He previously worked in various Capitol Hill offices, including the Homeland Security Committee, and at the National Automobile Dealers Association.
— “Florida DMV sells your personal information to private companies, marketing firms.” ABC Action News.
— “A nightmare summer for American Airlines.” The Wall Street Journal.
— “Ohio driverless vehicle test-track, touted as industry’s biggest, now open.” Cleveland.com.
— “Toyota to build new SUV, rather than car at Alabama plant.” Reuters.
— “Driver escapes injury when saguaro cactus pierces windshield.” Associated Press.
DOT appropriations run out in 81 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,542 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 450 days.
