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Surface bill lands in the Senate


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The Senate released a climate-focused surface transportation bill on Monday, formally kicking off the process of reauthorizing legislation, which expires in September 2020. A committee markup is slated for today.

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A European airline CEO took Boeing to task for the ongoing grounding of the 737 MAX. Carriers continue to feel the pain as they’re forced to cancel routes and deal with scheduling uncertainty through the end of 2019.

President Donald Trump’s meeting with airline CEOs earlier this month was a tumultuous, “Apprentice-worthy” showdown that sat bitter rivals across from each other in the Oval Office, according to a report from NBC News.

IT’S TUESDAY: Thanks for tuning in to POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on all things trains, planes, automobiles and ports. Get in touch with tips, feedback and song lyric suggestions at smintz@politico.com or @samjmintz.

“The paint’s peeling off the streets again / And I’ll drive and close my eyes in Michigan / And I feel nothing, not brave / It’s a hard day for breathing again.” (h/t Ellen Lechman)

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, rails, rivers and runways?

SENATE SURFACE TEXT IS IN: We scooped the key details of the highway portion of the Senate’s surface transportation reauthorization bill last week, but for those who want to really dig deep, the text was published Monday. The bill would authorize $287 billion in highway spending, 90 percent of which would be distributed to states by formula. Here’s what else caught our eyes:

A climate focus: The Republican-led (but bipartisan) bill features a first-ever title on climate change, which would authorize $10.8 billion for various programs addressing resiliency and other climate issues over five years. That would include $1 billion for electric, hydrogen, and natural gas vehicle charging and fueling infrastructure. It would also allot billions for programs aimed at curbing emissions and reducing congestion and truck idling.

Something for everyone: As our Tanya Snyder notes, the legislation would also “codify the ‘One Federal Decision’ executive order, which streamlines federal infrastructure permitting and the two-year target for environmental reviews.” That’s been a goal of Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.).

VMT pilot: The bill would authorize $12.5 million per year to fund state and regional pilots testing out “user-based alternative revenue mechanisms” to the gas tax. Marc Scribner, a senior fellow and transportation analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, was critical of that line item, telling POLITICO that it’s “simply not enough to jumpstart the transition away from fuel tax revenue.” He said the bill overall “represents a continuation of the surface transportation status quo that is becoming less sustainable with each passing year.”

Unsurprising praise came from infrastructure industry groups, which have been desperate for action after talks of a major standalone infrastructure bill repeatedly broke down.

What’s next: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is holding a markup to vote on the bill today at 9 a.m. Barrasso told reporters on Monday that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is “receptive” to reserving floor time for the measure this fall, Tanya reports.

Enough substance, how about some style? What do you think of the bill’s name, “America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act”? In MT’s humble opinion, ATIA doesn’t have quite the same ring as its predecessor, the FAST Act.

INFRASTRUCTURE POLLING DATA: A new poll from The Heritage Foundation serves as the latest reminder that voters generally back infrastructure investment. In it, 86 percent of respondents said they support “an infrastructure program that spends over 2 trillion dollars to fix roads, highways and bridges.”

BOEING FRUSTRATION BOILING OVER: The CEO of Irish airline Ryanair aired his frustration with the continued grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX in an earnings call on Monday. The company had expected to get 58 of the aircraft in the summer of 2020, but that number could shrink as deliveries remain paused while Boeing works with the FAA to fix problems that led to two deadly crashes. “That’s now 30 at best. It may well move to 20. It could move to 10 and it could well move to zero if Boeing don’t get their shit together pretty quickly with the regulators,” Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said.

Because of the ongoing grounding, Southwest Airlines said last week it was shutting down service at Newark Liberty International Airport and United Airlines announced Monday it’s suspending a route between Chicago and Leon, Mexico.

TRUMP’S TUMULTUOUS MEETING WITH AIRLINE CEOS: The gathering, which took place earlier this month, devolved into yelling and needling over stock prices, according to an inside-the-room scoop from NBC News. The meeting was meant to discuss the yearslong dispute among the three biggest U.S. airlines and several Persian Gulf carriers over flights between the U.S. and Europe, but Trump “repeatedly harped” on the absence of Delta Air Lines chief Ed Bastian and told the airlines to take their complaint to DOT.

The U.S. airlines “appreciated the opportunity to brief the president,” according to a representative of the airlines familiar with the meeting.

WELCOME TO ATLANTA: The FAA is launching a new investigation into whether Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport unlawfully diverted revenue to the city of Atlanta, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported on Monday. The agency sent a notice of investigation and a subpoena asking for invoices, citing reporting by the AJC that suggested the city may have “used airport revenue to pay legal fees for responding to a federal corruption probe into Atlanta City Hall.” The investigation is a followup to an earlier inquiry in which the FAA now says Atlanta improperly withheld documents.

ON PLANET TRADE GROUP: DroneShield, an Australian company working on counterdrone technology, has been accepted into the Airports Council International Europe, calling itself the first member of its type.

ADVOCACY GROUP CALLS ON T&I REPUBLICANS TO INVESTIGATE CHAO: Restore Public Trust, a government accountability advocacy group, launched an ad campaign aimed at House Transportation Committee member Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) that calls for an investigation into allegations against Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. As POLITICO reported in June, Chao designated a special liaison within her office to Kentucky, the state represented by her husband, McConnell. “It’s time that Congressman Fitzpatrick take a hard line against political corruption and investigate the allegations against Secretary Chao,” said Lizzy Price, the group’s director. Similar ads will be aimed at Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Rodney Davis (R-Ill.).

MAILBAG: A group representing independent truck drivers, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, came out against H.R. 3781 (116), which would increase the minimum liability insurance coverage for motor carriers from $750,000 to more than $4.9 million. The bill text says it’s intended to catch up with inflation, but OOIDA counters it would “effectively destroy small business trucking in America.” The group argues in a letter to Congress that the bill is an effort by trial lawyers to make money off cases involving truck crashes.

Jordan Stone started Monday as assistant vice president for government affairs at the Association of American Railroads. He was formerly a staff member for Senate Appropriations Democrats.

— “A man was caught traveling with a missile launcher in his luggage at BWI.” Washington Post.

— “United Airlines adds biometric clearance for passengers with Clear partnership.” Wall Street Journal.

— “Uber lays off 400 as profitability doubts linger after I.P.O.” New York Times.

— “WSDOT says it lost confidence in contractor’s ability to start Highway 99 tunnel tolls on schedule.” Seattle Times.

— “Britain tells Iran: release ship to ‘come out of the dark.’” Reuters.

— “MARTA wins federal grant for zero-emission buses.” Atlanta Business Chronicle.

DOT appropriations run out in 62 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,523 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 431 days.





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