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THE NEW ROSTER? With many forecasters placing Democrats as slight favorites to win the Senate in eight days, we thought we’d start this pre-election week with a committee primer to get you up to speed with what transportation policy might look like in a blue upper chamber.
Commerce: Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) lined up a committee switch last year with just this opportunity in mind. The Commerce Committee’s wide-ranging jurisdiction on tech and transportation includes oversight of several massive companies in her state (Amazon, Microsoft, Boeing and Alaska Airlines, to name a few).
Cantwell made the shift from ranking member of the Senate Energy Committee to Commerce at the start of this Congress, and while generally keeping a quiet profile, she’s managed to have a major impact the committee’s work under Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), including driving significant changes to a bill addressing the Boeing 737 MAX crashes. Cantwell has previously had two brief stints leading lower-profile committees, Small Business and Indian Affairs.
Subcommitees: Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema would be in line to chair the Aviation and Space panel, and Illinois’ Tammy Duckworth, who has made accessibility on planes and trains a priority, to lead Transportation and Safety.
EPW: Good-natured moderate Tom Carper of Delaware would be in line to take over the Environment and Public Works Committee. Carper’s consensus-building style is best illustrated by his approach to the surface transportation reauthorization process this year.
Carper worked with conservative Chair John Barrasso (Wyo.) to put out the Senate’s version of the bill, which was rolled out in a completely bipartisan manner. Meanwhile in the House, Transportation Chair Peter DeFazio bypassed Republicans and produced a much more aggressive and progressive bill. It’s not a perfect comparison, since DeFazio has committee control and Carper doesn’t, but it’s illustrative of Carper’s legislating style.
Subcommittees: Maryland’s Ben Cardin is currently the ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure panel.
Homeland Security: Michigan’s Gary Peters would likely chair the Senate Homeland Security Committee in a Democratic Senate. However, he’s also locked in a down-to-the-wire race against Republican challenger John James. We’ll leave it to the professional prognosticators to say whether there’s a path to a blue Senate if Peters loses.
What we can tell you is that if Peters ends up as chair, he will likely focus on filling CBP vacancies at ports of entry, especially along the Northern border. If he loses but Democrats still take the chamber, Carper is next in seniority, followed by Maggie Hassan (N.H.).
Banking: Ohio’s Sherrod Brown is ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, which has oversight over public transit through a jurisdictional quirk. The subcommittee leadership, meanwhile, is tough to game out at this point because several of its most senior members would be in line for full committee gavels or possible Cabinet posts.
Appropriations: The long-serving Patrick Leahy (Vt.) would have first shot at taking the helm of the powerful Appropriations Committee. In the Transportation-HUD Subcommittee, none of the more senior members would likely want the job since they’re in line for full committee chairs, or other Appropriations subcommittee gavels.
The big caveat: If Democrats do take the Senate, there could (and probably will be) shuffles, swaps or twists that we haven’t predicted. Stay tuned, and keep up with POLITICO’s own forecast of all the races.
IT’S MONDAY: Thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation. If it moves, we cover it. Get in touch with tips, feedback and song lyrics at [email protected] or @samjmintz.
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MAKING THE ROUNDS: As he enters the final stretch before Election Day, Democratic president candidate Joe Biden is making some big promises about what he’d do in regard to transportation and infrastructure, if elected.
Biden listed infrastructure investment among his top priorities, with an emphasis on “generating economic growth in the United States by making it and buying it,” during an episode of “Pod Save America” released Saturday. He told hosts (and former Obama aides) Jon Lovett and Dan Pfeiffer that he wanted to focus on green infrastructure and “own the electric automobile market.” A Biden administration would provide 550,000 charging stations “for real,” he said.
Also: Biden, again, pledged to implement mask requirements during a stump speech in Delaware on Friday. He said he would mandate masks for all interstate transportation, if elected, Reuters reported.
A LATE INJECTION FOR THE TRANSPORTATION CHAIR: DeFazio, in the race of his life against a Republican newcomer, is getting some help from environmentalists. NRDC Action Votes, an independent PAC that promotes the goals of the Natural Resources Defense Council, is launching a $200,000 television and digital ad campaign to try to help the progressive Oregon Democrat get across the finish line. The spot focuses on DeFazio’s work to fight climate change and his response to recent wildfires in Oregon.
JOINING FORCES: DOT tentatively approved an alliance between Delta Air Lines and Canada’s WestJet that would allow the two carriers to coordinate on routes and pricing if they divest at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. The agency on Friday said it would grant temporary antitrust immunity to the joint venture and review it again in five years, POLITICO’s Leah Nylen reports.
“Canadian competition officials cleared the deal in June 2019, but the U.S. regulatory process has dragged on for the past two years in part because several airlines raised concerns the deal would give the pair control over a significant number of flights at LaGuardia,” which is a capacity-constrained airport, she writes.
THAT NEW ‘NEW’: DOT released new air travel consumer data for July with a note that the pandemic affected airlines’ schedules and operations as well on-time performance and cancellation statistics. Agency data showed a slight spike in domestic flights in July over the month before. “The 10 marketing network carriers reported 370,859 scheduled domestic flights in July 2020 compared to 237,264 flights in June 2020,” according to DOT. However, that is still a steep decline from July 2019 with 717,684 reported domestic flights.
Notable: Complaints about airline service were up by 493 percent compared with last July, with most related to refunds. On the flip side, no international flights had tarmac delays lasting more than four hours and there were no reported incidents involving the death, injury or loss of an animal.
DEFENSIVE LINE: Chinese drone manufacturer DJI is again attempting to debunk what it calls “false claims about the company and its governance practices” with a new blog post out today — “BUSTED: Five common myths about DJI.” The drone industry giant has been at the center of increasing efforts within the Trump administration and Congress to ban federal use of Chinese drones and drone parts amid concerns they could be used to spy for the Chinese government. DJI said the blog post aims to rebuke such claims, which it said are based on “unfounded allegations from critics and competitors.”
UNDER PRESSURE: Drone industry and business groups urged the FAA to hasten rulemaking for a process that would allow parties to petition the agency to impose no-fly zones for drones over “fixed site facilities” such as airports and critical infrastructure. The FAA has said it would issue the regulations by February, but that’s two years beyond the deadline. The delay has allowed more and more states to enact airspace restrictions that put drone operators “at risk of local prosecution even when flying in accordance with FAA regulations,” the groups wrote last week.
Signatories included Alliance for Drone Innovation, American Chemistry Council, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, Consumer Technology Association, Small UAV Coalition, and the U.S. Chamber Technology Engagement Center.
— “Lufthansa to ground more planes during winter as pandemic bites.” Reuters.
— “Biden, an Amtrak evangelist, could be a lifeline for a rail agency in crisis.” The New York Times.
— “‘We’re a long way from anywhere else’: Small U.S. cities hit with airline service cuts in pandemic.” CNBC.
— “New Yorkers among tourists returning to skies as travel experts track possible rebound: ‘I felt very safe.’” New York Daily News.
— “The International Maritime Organization adopts draft emissions cut plan.” POLITICO Pro.
DOT appropriations run out in 46 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,069 days. The surface transportation reauthorization expires in 339 days.
