| | | | |  | | By Alex Daugherty | With help from Tanya Snyder and Oriana Pawlyk
| | | — The infrastructure law includes significant money to fight for climate goals, but still relies on preexisting funding formulas. We broke it down for Pros. — Texas will no longer conduct the extra inspections that caused trucks to spend hours waiting at the border, after the trucking industry railed against them. — A Hawaii congressman's side gig as a pilot appears to be unprecedented in Washington, but has some unusual parallels across the Atlantic. IT'S MONDAY: You're reading Morning Transportation, your Washington policy guide to everything that moves. Send tips, pitches, feedback and song lyrics to us at adaugherty@politico.com, tsnyder@politico.com and opawlyk@politico.com. You can also find us on Twitter:@alextdaugherty, @TSnyderDC and @Oriana0214. "Leavin' home, out on the road/I've been down before/Ridin' along in this big ol' jet plane/I've been thinkin' about my home"
| | | | DON'T MISS ANYTHING FROM THE 2022 MILKEN INSTITUTE GLOBAL CONFERENCE: POLITICO is excited to partner with the Milken Institute to produce a special edition "Global Insider" newsletter featuring exclusive coverage and insights from the 25th annual Global Conference. This year's event, May 1-4, brings together more than 3,000 of the world's most influential leaders, including 700+ speakers representing more than 80 countries. "Celebrating the Power of Connection" is this year's theme, setting the stage to connect influencers with the resources to change the world with leading experts and thinkers whose insight and creativity can implement that change. Whether you're attending in person or following along from somewhere else in the world, keep up with this year's conference with POLITICO's special edition "Global Insider" so you don't miss a beat. Subscribe today. | | | | | Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories.
| | | REPORTERS YAKKING: POLITICO's sustainability, energy and transportation teams hosted a conference call for Pro subscribers to discuss provisions in the infrastructure law related to combating climate change and how effective they might be at achieving President Joe Biden's environmental goals. Zack Colman, Catherine Boudreau and your MT host pulled from their recent stories and notebooks to give readers insights and perspectives on a host of those provisions, such as Biden's goal to make electric vehicles 50 percent of all new car sales in the U.S. by 2030. TAKEAWAYS: In the call, hosted by your MT host's wonderful boss and editor extraordinaire Kathy Wolfe, we discussed how the infrastructure law aims to create a tenfold expansion of EV charging networks but it won't be easy, why climate activists aren't in love with the bill, how boosting domestic mineral production comes with trade-offs and why the infrastructure bill's historic funding levels aren't as transformative as they might seem.
| | | ATA v. ABBOTT: The national association for the trucking industry slammed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's additional border inspections on Friday, after the new rules — which Abbott argues were intended to stop drug smuggling and human trafficking, but which were also in response to the Biden administration's easing of Covid restrictions on immigration — led to long waits at the U.S.-Mexico border. American Trucking Associations president Chris Spear said that nearly 3.3 million trucks enter the U.S. from Mexico through Texas, delivering key products like perishable foods and automotive manufacturing materials, and compared the long lines of backed up trucks to the closure of the Ambassador Bridge by Canadian protesters in February. That closure caused delays that affected auto production on both sides of the border. "These duplicative screenings of commercial vehicles on our southern border are unleashing a negative, tangible downstream impact, hurting businesses and employees in other parts of the country who have no say and no responsibility over federal border policy," Spear said. "Gov. Abbott is directly responsible for applying these new, senseless inspections on our industry, as well as the adverse impact they are having on the economy and hardworking Americans, including truckers." ABBOT RELENTS: Facing blowback from industry representatives, the White House and fellow Republicans, Abbott reversed course Friday and ended the extra inspections. Abbott said he had reached an agreement with Mexican officials to improve border security. "As we are speaking this moment, all these bridges are opened back up to normal trafficking," Abbot said at a Friday evening news conference.
| | | KAHELE AND THE KING: Rep. Kai Kahele (D-Hawaii) has a "special deal" with Hawaiian Airlines that allows the congressman to maintain his flight status and seniority with the company while serving in Congress,the Honolulu Civil Beat reported Friday. The only comparison your MT host could findfor his arrangement appears to be Dutch airline KLM's deal with King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, who flies about twice a month as a guest pilot when he's not attending to royal duties. Willem-Alexander retrained to fly Boeing 737s in recent years, though he is rarely recognized while donning the KLM uniform, according to the Dutch paper De Telegraaf. Kahele remains active in the National Guard. We've asked the National Guard for more details on Kahele's service record to get more clarity on how much he continues to fly military planes. Kahele, who's mulling a run for governor, hasn't voted in-person in the House since January. FLYING LAWMAKERS: While Kahele's arrangement as an active Hawaiian Airlines employee appears unique among members of Congress, at least two other members maintain certifications that allow them to fly planes. House Transportation ranking member Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) continues to hold an airline transport pilot license, owns a 50 percent stake in a 1954 North American T-6J and flies World War II-era planes with the Texas Flying Legends Museum. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) is also a licensed commercial pilot, though neither Rounds nor Graves reported outside income related to their flight activities in 2020 (the latest year available). And Reps. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.), August Pfluger(R-Texas), Scott Franklin (R-Fla.) and Jake Ellzey (R-Texas) recently announced the MACH 1 Caucus, a group dedicated to fighter pilot issues. All four members are former military pilots. TOWER OF POWER: The FAA opened the application process for infrastructure law funding to modernize air traffic control towers at many small town and municipal airports. The FAA's competitive grant program provides $20 million annually over five years for towers within the newly established Airport Infrastructure Grant program. "Residents of smaller and rural communities rely on aviation to get where they need to go. This funding will help ensure that air traffic is safe and reliable in communities across America," said DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement on Friday. AROUND THE COUNTRY: There are currently around 156 airports with air traffic control contract towers eligible for the funding. These towers are staffed by employees of private companies rather than by FAA employees. Airports must submit grant proposals by May 16.
| | | | INTRODUCING DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED: Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | ANOTHER TESLA RECALL: Tesla is recalling nearly 600,000 vehicles over concerns that the company's "Boombox" function, which allows sounds to be played through an external speaker while the vehicle is in motion, can obscure audio warnings from the car's pedestrian warning system, your MT host reports. Though the recall is voluntary, NHTSA has been discussing the Boombox function with Tesla for some time. In a release distributed by Tesla, NHTSA said the external speaker's use during travel means Tesla Model 3s produced from 2017 to 2022 and Tesla Models S, X and Y produced from 2020 to 2022 "fail to comply with ... minimum sound requirements for hybrid and electric vehicles." Background: Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who hasn't commented on the latest recall, has argued that safety issues that can be remedied with a computer update instead of a trip to the garage are not the same as a recall. One of Tesla's eight recalls in 2022 , a side air bag issue affecting about 8,000 vehicles, required affected vehicles to visit a Tesla Service Center for repairs, while the others can be fixed remotely. OTHER RECALLS: Two of those eight recalls hit Tesla in February, with 817,000 vehicles recalled for flawed seat belt reminders and 54,000 vehicles recalled because their "full self-driving" feature let vehicles roll through stop signs without coming to a complete stop.
| | | — "Amtrak moves to seize control of Union Station." Washington Post. — "California voters say state is moving in the wrong direction, feel financial squeeze." Los Angeles Times. — "Regulators approve CSX's purchase of a regional railroad." Associated Press. — "Syracuse's elevated I-81 will disappear and be replaced with grid, officials put in writing today." Syracuse.com — "Ever Forward ship freed from Chesapeake Bay after being stuck for more than a month." Baltimore Sun. Did we miss an event? Let MT know at transpocalendar@politicopro.com. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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