| | | | |  | | By Alex Daugherty | | | | | — December is shaping up to be less stressful for Congress, but next year will bring spending-related headaches, including transportation. — Flights over the Thanksgiving holiday went relatively smoothly. — FHWA finalizes a transportation emissions rule, but state and local governments won’t face any consequences for ignoring them. IT’S MONDAY: You’re reading Morning Transportation, your Washington policy guide to everything that moves. You can reach Alex, Oriana, Tanya and Hannah at adaugherty@politico.com, opawlyk@politico.com, tsnyder@politico.com and hpinski@politico.com, respectively. Find us all on the platform formerly known as Twitter @alextdaugherty, @TSnyderDC, @oriana0214 and @HannahPinski. “Maybe I should just let it be/And maybe it will all come back to me/Seeing, oh, Janu..../Oh, January, oh.”
| | | | A message from the Travel Technology Association: Meet the technology empowering your travel decisions. Global Distribution Systems (GDSs) are the technology engines interconnecting the travel ecosystem, working behind the scenes to illuminate consumer travel options. GDS technology brings together the online travel sites, airline and hotel reservation networks, mobile apps, travel agents and other travel solutions travelers use to plan their next adventure. As the engines behind comparison pricing, GDSs have been innovating for decades to power consumer choice in the global travel and tourism industry. Learn more. | | | | | JANUARY BLUES: There won’t be a government spending crunch this holiday season, thanks to Speaker Mike Johnson’ s effort to head off an end-of-year omnibus bill that conservatives typically hate. But Johnson has vowed not to support another short-term spending bill past Jan. 19 that does not include blanket cuts — a position that dramatically increases the odds of a shutdown in early 2024. Part of the fight includes the stalled House THUD bill, H.R. 4820 (118), a bill that currently contains $22.9 billion less than the Senate-passed THUD bill, S. 2437 (118). An analysis of both bills from Taylor Miller Thomas shows that the Senate bill is 26 percent higher than the House bill as of now, a massive gap for appropriators to potentially navigate. The House bill would cut funding for Amtrak (along with a host of grant programs that were plussed up by the infrastructure law), but the rail funding has caused a rift among House Republicans, with some from the Northeast Corridor arguing against the cuts and others pushing for more. GOP leadership was forced to pull the bill from the floor in the middle of the night earlier this month, and currently there isn’t a compromise that could secure enough votes for passage — and that doesn’t even account for future negotiations with the Senate. But the THUD issue is one cog in a larger problem for Johnson, POLITICO's Jordain Carney, Burgess Everett and Sarah Ferris report. Johnson is likely to face demands from conservatives for steep cuts and policy wins, which are likely to go nowhere with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the White House.
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| | THANKSGIVING UPDATE: Despite winter weather in various parts of the country, Thanksgiving flights appeared to mostly move smoothly, especially on the busiest day of the season — the day before the holiday. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on X that “the system did well” on Wednesday, with cancellation rates below 1 percent and delay rates just under 2 percent. Hundreds of flights out of Denver saw delays on Saturday due to snow, though cancellations were kept relatively low.
| | | | A message from the Travel Technology Association:   | | | | | IT’S TOTALLY UP TO YOU: FHWA last week finalized a rule that would require state-level DOTs and metropolitan planning organizations to measure their transportation-related carbon dioxide emissions and set targets for reductions, though there’s no consequences if the targets aren’t reached. “We don’t expect state DOTs and MPOs to solve a problem this large on their own, which is why this performance measure does not impose penalties for those who miss their targets,” said FHWA Administrator Shailen Bhatt. Buttigieg added that the Biden administration is making $27 million available through a variety of federal programs to help states set and achieve their own climate-related emissions targets. Republicans have long opposed the rule and Senate EPW Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) called the rule “federal overreach to advance a misguided climate agenda,” noting that such a performance measure was discussed and intentionally left out of the infrastructure law. Tanya has more. NEW OFFICE ALERT: DOT is launching a new Multimodal Freight Office to oversee supply chains and the nation’s freight network, part of the implementation of the infrastructure law. DOT's deputy assistant secretary for multimodal freight infrastructure and policy, Allison Dane Camden, will lead the office and work closely with DOT’s Freight Logistics Optimization Works program — a group that includes five of the largest U.S. ports, seven of the largest ocean carriers and four of the five largest retailers. Buttigieg said the new office will “lead coordination of our efforts to strengthen supply chains.” Later today, Buttigieg and President Joe Biden will hold the inaugural meeting of the new White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience, with the pair offering updates on supply chain efforts undertaken over the last two years.
| | BUFFALO DISRUPTION: Flights and trains were halted in Buffalo, New York, the day before Thanksgiving after a vehicle exploded at a customs checkpoint on the U.S.-Canada border. The FBI later said that an investigation “revealed no explosive materials and no terrorism nexus was identified,” and local police took over the investigation into the explosion as a traffic incident. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said a vehicle raced toward the border checkpoint on the U.S. side of the Rainbow Bridge, hit a booth and went airborne. The bridge was closed until Thursday evening. Eric Bazail-Eimil, Kyle Duggan and Oriana have more.
| | | | A message from the Travel Technology Association: Meet the technology empowering your travel decisions. Global Distribution System (GDS) technology is the intelligence behind online travel sites, airline and hotel reservation networks, mobile apps, travel agents and more travel solutions. Through the GDSs, travel suppliers, such as airlines, hotels and car rental companies, make their travel offerings available to travel agencies, including online booking sites, who then enable consumers to easily search for, compare and book among thousands of travel options.
Using real-time price and availability data, GDSs allow travel agents to offer travelers better options and help travel suppliers reach a global audience. Most importantly, GDSs promote price transparency and competition by enabling consumers to compare fares and fees between thousands of travel suppliers and find the best deals.
GDS systems are the behind-the-scenes technology empowering traveler choice ―learn more. | | | | | — “Buyers worldwide go for bigger cars, erasing gains from cleaner tech. EVs would help.” The Associated Press. — “In this Atlanta suburb, teens taste freedom at 10 m.p.h.” The New York Times. — “Tesla v. Toyota is the hot new battle in cars.” The Wall Street Journal. — “Railyard explosion, inspections raise safety questions about Union Pacific’s hazmat shipping.” The Associated Press. — “D.C. doubled its number of traffic cameras this fall. 140 more are coming.” The Washington Post. — “American Airlines accuses travel agents of stifling innovation for self interest.” Skift. — “An ESG backlash spurs a new corporate strategy: greenhushing.” POLITICO. | | | | JOIN WOMEN RULE ON 12/12: For centuries, women were left out of the rooms that shaped policy, built companies and led countries. Now, society needs the creativity and entrepreneurship of women more than ever. How can we make sure that women are given the space and opportunity to shape the world’s future for the better? Join POLITICO's Women Rule on Dec. 12 for Leading with Purpose: How Women Are Reinventing the World to explore this and more. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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