| | | | |  | | By Tanya Snyder | | | With help from Oriana Pawlyk and Daniel Lippman
| | — Senate Commerce Committee kicks off its Boeing hearing series with NTSB this week. — The inside scoop on the plan to pass the FAA bill by May 10. — What we’re expecting to hear about transportation and infrastructure in President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech this Thursday. IT’S MONDAY: You’re reading Morning Transportation, your Washington policy guide to everything that moves. You can reach Oriana and Tanya at opawlyk@politico.com and tsnyder@politico.com and follow us at @Oriana0214 and @TSnyderDC. “O-ho the Wells Fargo Wagon is a-comin' down the street / Oh please let it be for me / O-ho the Wells Fargo Wagon is a-comin' down the street / I wish, I wish I knew what it could be” IT’S A BIG MONTH FOR AVIATION: The Senate Commerce Committee this week kicks off what will be a series of hearings intended to inform the committee’s legislative response to Boeing’s latest 737 MAX crisis, starting this week with a hearing featuring NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. Homendy has already brought a few lawmakers in to its headquarters to talk preliminary findings and a close-up look at the plug door that flew off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 in January. That hearing takes place on Wednesday. Expect the hearing to be dominated by talk of the Alaska Airlines door plug blowout incident that sparked the latest scrutiny for Boeing, though the hearing is also likely to touch on other aspects of aviation safety. Look for more Commerce hearings later this month, including one featuring the FAA. Eventually the committee plans to hold a hearing with Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun as well. FAA extension this week: Congress is also expected to take up and clear a House-passed short-term extension for the FAA sometime this week. The House bill, H.R. 7454 (118), runs through May 10. The current authorization will otherwise expire Friday. Leaders in the House and Senate are projecting confidence that this will be the last extension needed to enact the full FAA reauthorization, combining the Senate bill, S. 1939 (118), with the House bill, H.R. 3935 (118). Key process note: The “pre-conference” process currently underway is the only conference this bill will get, according to what we’re hearing. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has told transportation leaders that the FAA reauthorization will get exactly one shot at floor time. So when the Commerce Committee-passed bill comes to the floor, it needs to already be synced with the House version. (The House, on the other hand, will need to vote again on the synced-up bill.) Staffers on both sides of the aisle and both ends of the Capitol are working hard to reconcile the differences between the two bills on things like pilot retirement age and the number of flights in and out of the airport most convenient to the Capitol.
| | A message from the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l: Raise the pilot retirement age? Raise chaos for air travelers. Congress is considering an arbitrary change to current law that would raise the mandatory retirement age for pilots from 65 to 67 to address a pilot shortage that isn’t real. It’s an ill-conceived solution to a fake problem that will lead to real consequences. With more and more people flying, now is the wrong time to complicate air travel. Learn more. | | | | | FISCAL 2024 FUNDING LEVELS: The House and Senate Appropriations Committees on Sunday afternoon released the text of the fiscal 2024 spending bill they plan to vote on this week, which includes funding for DOT. You can read the bill summary, the explanatory statement and more than 300 pages of congressional earmarks. Lawmakers aim to enact the bill by Friday — at which point the fiscal year will be almost half over, but who are we to judge? Disclaimer: Your wait for a final spending bill still isn't over if your work involves any of the slew of other agencies, including the State Department and the Pentagon, whose spending bills now expire March 22.
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| | THE STATE OF THE UNION: President Joe Biden addresses a joint session of Congress (and the rest of the country) Thursday night. The speech is likely to preview his election-year talking points, including praising his administration’s infrastructure investment and the jobs and benefits it’s bringing to communities all across the country. We’ll be listening for mentions of the transition to electric vehicles and his administration’s consumer protection efforts, particularly with regard to airline fees for families wanting to sit together. We want to hear what you’re expecting — drop us a line.
| | TWO FOR ONE: Boeing is in talks to acquire its Wichita-based 737 MAX fuselage supplier Spirit AeroSystems, the two companies said on Friday. The two companies are currently embroiled in investigations into what caused a door plug panel to blow off a 737 MAX 9 airplane in flight in January. Boeing on Friday suggested that its ongoing work to shore up quality control is what sparked these discussions with the supplier — which manufactures the body of the aircraft, including the faulty door panel that had been installed on the plane. Boeing sold off that element of the plane-making business, which became Spirit AeroSystems, in 2005. Oriana has more. CHILDREN WELCOME: The House plans to vote Tuesday on a bill, H.R. 5969 (118), that would let children use the Global Entry lane with their parents who are enrolled. As of now, kids can tag along for PreCheck but not Global Entry.
| | | | A message from the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l:   | | | | | HESAI LOSES FRIENDS IN DC: BGR PR has cut ties with Chinese lidar maker Hesai Group as a client in the wake of its appearance on the Pentagon’s 1260H list of companies with ties to the Chinese military, Daniel Lippman scooped for POLITICO Influence. Hesai was also dropped as a client of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld after PI reported that several members of Congress were considering banning lobbying firms that represented such Chinese clients from meetings. BGR did not lobby for Hesai, but did work on public relations, including hosting POLITICO last fall at its offices for an interview with Hesai CEO David Li. Hesai makes lidar sensors used in self-driving cars and has been the target of a lobbying campaign run by the U.S. lidar company Ouster. Who dumped who: “Two people familiar with the matter told POLITICO that Hesai was not happy with BGR’s performance in getting stories written about the company and made the decision in early January to not renew the contract, which the BGR spokesperson disputed,” Daniel reports. Hesai did not respond to requests for comment. — Hesai reportedly started working with a new lobbying firm, APCO Worldwide, in January. Hesai is challenging its inclusion on the DOD’s list as “unjust, capricious, and meritless,” and said in a press release in early February that it plans to file a lawsuit to get itself off the list. Li denied that Hesai is a “military company” and said the accusation is “meritless.” INTRAPARTY EV TWITTER FIGHT: Former Obama officials are sparring with former Biden officials on X about electric vehicles. Brian Deese, Biden’s former NEC director for President Biden and a senior adviser to Barack Obama, tweeted Matt Yglesias’ Slow Boring column, in which Yglesias argued that the narrative about disappointing EV sales is misleading. “Those headlines are generally talking about the ‘Big Three’ US automakers being disappointed by sales of their EVs,” but Korean automakers like Hyundai and Kia are selling lots of EVs, and so is Tesla, argued Yglesias. Deese praised Yglesias’ summary of the issue, calling it a “non-trivial distinction” whether "EVs are in trouble" or "some EV makers are in trouble.” Then Rohan Patel, an Obama adviser on climate, energy, intergovernmental affairs and now a Tesla exec, pointed out that Biden — “your former boss” — said in a press release earlier in the week that “the iconic Big Three and American auto workers are leading the world in quality and innovation.” Patel offered this fact-check: “Stellantis is HQ’d in Amsterdam. Tesla is an American company.” The squabble points to a fundamental tension between the industrial policy interest inherent in the EV transition — making sure we don’t lose out to China and other countries as the auto industry goes electric — and the climate interests, which care less about where the EVs are from, as long as they’re zero-emission.
| | | | Don’t sleep on it. Get breaking New York policy from POLITICO Pro—the platform that never sleeps—and use our Legislative Tracker to see what’s on the Albany agenda. Learn more. | | | | | | | | FMCSA COULD GREEN-LIGHT DEAF TRUCK DRIVERS: FMCSA on Friday opened a monthlong comment period on whether people with hearing impairments should be allowed to operate commercial motor vehicles across state lines. The agency reports that it’s received 16 applications from people seeking an exemption from the hearing requirement, which requires drivers to be able to hear “a forced whispered voice” 5 feet away, with or without a hearing aid. If granted, those waivers would set a precedent allowing others with hearing impairments to drive trucks.
| | | BNSF UNDERSTAFFING: The Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, last week urged FRA to “immediately conduct unannounced focused inspections” of BNSF trains and require the railroad to fix any defects before they can use their locomotives and rail cars. They said BNSF has been “intentionally” ignoring the union’s concerns about understaffing, “exacerbated by the extreme Mechanical Department cuts” carried out last week, when it furloughed 362 employees. They’ve been working on the railroad (even on Saturday): Across the major freight railroads, Mechanical Department staffing has been slashed by 41 percent since 2015. According to TTD, this understaffing led the railroads to jointly request a waiver of inspections, especially for BNSF — a request FRA denied, leading BNSF to force employees to work six-day weeks in some places to make up for understaffing. BNSF spokesperson Kendall Kirkham Sloan told POLITICO the furloughs, which were voluntary, were necessary to "rebalance" employees where they were needed. Sloan said employees were offered location transfers with incentives and that "any presumption that BNSF is shifting its priority away from safety is inaccurate."
| | Government relations consultant Jennie Frishtick is now a public affairs manager for the Northeast at Alstom.
| | — “Malaysia may renew the search for MH370 a decade after the flight disappeared.” The Associated Press. — “Aging Bridge Is a Flashpoint in Competitive Washington State House Race.” The New York Times. — “A New Jersey city that limited street parking hasn’t had a traffic death in 7 years.” The Associated Press. — “Big Labor Gamble: Push to Unionize Every U.S. Auto Plant.” The New York Times. — STB Chair Martin Oberman speech at the Southeast Association of Rail Shippers 2024 spring meeting. — “Teen girl dies in ‘train surfing incident’ near Silver Spring Metro station.” WTOP. — “UK-owned Rubymar is first ship to sink from Houthi attack, pouring oil and fertilizer into Red Sea.” POLITICO Europe. — “Can you spot the TSA contraband?” The Washington Post. — “Testing out Tren Maya, Mexico’s new train that connects the Yucatán.” The Washington Post. — “Olympian Motors Is Making Minimalist EVs for Drivers Sick of Screens.” Bloomberg. — “Your Bike Just Got Stolen. These Vigilantes Will Get It Back.” The Wall Street Journal.
| | A message from the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l: A difference of two years can lead to decades of air travel complications. Arbitrarily extending the mandatory pilot retirement age from 65 to 67 to address a fake pilot shortage will upend union collective bargaining agreements, disrupt airline operations, increase ticket prices, create a cascading and costly training backlog for pilots and put the United States out of compliance with international standards. Learn why raising the pilot retirement age to 67 outweighs any potential benefits. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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