Capitol Agenda for the Week of Dec. 5: The Long and the Short of It

The week ahead for trucking on Capitol Hill

On Nov. 30, 20 men and women representing prominent transportation associations met in Washington, D.C., to expound on a long-term vision for the country’s infrastructure system. Held behind closed doors, the meeting was convened by Patrick Jones, executive director and CEO of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, to see which principles the attendees would be able to agree upon. 

They called it the Transportation Visioning Summit, and there, participants agreed policymakers need to put together the freight and passenger transportation corridors of the future. Stakeholders were asked to visualize the transportation network they would like to see.

“I think there was a palpable level of frustration, or maybe concern, that there’s a lot of partisanship in Washington and it’s difficult to get the president and the Congress on the same page, or even all the members of the Congress on the same page. So people are really looking for leadership and vision. They harken back to the days of the Eisenhower interstate and defense highways and how that really created a vision,” Jones told Transport Topics.

“People did seem to agree ... that we could rally around a handful of key principles. And that we ought to articulate and define what those key principles are,” he added.

We’ll have more about the meeting in the Dec. 12 edition of Transport Topics.

Turning to Congress, a short-term bill that would fund the government through late spring is likely to be unveiled Dec. 6, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters. The trucking industry is watching to see if the legislation would include an update to an hours-of-service rule for truckers and a pre-emption of a meal and rest break rule. Our friends at The Hill report Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety indicated the trucking policy riders were “in the mix” as possible additions to the funding bill. (Update, Dec. 7: The HOS provision is included in the continuing resolution.)

THE WEEK AHEAD (all times ET):

Dec. 6, 7, 9:15 a.m.:  The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will hold a meeting of its post-accident reporting advisory committee to review post-accident reports and issue recommendations on the data elements required by the reports.

Dec. 6, 9:30 a.m.: The National Transportation Safety Board will meet on the Railroad Accident Report: Collision of Two Union Pacific Railroad Freight Trains in Hoxie, Arkansas, on Aug. 17, 2014. (Coverage)

Office of Sam Graves

Dec. 6, 10 a.m.: Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), will lead a roundtable on "Getting Smart on Autonomous Vehicles: Opportunities and Challenges for Transportation Transformation." Witnesses include Blair Anderson, U.S. Transportation undersecretary for policy; Chris Spear, president of American Trucking Associations; David Strickland, counsel and spokesman of the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets; and David Zuby, executive vice president and chief research officer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. (Coverage)

Dec. 7, 2:30 p.m.: The Senate Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security will assess the security of critical transportation infrastructure. Witnesses include: ATA President Spear; John Roth, inspector general of the Homeland Security Department; Neil Trugman, interim chief of police for Amtrak; and Tony Straquadine, manager of commercial and government affairs for Alliance Pipeline, representative of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America.

Dec. 8, 9 a.m.: The Atlantic holds a "Summit on Infrastructure and Transportation." Keynote speakers include former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, co-chair of Building America's Future; former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, president of the University of California; and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, co-chair of Building America's Future.

Dec. 8, 1 p.m.: Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx holds a meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Travel and Tourism Infrastructure to swear in members and discuss their work.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

SHUSTER @ T&I: House Republican leaders chose to stick with Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) as their lead transportation authorizer in the 115th Congress, allowing him to keep control of the influential Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA) will once again head up the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee during the... https://t.co/FtucNe4hu7 — Western States Trkng (@WSTA1941) December 2, 2016

ARTBA FORECAST: Increases next year in private highway and bridge construction activity across residential and commercial developments will help transportation construction grow by 1.3%, the chief economist at the American Road & Transportation Builders Association indicated Dec. 2.

BUZZ: The next report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers will be unveiled in March. The group publishes its report card quadrennially, detailing the state of the country’s infrastructure. In 2013, the engineers gave the country a D+ grade.

WHAT WE’RE READING: The Gray Lady put its spotlight on the country’s dilapidated water infrastructure in an in-depth look at the conditions at Lock and Dam No. 52 on the Ohio River near Brookport, Illinois. The New York Times writes, Lock No. 52 “is a serious bottleneck in innumerable supply chains nationwide. It is emblematic of the nation’s crumbling transportation infrastructure coast to coast — including locks, ports, highways and railroads.”

Lock No. 52 on the Ohio River is responsible for a shipping bottleneck that hobbles commerce far and wide https://t.co/hn7uyCkBDD pic.twitter.com/siShuU87yJ — NYT Photo (@nytimesphoto) November 28, 2016

FAVORITE QUOTE

"The president-elect has outlined a clear vision to transform our country's infrastructure, accelerate economic growth and productivity, and create good-paying jobs across the country. I am honored to be nominated by the president-elect to serve my beloved country as transportation secretary.”

 — Former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Trump’s nominee to lead DOT, in a prepared statement the transition team provided Nov. 29.

FAVORITE VIDEO

Nikola Motor Co. unveiled its Nikola One hydrogen-electric Class 8 tractor earlier this month. In August, the company busted out this promo to get the people going. The video’s beats alone, probably inspired by retrosonic DJ Snake, make for a dank meme.

FAVORITE TWEET`

The anniversary of the signing of the FAST Act in December 2015 got props from the engineers #thistown #highwaylaw

It's the anniversary of the FAST Act, signed into law a year ago today https://t.co/O3Z8ti3tqK — ASCE Gov't Relations (@ASCEGovRel) December 4, 2016

Thanks for reading Capitol Agenda! We publish when Congress gavels in for legislative business. E-mail emulero@ttnews.com with tips and follow us @eugenemulero and @transporttopics.