Rosen Shuns TIGER Grants at Senate Hearing
This story appears in the April 3 print edition of Transport Topics.
During his Senate nomination hearing March 29, President Trump’s pick for the No. 2 spot at the U.S. Department of Transportation would not endorse an Obama-era infrastructure grants program popular with states.
Jeffrey Rosen, a Washington-based attorney and a former general counsel at the department, would not answer Democratic senators who questioned him about the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, grants. Trump’s recently unveiled fiscal 2018 budget blueprint would deny funding for the grants.
“I think in the infrastructure proposal there can be multiple ways of addressing the concerns you have, the policy outcomes you have,” Rosen told Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) during a heated exchange before the Senate Commerce Committee.
Duckworth is among the many lawmakers disappointed in the White House’s call to do away with TIGER. Since 2009, the department has awarded states and municipalities millions of dollars in grants to help finance big-ticket freight and transit projects.
“Those are discretionary grants that DOT makes. … I think that the discretionary grants to achieve the kinds of projects that I think we’re all interested in, there are multiple ways to get at that,” Rosen added.
At the hearing, Rosen also stressed a need for reforming regulations by prioritizing cost-effectiveness. He agreed the department must continue its focus on arriving at policy for self-driving cars and trucks.
“Determining the role of governments with regard to new technologies like automated vehicles and drones will be complex but vital if Congress and the executive branch are to position the federal government as enabling innovation while also protecting the public’s safety,” Rosen said, in his written remarks.
The committee has yet to schedule a vote to report Rosen’s nomination to the Senate. Rosen was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis. Before that, he was general counsel at DOT and the Office of Management and Budget during President George W. Bush’s administration.
He has been a donor to Republican candidates. In 2011, he contributed $2,455 to the “Romney for President” campaign. The following year, he contributed $2,500 to the “Romney-Ryan” ticket. And in 2016, he contributed $500 to the “Rubio for President” campaign, according to documents he provided to the committee. The documents did not show if Rosen had contributed to Trump’s campaign.
The Trump administration has argued that other measures, such as a long-term infrastructure bill, could be used to provide states with funding supplements for big-ticket freight and transit projects. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters last week a tax overhaul and infrastructure plan that would advance jointly are in the “beginning” phases.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), ranking member on the Commerce Committee, expressed an interest in working on an infrastructure deal with the White House. At an event there March 28 with Trump and other senators, Nelson said he shared his view with Vice President Mike Pence. As Nelson put it, “I took the occasion to talk to the vice president and said, ‘I think the time might be right for us to consider a bipartisan infrastructure bill.”
