Todd Zwillich

Todd Zwillich appears in the following:

Democrats Chase the Transpo Spending Unicorn

Thursday, June 30, 2011

President Barack Obama listens to a question during a press conference in the East Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

(Washington DC) Democrats are holding onto the dream.

The partisan politics that swirl around the much-maligned $787 billion stimulus has all but erased any chance of new transportation infrastructure spending, at least until the economy improves.

But listen to top Democrats—including President Barack Obama—over the last couple of days, and you wouldn’t know that both the Republican party, as well as much of the public, has lost their appetite for such spending.

With talks over raising the federal debt limit and reigning in the deficit at a standstill, Obama took to the White House East Room Wednesday afternoon to push back on what he sees as Republican intransigence. The GOP is sticking to its guns: no tax increases of any kind can be part of a deal on the debt limit.

Obama had plenty to say about that. But he also said that new job spending—you could call it stimulus—should be part of the deal as a way to goose the still-flagging economy.

“I think it’s important for us to look at rebuilding our transportation infrastructure in this country.  That could put people back to work right now -- construction workers back to work right now.  And it would get done work that America needs to get done.  We used to have the best roads, the best bridges, the best airports.  We don’t anymore.  And that’s not good for our long-term competitiveness,” the president said.

Obama seemed to suggest that the new spending could be folded in as part of a broader deal to cut the deficit. Such spending has not specifically come up in meetings with Republicans so far, according to aides on Capitol Hill.

But Democrats have enjoyed hammering the GOP lately for ignoring middle-class jobs at the expense of the wealthy. It’s a reliable cudgel, to be sure. And Democrats are now promising that once a debt deal is behind them and all the painful cuts are made, they’ll return with an aggressive jobs plan chock full of transportation wishes.

Witness Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) on Thursday morning in Washington. Schumer gave a politically charged speech castigating Republicans for trying to hamper Obama by blocking any measures that might help job growth in the short term.

Schumer said Democrats would soon launch a “Jobs First” agenda, designed to speed a drop in the unemployment rates and build long-term economic soundness. Of course, in this toxic atmosphere, it’s also designed to poll-test well with 2012 voters.

Schumer called for:

“A Highway Bill that will put people back to work building critical infrastructure that is necessary to help our economy compete, for example by making it easier to transport manufactured goods from their plant in Ohio to the port in Washington, or Los Angeles or New York.”

and also:

“A National Infrastructure Bank, which both labor and the Chamber of Commerce have strongly supported, and which would create a platform to leverage private sector investment for projects of national or regional significance.”

Of course neither of those items is new on the Democrats’ wish-list. But Obama and Schumer clearly think that pushing for them on the cusp of an election year will play well with prospective voters. For now, they’re clawing for traction against consistent GOP messaging that out-of-control spending is what got the nation into this debt conundrum to begin with.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the GOP leader, took to the Senate floor Thursday with this: “Who really thinks that the answer to a $1.6 trillion deficit is a second Stimulus, that the answer is more deficit spending? Where in the world did that idea come from?”

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Sen. Paul: TSA "Clueless" on Passenger Pat-downs

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Conservative Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) lashed out once again at the Transportation Security Administration Wednesday, calling the agency "clueless" when it comes to its often-ridiculed policy of random pat-downs.

Paul told TSA administrator John Pistole in Senate hearings that his agency was "wasting its time" by using random pat-downs at airport security checkpoints instead of using more intelligence-drive risk-based methods of passenger screening.

Paul objects to the pat-down policy both on privacy and efficiency grounds. He recalled the case of Selena Drexel, a 6-year-old who in April was patted down by TSA agents before boarding a flight in New Orleans. Drexels's parents, who live in Kentucky, video-taped the pat-down and posted the video online. After it went viral, and the parents appeared on Good Morning America and elsewhere, they Selena became the poster child for TSA reform among privacy advocates and libertarians.

On Wednesday, Paul said the Drexel case is symbolic of what he sees as lacking at TSA. "It makes me think you guys are clueless that you think she's going to attack our country and you're not doing your research on the people who would attack our country."

Paul argued the "police work" would be a more effective security tool than random pat-downs, which he decried as a "politically correct" attempt to be fair to all travelers. He noted that Faisal Shazad, the accused Times Square bomber was allowed to board a flight at New York's JFK airport despite being on a terrorist watch-list.

"I think you ought to get rid of the random pat-downs. The American public is unhappy with them. They’re unhappy with the invasiveness of them, the Internet's full of jokes about the invaseiveness of your pat-down searches. And we ought (to) really just consider, is this what we’re willing to do," Paul said.

Pistole, who was on the Hill to testify on rail and mass transit security in front of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told Paul that the Drexels' much-publicized search was not really random at all.

"This of course is something that is done based on intelligence gathering from around the world,” he said. Pistole stressed that the search of Drexel had nothing to do with the 6-year-old in particular but with concerns that children could be used by adults as unwitting weapons. "Unfortunately we know that terrorists have used children under 12 years old as suicide bombers,”  he said.

Pistole said TSA and the Department of Homeland Security are working on a program using passenger manifests and other voluntarily-provided information to speed passenger screening and to let agents reduce their focus on non-threatening travelers.

Paul called for a privately-run frequent traveler program to speed screenings. “Lets turn it over. Lets have a frequent flyer program you can voluntarity participate in," he said.

In 2009 TSA terminated a private frequent traveler program that operated in 19 airports. It has not sought to renew the program.

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Senator: I'll Go After All Energy Tax Breaks

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

(Todd Zwillich -- Washington, D.C) As Congress rummages for every dollar it can find to throw toward the national debt, one Republican senator says he knows where he can find billions: energy tax breaks.

Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, the number-three Republican in the Senate, says he's cooking up a plan to cancel most if not all tax breaks enjoyed by the energy sector. Instead Alexander would spend the money on clean energy R+D and lowering the deficit.

This comes a day after Alexander and 33 other Republicans backed a proposal to eliminate $6 billion in taxpayer subsidies enjoyed by the ethanol industry. That vote was seen in Washington as a strong signal that Republicans are ready to put once-sacred tax breaks on the table in an effort to strike a debt deal with Democrats.

"I and my staff are looking at all energy tax breaks," Alexander told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday. "I expect that before long I'll have legislation that will look at all tax breaks," he said.

Such a bill would almost certainly become part of a broader debate over reducing the national debt or another fight over tax code reform expected later this year.

Either way, the success of Alexander's effort could mean a fundamental reordering--or in some cases elimination--of billions in tax breaks helping the energy sector.

Alexander said he'll try to eliminate all or most long-standing energy tax breaks and instead put some of the money toward "a Manhattan project for clean energy research." A lot of the burden would fall squarely on utilities and power generation companies. But ethanol, natural gas, and oil and gas tax credits opposed by most Democrats would also presumably be included. Democrats are already vowing to include a repeal of oil company tax credits in any deal with Republicans over the debt.

Alexander is a supporter of electric cars, however, and he said Wednesday he'd favor some "jump start" tax incentives for electric cars and the development of a 500-mile battery. The idea, he said, is to give a boost to burgeoning clean energy technology then cast it to the mercy of the free market.

"I don't think electric cars deserve any sort of government support after four, five years. If they can't survive in the marketplace then they ought to be, y'know, thrown in the junk pile," Alexander said.

Right now consumers can cash in on a $7,500 credit for buying a plug-in electric car. There's also a $1,000 federal residential charging credit for plug-in car owners.

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Rep. Mica Goes After TSA on Private Security Screeners

Friday, June 03, 2011

(Todd Zwillich -- Washington, D.C.) House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Rep. John Mica (R-Fl.) took a swing at the Obama Administration Friday for refusing to privatize security screening at more U.S. airports.

Mica released a lengthy report from his committee's investigators concluding that taxpayers could save $1 billion per year if 35 of the largest airports moved to private screening. That's a direct response to a January decision by Transportation Security Administration head John Pistole to reject privatization bids from five airports. Pistole also said he wouldn't expand the program further since privatized screening wasn't saving taxpayers any money.

The decision rankled Mica, who since the start of the year has railed on the TSA to slim down. "TSA has become a bloated bureaucracy that is too focused on managing its personnel and protecting its turf," he said. "This agency must get out of the human resources business."

Airports were legally allowed to opt out of TSA screening beginning in 2003. But private security contractors that took over had to meet federal screening and oversight standards in order to replace TSA screeners. Today 16 airports have opted for private security contractors. But Pistole got Mica's back up in January when he denied applications from five more. Republicans accused Pistole and Homeland Security officials of bowing to union pressure to suspend the program.

Officials have denied that union pressure was the reason, saying it is cost projections and security concerns that are keeping them from expanding the privatization program.

Friday's report compares screening costs at LAX, which uses TSA screeners, with the cost of private screening at San Francisco's SFO airport. It found that LAX screeners cost an average of $41,208 per year compared with $39,021 at SFO. Perhaps more to the point, it concludes that private screening at SFO costs $2.42 per passenger versus $4.22 per passenger at LAX.

"If we applied those findings to the nation's top 35 airports, we could save over $1 billion over five years," Mica told reporters at press conference on Capitol Hill Friday.

TSA hit back, saying via a spokesperson that it was "unclear" how they did their math on cost estimates. The agency's own estimates say private screening is more expensive. Most recently a GAO report in March of this year pegged private screening as 3 percent more expensive than government-run security.

TSA spokesperson Nicholas Kimball said security was a bigger factor than cost in Pistole's decision to back off private screening at airports.

"While cost is an important factor...Administrator Pistole’s primary consideration is security," Kimball wrote to Transportation Nation in an email. "It is critical that TSA retains its ability to operate as a flexible nationwide security network. TSA’s capacity to push out intelligence information to our frontline workforce and quickly change procedures based on threat and intelligence is paramount to effective security.  Further expansion of privatized screening will increase the complexity of this process," he wrote.

Kimball added that the agency believes private and TSA screeners provide "comparable" security.

That's not good enough for Mica. He said he intends to try and force TSA's hand on the issue. Part of his strategy was on display this week on the House floor. Mica narrowly succeeded in passing an amendment on a Homeland Security spending bill limiting by law the amount of money TSA can spend for screener personnel, salaries and benefits.

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Parties Take Shots at Each Other, Not High Prices, this Week

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

(Oil Rigs near Huntington Beach/Aaron Logan)

(Washington, DC -- Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation) Get ready for dueling petro-bills in Congress this week as Republicans and Democrats try to outdo one another in the war of words over high gas prices.

Only trouble is, none of the bills you'll see tossed around the Capitol this week will do anything to lower this spring's high prices at the pump.

House Republicans this evening will bring up a vote on HR 1229, known as the "Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act." It forces the Obama Administration to consider new drilling permits in the Gulf within 60 days, and automatically approves the permits if it the administration goes too slowly.

Republicans say there will be another vote this week, this one on a bill forcing the administration to conduct lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and on the Outer Continental Shelf off the coast of Virginia.

If you feel like you've seen this movie before, it's because you have.

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GOP: Energy Votes to Proceed Amid Obama's Big Moment

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

$4-a-gallon gas in Soho (photo by Kate Hinds)

(Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation) The killing of Osama bin Laden has changed a lot in the world. But it won't change GOP plans to take aim at the president and his energy policy later this week.

That's because House leaders plan to go ahead with a series of votes designed to place blame on President Obama for high gas prices.

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UPDATE: Spending Deal Spreads Pain Across Transpo Projects, HSR Gutted

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

UPDATED WITH NEW DETAILS ON FUNDING: (Washington, DC -- Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation) Transportation cuts in Capitol Hill's budget deal are coming into clearer focus -- and while high-speed rail retains some funding, almost all types of transportation take a big hit.

Appropriations aides on both sides of the aisle say that $2.9 billion is the limit of the deal's cuts to high-speed rail. A previous cut of $1.5 billion had spread fears that the actual cuts were cumulative at $4.4 billion, but as aides pored over the fine print -- released at 2 am --  and ran the numbers through their calculators, both parties agreed the final cut was 2.9 billion.  That means President Obama's signature transportation initiative is left with no new funding whatsoever for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Obama Administration officials point out that the Department of Transportation still has $2 billion on hand for high-speed rail projects. That means the program isn't dead, just unfunded for this year. "The Obama Administration looks forward to working with states eager to build the foundation for a world-class rail network," read a statement released by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

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High-Speed Rail Gutted in Spending Deal

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

(Washington, DC -- Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation) It's been a bad week for some of President Obama's cherished domestic programs, but perhaps for none more so than high speed rail.

(Read an updated post HERE.)

Details of the nearly six-month spending deal that kept the government from shutting down came out overnight. They contain a whopping $2.9 billion cut for high-speed rail projects. Keep in mind the one-week spending bill used to buy time for the bill-writers on Capitol Hill cut another $1.5 billion from the program immediately.

You can do the math yourself, but that's a staggering $4.4 billion cut to high speed rail in the span of four days. And it means the project won't be funded at all this year. More details as they emerge.

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High Speed Rail Takes a Hit in Budget Deal

Monday, April 11, 2011

(Washington, DC -- Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation) Congress managed to avoid a government shutdown over the weekend. But guess who paid for it? Supporters of the Obama Administration's high-speed rail program.

Meanwhile, transportation projects are set to take another hit in the spending agreement that funds the government until September 30.

Lawmakers managed to avoid a shutdown by announcing a spending deal at about 10:30 pm on Friday. But it was too late to draft the deal into legislative text by the midnight deadline, so the House and Senate also quickly approved a one-week spending measure to bridge the gap. But with many lawmakers committed to vote only for budget bills that reduce spending, even the short-term "bridge" carried $2 billion in cuts. That's where rail comes in. The agreement took $1.5 billion from high-speed rail projects immediately, forming the lion's share of the total cuts.  However, that cut will not affect existing grants.

President Obama signed the measure on Saturday, making the cuts a done done deal. But for transportation watchers on Capitol Hill the fun isn't over yet.

"Now up on the Hill, the fine print is being worked out," White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday.

Details of the five-and-a-half month spending bill that avoided the shutdown are expected by tomorrow. But tucked inside is likely to be another big hit on transportation projects. In the high-stakes money hunt, Republican and Democratic negotiators sniffed out $2 billion to $2.5 billion in spending authority lurking on the books in the transportation committee.

That means that up to $2.5 billion in possible future spending for transportation projects got raided by leaders to help them reach their $38 billion spending cut deal.

"We basically took it," a Democratic negotiator said. "We're taking House transportation money away from them."

More details should emerge after Hill staff finish drafting the spending deal. But that won't be the last word in the budget frenzy going on on in the Capitol. President Obama will lay out his vision for deficit and debt reduction in a speech in Washington on Wednesday.

And debate has already begun on a budget plan for Fiscal 2012, where Republicans are demanding steep reductions in domestic spending. Before that, get ready for a fight on the federal debt limit. Republicans have said they won't vote to raise the limit without as-yet unspecified spending limits that could easily reach transportation programs.

Carney said Monday that the White House wants a "clean" vote on the debt limit without spending cuts attached. On that score, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), has said, "Not a chance."

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Congress Could Get First FAA Bill in Years

Sunday, April 03, 2011

(Washington, DC -- Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation) The House has passed a four-year Federal Aviation Administration authorization bill 223 to 196, setting up talks with the Senate that could lead to the first aviation policy renewal in years.

But those talks could get complicated by perennial political issues, as Republicans strive to weaken recruitment in some sectors of the aviation industry. There's even a veto threat coming from the White House.

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Congress hasn't passed a reauthorization for FAA since 2003. Instead it's racked up 17 temporary extensions as agreements eluded the House and Senate. Friday's House bill authorizes $60 billion in spending over four years for the FAA, airports, freight programs and even some new GPS-based air traffic control systems. That's a reduction back to 2008 spending levels at the FAA.

"It acknowledges that – especially in these tough economic times – the federal government must make spending cuts while at the same time providing necessary services and maintaining our current high safety levels,” Rep. Chip Cravaak, a pilot who chairs the aviation subcommittee, said in a statement. Cravaak, a Minnesota Republican, knocked off long-time incumbent and transportation committee chairman Rep. Jim Oberstar in 2010 mid-term election.

That take doesn't wash with a lot of Democrats.

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Lawmakers Try Again on Infrastructure Bank

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

(Washington, DC –Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation) If at first you don't succeed, try try again. But with less money.

That seems to be the philosophy behind a new congressional push to establish a government-owned "infrastructure bank" to help fund America's ailing water and transportation systems.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers--backed by unions and business groups--is pushing the idea as a way to pay for projects without dipping into the Treasury at a time when Washington is allergic to spending.

"We've got to be creative," said  Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), who is behind the effort with Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and Sen. John Warner (D-VA). They see the bank as a way to help fill the yawning gap between what the nation's aging infrastructure needs and what Congress and the public seem willing to pay. (You can watch a video of today's press conference here.)

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Lawmakers Want National Standard for Teen Licenses

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

(Washington, DC --Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation) Lawmakers introduced a bill Tuesday forcing states to meet a national standard for teens’ drivers licenses or take a hit on their federal highway funding.

The bill pushes graduated drivers license programs, or GDL’s, which phase in driving privileges for teens in the hopes of taking some of the danger out of getting behind the wheel.

All 50 states already have some form of phased-in driving for teens, but standards vary widely. Six states allow permits for 14-year olds, while South Dakota has no restricts at all for 16-year-old drivers.

Safety groups and insurance companies have long backed GDL programs, as a way to improve teen driving safety and also to lock in one set of nationwide rules.

Car crashes remain the number-one cause of death for US teens, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Crashes killed more than 40,000 teens over the last five years.

“This is a national problem that requires a national solution,” said Rep. Tim Bishop (R-NY).

Teens are notoriously bad risk takers, but advocates have become increasingly alarmed by the rise of cell phones and other electronic devices. Distracted driving campaigns have zeroed in on adolescents and their texting.

The bill would force states to take on three-stage licensing schemes with unrestricted driving privileges delayed until age 18. The process involves learners permits with passenger restrictions and cell phone bans. It would also let the federal government set standards withholding full licenses from kids caught driving recklessly, with DUIs or other violations.

Teens in the intermediate license phase would face restrictions on night driving and on the number of car passengers.

States would have three years to put in minimum requirements.

“If they don’t, they would face penalties and reductions in funding,” said Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand, D-NY.

The bill authorizes $25 million to help states put new laws in place. Lawmakers said they intend to attach the bill to surface transportation legislation expected to move in Congress later this year.

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House Extends Trust Fund, Awaiting a Fight

Thursday, March 03, 2011

(Washington, D.C.--Todd Zwillich) The House voted on Wednesday to extend the nation's surface transportation law, forestalling an inevitable debate on how to restructure highway funding in an age of deficits.

Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the Surface Transportation Act (link) until September 30, the end of the current fiscal year. The bill authorizes $580 billion over the next decade and about $53 billion this year. Most of that spending, about $42.5 billion, is to be funneled through the Highway Trust Fund.

The extension comes as Congress prepares for a broader debate over how to fund--or cut--federal highway and transit spending to help fill budget gaps. The Highway trust fund is financed with the 18.5-cent federal gas tax, which in recent years has failed to keep up with the demands of infrastructure building and upkeep. That's led lawmakers to dip into general government revenues to make up the difference, a move that is about to become a no-no under Republican leadership in the House.

The House's move comes a day after the release of a Government Accountability Office report that criticized widespread duplication and inefficiency at the Department of Transportation. It concludes DOT has become an uncoordinated and largely haphazard collection of programs. The Obama Administration agrees for the most part; it proposed a consolidation scheme for DOT in its Fiscal 2012 Budget.

All of this points to a tough transportation debate later this year, ranging from the future of the Highway Trust Fund and infrastructure spending to cutting programs--wasteful or otherwise--from DOT.

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Spending Detente Results in Transportation Cuts

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

(Washington, DC -- Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation) Republicans and Democrats locked in a spending fight on Capitol Hill appear to have averted the specter of  a government shutdown, for now. But the deal that sidestepped the showdown dealt some blows to transportation funding.

House Republicans easily passed a bill Tuesday extending government operations for two weeks beyond the current March 4th deadline. The idea is to give Republican and Democratic negotiators more time to cut a deal on government funding through September 30, the the remainder of Fiscal 2011. But the Republican-led Congress believes the American public is in the mood for spending cuts, so even the two-week peace offering contained $4 billion in immediate cuts.

That includes a $650 million cut in highway spending. The trim comes from increased spending from last fiscal year that the Obama Administration did not wish to continue anyway, according to the White House's 2012 Budget. The additional spending  would have sent more money to states through existing highway formulas, but will be cut if the president signs the 2-week extension bill.

The bill also shaves off $293 million in "surface transportation" earmarks, and another $25 million that would have been earmarked for "rail line relocation." It's all part of a move to kill about $2.7 billion in earmark spending in the measure.

The 2-week extension goes to the Senate floor today, where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has predicted it will be approved. Then its on to President Obama's desk for a signature. But that hardly gets Congress into the clear. The bill only buys lawmakers a bit more time to continue negotiations on funding government operations for the rest of the fiscal year. Republicans are gunning for at least $61 billion in total spending reductions, so they'll still have an appetite for more cuts.

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High-Speed Rail: Florida Lawmakers Look for End Run Around Gov.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

(Washington, DC -- Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation) Florida lawmakers are scrambling in Washington to keep $2.4 billion in high-speed rail money in their state after Gov. Rick Scott (R) yanked support for the funding yesterday.

A new plan hatched on Capitol Hill would transfer the federal funds to a third party in an effort to insulate Florida from any financial risks association with building or operating trains. But the plan would still need Scott’s support, an uncertain prospect in the politically-charged environment of government spending and debt.

Scott dropped a bombshell on Obama Administration officials and lawmakers Wednesday when he announced he would reject federal money to fund a long-planned project running trains high-speed trains between Orlando and Tampa.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), told reporters Thursday that lawyers are working on a plan that appoints a third-party entity to receive the money from the feds.

That entity—possibly Amtrak, a metropolitan planning organization, a transit authority, or some other public or private group—would administer the project and also shoulder Florida’s financial exposure. That amounts to about $280 million, at least at first. Nelson and other lawmakers argued the arrangement would take care of Scott’s concern that Florida could be on the hook for costs of building or running the system.

“That should meet the governor’s requirement,” Nelson said after a short meeting called between Florida lawmakers and Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The plan needs sign-off in Scott’s office in Tallahassee, Nelson warned. LaHood has given the parties until February 25 to reach a deal.

“The governor is going to have to cooperate for that to happen,” he said.

Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), the chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee who’s been tepid on high-speed rail funding in general, said he backed the high-speed rail in his state.

“If I didn’t think the project was cost-effective, I wouldn’t be here,” he told reporters gathered outside Nelson’s Capitol Hill Office.

But Mica said he was blindsided by Scott’s announcement.

“We were all taken aback by it,” Mica told reporters. “I had every indication prior to that that he would go forward.”

Scott’s decision sent lawmakers from other states clamoring for Florida’s money. Members of Congress from New York, California, and Minnesota and all made public appeals to the Obama Administration for the money if Florida passes.

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Rail, Transpo Projects Face GOP Ax in Spending Bill

Monday, February 14, 2011

(Washington, DC -- Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation) Transportation projects are set to take a massive, immediate hit under a spending bill headed for the floor of the House of Representatives this week.

Republicans are aiming to cut nearly $15.5 billion from the section of the budget carrying transportation and housing funding. The money comes out of highway projects, infrastructure investments, and particularly high-speed rail.

The bill, what’s known in Washington as a continuing resolution, funds the government from March 4 through the end of September, 2011. Overall it contains around $63 billion in immediate cuts from current spending levels across the government. It’s all part of Republicans' pledge to reduce immediately reduce spending, and it could go even further by the time the bill is done being amended on the floor.

It’s also prelude to a broader budget fight hitting Washington this week. President Obama unveils his Fiscal 2012 budget plan Monday morning. That covers spending beginning October 1, 2011, and its big transportation highlight--$53 billion in high-speed rail funding—is already attracting Republican derision.

“We’re broke,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), said on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday morning. He repeated the refrain all week as Democrats, and even some Republicans, complained about the pain such immediate cuts could cause.

Before we look at specifics, keep in mind: After passing the House, this bill still needs to get through the Senate, where Democrats have a majority and lawmakers overall are considerably less enthusiastic about immediate discretionary spending cuts than are their House colleagues.

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a conservative member of the Appropriations Committee and a spending hawk, acknowledged late last week that the aim of the deep-cutting House bill was two-fold: To fulfill Republicans campaign promises and to go into negotiations with the Senate “with as big a number as possible.”

A good chunk of that big number will come out of high-speed rail, if the House GOP gets its way. The continuing resolution hitting the House floor this week goes after $2.475 billion in funding already sent out to rail projects under stimulus and from other sources. It also seeks to hold back another $2.5 billion in high-speed rail funding yet to go out the door.

But rail isn’t alone. The bill cuts $600 million in general “national infrastructure investments," and takes another $600 million-plus from Federal Aviation Administration. Highways take a major hit as well, with $650 million slated for cuts to the Federal Highway Administration’s general fund and another $293 million in cuts to “surface transportation priorities”.

Democrats are predictably incensed at the GOP package. Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) accused Republicans of taking a “meat axe” to the federal budget. House Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), responded to the GOP proposals by backing a quick, and ultimately failed floor attempt to renew “Build America Bonds” for infrastructure funding.

“When you say they want to cut transportation, we know right away that’s a false economy,” Pelosi said to an organized labor crowd including members of the United Steel Workers on Thursday.

But the House’s cuts in general, and high-speed rail cuts in particular, are music to the ears of many Senate Republicans, at least publicly. Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the senior Republican on the Budget Committee said Thursday that high-speed rail projects were not efficient at stoking economic growth and should be killed.

The continuing resolution is set to hit the House floor Tuesday for at least two days of debate and amendments, possibly more. Conservative lawmakers are promising attempts to cut even more from federal spending right away. According to Boehner, if successful amendments lead to even deeper immediate cuts this week, “that’s fine.”

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Senate Begins Actual Debate on Aviation Transpo Bill

Friday, February 04, 2011

(Washington, D.C. -- Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation) The U.S. Senate has spent the week debating a major aviation policy bill. Though you wouldn’t know it from watching most of the floor speeches.

Lawmakers began debating a major reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration at the beginning of the week. But Republicans didn’t exactly have airports and flight delays on their minds. Instead, the GOP used the FAA bill as a vehicle for their efforts to repeal President Barack Obama’s health reform bill. Those efforts failed, and now the Senate is actually using the FAA bill to debate air travel policy.

The fate of the bill is far from certain. Tensions between rural, urban, and hub airports, as well as fights between private and commercial aviation interests, have helped relegate the FAA bill to temporary extension--as opposed to full reauthorization funding--no less than 15 times. Oh, and don’t forget about the labor disputes.

This crack at an FAA bill is largely focused on spreading NextGen global positioning navigation and tracking systems to more US airports. Supporters say, NextGen is an improvement over radar for air traffic control that would let planes safely land in closer succession than they do now, thus increasing the capacity of runways, among other benefits. The FAA bill calls for new funding and scrutiny on NextGen systems at major commercial airports. Officials hope NextGen will improve scheduling efficiency and help quell air traffic delays.

Lawmakers approved an amendment Thursday making it a federal crime to aim a laser pointer at an airplane. Only one senator, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), voted against the measure, saying such prosecutions can be handled by the states.

But only a day or two into earnest debate over aviation policy in the Senate, and the familiar labor fights are starting to flare. Paul is at the center of that fight, too.

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House GOP Leader: Not "An Easy Answer" to "Just Spend More" on Transportation

Monday, January 24, 2011

(Washington, DC -- Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation) House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) pushed back directly Monday on the Obama Administration calls for increased transportation infrastructure funding.

In an extended exchange with reporters, Cantor said that throwing more money at the nation's transportation infrastructure isn't responsible in the face of mounting government debt. "It's not some easy answer, 'just spend more'. I mean, again, the American people are tired of that," he said.

President Barack Obama is expected to make a push for more spending on research and development and transportation infrastructure in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. Even as the White House and Congress embark on likely difficult negotiations over how to curb overall spending levels, the White House says the president wants to continue to invest in sectors he thinks can help spur economic growth.

Cantor acknowledged that the transportation system is in ill health. "I don't think anybody tell you that our nation's transportation infrastructure is in a state of existence that we would accept," he said.

Republicans are starting to talk about boosting public-private partnerships as a way to leverage more transportation dollars. At the same time, conservatives in the House are calling on their colleagues to kill $10 billion in high-speed rail projects funded mostly by the stimulus.

"Everything is on the table. We've just got to learn how to prioritize and do more with less in all areas of government," Cantor said.

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House Republicans Zero in on High Speed Rail

Thursday, January 20, 2011

(Washington, DC -- Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation)   High-speed rail projects could be among the first to go if conservative spending hawks get their way in the new 112th Congress.

Republicans are sharpening their budget shears, looking to make good on promises to cut federal spending and reduce the overall size of government. And it looks like high-speed trains are high on the list.

A new House budget-cutting bill introduced Thursday by the conservative Republican Study Committee aims to return federal non-defense discretionary spending to 2006 levels. It cuts more than 100 programs, including the more than $10 billion in high-speed rail money funneled to cities and states in the economic stimulus bill.

Overall, the RSC bill looks to slash $2.3 trillion in federal spending over the next 10 years.

“This bill represents the first step in the process, not the last. To achieve long-term fiscal stability, we must finish the race by making the tough decisions Congress has put off for far too long,” said Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) head of the RSC’s budget task force.

The RSC represents the conservative wing of the Republican House conference, so consider that the “high water mark” in negotiations that ultimately will have to satisfy Republican leaders, the Democratic-controlled Senate, and President Obama.

But other Republicans with direct influence over transportation projects also have high speed rail in their sites. They include Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA), the new chairman of the subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, who has made it clear that high speed rail funding is about to face new scrutiny.

The newly-empowered chairman has begun to get critical of the way in which the Obama Administration doled out high-speed rail grant money, suggesting politics, and not practicalities, guided many of its choices. Shuster told CQ Today that the Obama Administration isn’t responding to his requests for information on how they chose where to steer high-speed rail money.

A statement on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Web site says high-speed rail has “potential” in transportation infrastructure. But it also suggests Shuster’s panel is getting set to go after the Obama Administration in hearings.

“The Committee will provide needed direction for this program, working to ensure that taxpayers are not burdened with economically unviable and ineffective projects. The Committee will seek to incorporate private sector participation in financing, building, and operating rail projects,” it says.

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Republicans Say Highway Trust Fund Won't Be Raided

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

[UPDATED: With added quotes.]

(Washington, D.C. -- Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation) Republicans in the House of Representatives say they've been reassured by their newly-empowered leadership about the future of the Highway Trust Fund.

Democrats have been spending first weeks of the new Congress--in response to headlines touting the new Republican House Majority and its austere rules on government spending--complaining that the GOP was preparing to raid the fund to use the money elsewhere in the federal budget. That is a possibility because rules adopted by the GOP require any increases in government spending to be offset by cuts elsewhere. The big pool of money that is the Highway Trust Fund is an attractive reservoir for lawmakers who don't want to raise taxes or cut popular social programs.

But newly appointed Republican Chairman of the Transportation Committee, John Mica (R-Fla.) tells Transportation Nation in an interview that won't happen. "I think what was put in place were some good protective measures. ... The Highway Trust Fund will remain the purview of the Transportation Committee and can’t be used for other uses."

Listen to the interview with John Mica:

The Highway Trust Fund is funded largely by an 18.4 cent per gallon federal gasoline tax. The money is meant for road, bridge, highway and transit projects.

Democrats are unconvinced the funds are safe. "They have said the firewall is down," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) warned reporters on Capitol Hill. "This is irresponsible to violate a law that created a trust fund for the American people." Reid asked rhetorically of the GOP, "Are they out of their mind?"

Turns out pro-transportation Republicans are bracing for cuts to the Trust Fund, but not in the way Democrats think.

Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.), a high-ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, says newly-mined House speaker John Boehner (R-Calif.) assured Republicans that new budget rules notwithstanding, Highway Trust Fund money won't get used for any other purpose.

Duncan said many Republican lawmakers went to Boehner with concerns about the fund's vulnerability as a revenue source. That was after organizations from the Chamber of Commerce to trucking and labor groups voiced similar worries. That's when Boehner offered the GOP conference his guarantee.

"As long as we stick by that, I'll be satisfied," Duncan said in an interview with Transportation Nation.

That's not to say the road projects will enjoy a bottom line close to what its been in years past. Rep. Mica has said that money from general government funds that for years supplemented the anemic trust fund is soon to dry up. "Now our challenge is taking diminishing revenues and making them go further. But I think we can do that by speeding up some of the process, cutting red tape and leveraging some of the funds we have better."

And keep in mind: Just because the GOP says it won't use trust fund money for other purposes doesn't mean its revenue can't be cut. Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) who chairs the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee acknowledged in an interview that some Republicans on his panel would like to lower the federal gas tax. "I know its under discussion," Camp said. He declined to elaborate. Mica, however said that's unlikely to happen. "I think it’s almost impossible to drop the rate." Though he added that he expects gas tax revenues to fall. "Fewer people are using gasoline. We have alternative fuels. The revenue will go down" whether we like it or not.

Both Mica and Duncan, who also counts himself a supporter of transit and infrastructure projects, suggest highways spending would be austere but not eviscerated. Duncan explained, "I think you're still going to see many billions spent on highways and transit in the coming years ... Just not as much as everybody wants. But that's just the way it is with almost everything now."

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