Eno Transportation Weekly

April 12, 2019 – An April 10 hearing before the the House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee discussed waterborne transportation and appeared designed to make the case for legislation unlocking $9.3 billion in past collections for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund – legislation that seems very likely to be included in the forthcoming infrastructure initiative from House Democrats.

March 28, 2019 – The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee met March 27th to consider eight bills in a markup session, including bills to provide stopgap funding for the FAA and Coast Guard during government shutdowns.

Tuesday, March 26 – House Transportation and Infrastructure – Subcommittee on Aviation – subcommittee hearing on investment in airports (witness list here) – 10:00 a.m., HVC-210, Capitol Visitors Center. Tuesday, March 26 – House Appropriations – Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing – subcommittee hearing on budget requests from House members – 11:00 a.m., 2358-A Rayburn.

March 20, 2019 – What a difference a year makes. In 2019, the Trump Administration requested zero new funding for discretionary grant programs. In 2020, they are requesting $4 billion.

March 14, 2019 – The few documents made available this week describing President Trump’s budget request for fiscal year 2020 show that the President is proposing to cut Corps of Engineers water infrastructure funding by 30 percent and cut the water infrastructure grant and loan programs of the Environmental Protection Agency by 33 percent.

March 11, 2019 – President Trump has released a fiscal year 2020 budget request today that calls for $84.1 billion in gross budgetary resources for the U.S. Department of Transportation today, a $3.5 billion decrease from 2019.

Wednesday, March 6, 2019 – House Transportation and Infrastructure – Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation – subcommittee hearing on the U.S. maritime and shipbuilding industries (witness list here) – 10:00 a.m., 2253 Rayburn.

Tuesday, February 26 – House Homeland Security – Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security – subcommittee hearing on securing the U.S. surface transportation system from cyber attacks (witness list here) – 10:00 a.m., 310 Cannon.

February 15, 2019 – The final fiscal 2019 appropriations package that passed Congress yesterday appropriates a net $49.4 billion for the Department of Homeland Security (excluding the FEMA disaster relief fund and mandatory Coast Guard pay), a $1.7 billion increase over fiscal year 2018.

February 9, 2019 – The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the 116thCongress formally kicked off its work yesterday with a marathon seven-hour hearing entitled “The Cost of Doing Nothing: Why Investing in Our Nation’s Infrastructure Cannot Wait.”

Wednesday, February 13 – House Transportation and Infrastructure – Subcommittee on Aviation – subcommittee hearing on the impact of the government shutdown on aviation (witness list to be posted here) – 10:00 a.m., HVC-210, Capitol Visitors Center (not the usual committee room).

January 24, 2019 – Tens of thousands of members of the U.S. Coast Guard continue to go without pay while the partial government shutdown drags on, with 8,000 civilian workers missing their second paycheck Friday and 42,000 active-duty service members set to miss theirs if the shutdown moves into February.

January 22, 2019 – Buried in the back of the omnibus FY19 appropriations bill released by Senate Republicans last night was a removing taking new appropriations out of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund from the spending constraints of the Budget Control Act.

January 17, 2019 – As freight projections show a steep increase in freight movement over the next few decades, stakeholders representing inland waterway transportation said they are well-positioned to handle the growing demand but that the federal government needs to help them invest in the projects that will keep things running smoothly.

January 18, 2019 – Several Congressional committees organized themselves this week and populated their subcommittees.

January 17, 2019 – House Democrats, in yet another attempt to force members to vote on a different way to end the ongoing federal government lapse-of-appropriations shutdown, have posted online the text of a bipartisan omnibus appropriations agreement negotiated last year – while Republicans still controlled both chambers – that they plan to bring up for a vote in the House next week.

December 11, 2018 – Today, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced the full list of recipients of $1.475 billion in fiscal year 2018 funding for 91 individual grants under the Department’s BUILD surface transportation grant program (formerly known as TIGER grants).

December 6, 2018 – As arctic waters become more easily traversable for shippers and tourists alike, the U.S. does not yet have the infrastructure in place to manage its northern waterways, according to a Senate Subcommittee hearing on the topic.

POSTPONED Wednesday, December 5, 2018 – House Energy and Commerce – Subcommittee on Environment – subcommittee hearing on the 21st Century Transportation Fuels Act – Discussion Draft (bill text here) – 10:00 a.m., 2123 Rayburn POSTPONED until Tuesday, December 11 at a time TBA.

November 28, 2018 – The U.S. House of Representatives this week agreed to the Senate version of the Coast Guard reauthorization bill, the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018. The bill now heads to the President’s desk.