U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio

Holmes-Norton eyes House T&I committee top spot

The chair of the highway subcommittee of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee wants to lead the full committee now that House T&I Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., has announced he will not seek reelection in 2022.

Holmes-Norton

Eleanor Holmes-Norton, who was elected to Congress in 1991 as the delegate to the District of Columbia, said she will run for chair or ranking member (if Republicans gain control of the House) of the T&I committee for the 118th Congress. Norton is...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/holmes-norton-eyes-house-ti-committee-top-spot

Truck broker guidance, ELD data research rolled into highway bill

The Democrats’ version of the highway bill retains many of the truck-centric policies of last year’s version with two notable add-ons: guidance on truck brokers and dispatch services and a policy for using truckers’ electronic logging devices (ELDs) for government research.

The $547 billion “Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America (INVEST in America) Act,” issued on Friday, is expected to be considered before the House Transportation and Infrastructure...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-broker-guidance-eld-data-research-rolled-into-highway-bill

Democrats want look at precision scheduled railroading’s impact

A photograph of a train at a railroad crossing.

Democratic leaders with the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure want the U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO) to examine the impacts that precision scheduled railroading (PSR) has had on shippers and freight and passenger rail operations.

PSR is an operational model that all of the Class I railroads except BNSF (NYSE: BRK.B) have publicly embraced. The model seeks to streamline operations and cut costs. Proponents say PSR enables greater network efficiency, which will...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/democrats-want-look-at-precision-scheduled-railroadings-impact

House Transportation Committee chair skeptical of rail merger offers

A photograph of a Kansas City Southern train.

The chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee panned competing efforts by two Canadian railways to acquire Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU), saying the offers threaten to usher in a new round of consolidations in the rail sector.

In a Friday statement, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon, said, “Multiple railroads are now seeking to acquire KCS, and that flurry should set off alarm bells about a potential new wave of railroad mergers that stifle competition and trigger...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/house-transportation-committee-chair-skeptical-of-rail-merger-offers

Lawmaker pressures FCC to rethink proposal affecting truck platooning

A top transportation lawmaker is pressuring the Biden administration to reconsider a proposal that trucking advocates say could hinder the deployment of truck platooning and other connected-vehicle automation.

In a letter sent Thursday to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon, warned that the independent agency’s decision last year to share the 5.9 GHz frequency band with unlicensed Wi-Fi could hinder progress on...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/lawmaker-pressures-fcc-to-rethink-proposal-affecting-truck-platooning

‘Missed opportunity’ to fund truck parking in COVID relief package

A measure that would have provided $755 million in taxpayer funds over the next five years to expand truck parking capacity was offered and quickly withdrawn during negotiations over the next COVID-19 relief bill.

U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Illinois, who offered the amendment, removed it in the interest of speeding the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee’s all-day markup Wednesday of its nearly $100 billion portion of the overall $1.9 trillion COVID legislation package.

“I know we’re...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/missed-opportunity-to-fund-truck-parking-in-covid-relief-package

Lawmakers want airfreight handler to return $170 million in COVID-19 funds

Air cargo contractor Swissport USA, which has operations in 16 of the busiest U.S. airports, faces questions from lawmakers for accepting $170.4 million in federal relief funds after laying off thousands of workers.

In a July 29 letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, three committee leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives contended that the Payroll Support Program (PSP) was intended to save jobs affected by the coronavirus pandemic, “not provide a corporate bailout.”

Under the...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/lawmakers-want-airfreight-handler-to-return-170-million-in-covid-19-funds