Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg Testifies Before House Appropriations Committee

4 months ago

On Tuesday, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg testified before the House Appropriations Committee.

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Transcript

00:00:00 come to order. Welcome to our first subcommittee hearing of the fiscal year

00:00:07 25 appropriations season and my first hearing as chairman of this subcommittee.

00:00:13 Thank you. Right on cue Mike. I'm deeply honored to lead this piece of the

00:00:21 appropriations committee with potentially the most direct impact on

00:00:25 each congressional district across the United States including my own. Today we

00:00:31 welcome the testimony from the Honorable Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of the

00:00:35 Department of Transportation on the fiscal year 2025 budget. Thank you Mr.

00:00:41 Mayor for appearing before us today and for your service to this country. I know

00:00:46 I've said it to you before but as a former mayor myself I appreciate that we

00:00:51 have such a successful mayor at the helm of the DOT and I mean that. The

00:00:58 Department of Transportation is requesting 25 and a half billion dollars

00:01:01 in discretionary budget authority for fiscal year 25 coupled with the 36.8

00:01:07 billion in advanced appropriations provided by the Infrastructure

00:01:11 Investments and Jobs Act the IIJA and the nearly 81 billion from the Highway

00:01:17 Trust Fund. DOT is seeking 143 billion dollars in total resources. In total the

00:01:24 IIJA provides 184 billion in advanced appropriations from 22 to 26. Let me

00:01:31 remind you these appropriations are under the jurisdiction of this

00:01:34 subcommittee. As such we will continue to subject the IIJA appropriations to

00:01:40 strong oversight as we develop the fiscal 25 bill. Mr. Secretary I look

00:01:46 forward to working with you to prioritize our nation's vital

00:01:49 infrastructure and transportation needs in Arkansas's 3rd District and across

00:01:54 the country while safeguarding hard-working the hard-earned taxpayer

00:02:00 dollars of our citizens. I know our work on this subcommittee impacts the safety,

00:02:05 economic opportunity, and the quality of life of every American, a duty I take

00:02:10 seriously. Even as we work to rein in excessive spending let me assure you

00:02:16 that safety will remain our top priority for the subcommittee as we prepare the

00:02:21 25 bill. From the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse to the East Palestine

00:02:27 Trail derailment to the close calls happening far too often at our airports

00:02:31 you can see the importance of safe transportation systems. We will continue

00:02:37 to provide appropriate levels of support to DOT programs that ensure the safety

00:02:42 of our skies, our roads, and our railroads. I want to work with you Mr. Secretary to

00:02:49 ensure that our states and localities are getting the most bang for their buck

00:02:53 out of this

00:02:55 [no audio]

00:03:18 infusion of federal support for infrastructure. We cannot expect these

00:03:24 unprecedented levels of funding to continue in perpetuity which means the

00:03:28 grants being delivered now need to be an effective use of taxpayer dollars.

00:03:33 Burdensome 100-page applications and an immense web of new regulatory

00:03:38 requirements is not helpful to grantees trying to get shovels in the ground. I

00:03:43 also want to ensure that the impacts of these unprecedented levels of investment

00:03:48 continue to be felt by all districts around the country not just the large

00:03:53 urban areas. I recognize the mega projects that have been needed for a

00:03:58 long time in our big cities but Arkansas's 3rd District and rural areas

00:04:02 around the nation need a level playing field. I look forward to your testimony

00:04:07 today and working with you to ensure that the department can continue to

00:04:11 deliver on its mission to ensure a safe and modern transportation system. The

00:04:16 jurisdiction of this subcommittee is one of the most unique of the

00:04:19 Appropriations Committee as it impacts its impacts are seen in every single

00:04:24 congressional district. As such we have a history of bipartisanship that I look

00:04:29 forward to continuing as we begin the fiscal 25 appropriations process. I'd now

00:04:36 like to recognize my good friend and the ranking member from Illinois Mr. Quigley

00:04:42 for his opening statement. Mike. Thank you Mr. Chairman. For those who didn't

00:04:47 know we had a very strong bipartisan partnership during a time where we

00:04:51 flipped and did both chair and ranking members of the FSGG subcommittee. I look

00:04:57 forward to carrying on that tradition on the THUD subcommittee and I must

00:05:01 recognize from Rogers Arkansas to South Bend Indiana America's mayors are the

00:05:10 cradle of leadership. So Mr. Secretary welcome back. You've been a great partner

00:05:16 over the years and I appreciate your continued commitment to work with this

00:05:19 committee to strengthen our transportation networks. Overall the

00:05:24 budget request dedicates nearly 10.9 billion, 109 billion to sustain our

00:05:32 transportation networks and protect the safety of our transportation workers.

00:05:36 This investment includes hiring 2,000 additional air traffic controllers to

00:05:40 keep our skies and runways safe and efficient. 2.4 billion to expand bus and

00:05:46 rapid transit to help everyday Americans travel to work, school and health

00:05:50 appointments. And more than 3 billion to prevent collisions, improve worker safety

00:05:54 and perform signal and traffic upgrade track upgrades on our rail systems. These

00:06:00 investments combined with those made during the bipartisan infrastructure

00:06:04 investment and jobs act will ensure that whether it flies, floats or rolls

00:06:08 advancements in safety and modernization of our transportation can be made in

00:06:13 this decade. These targeted investments will help accelerate transportation

00:06:18 safety, resiliency and mobility improvements while prioritizing lengthy

00:06:23 and costly capital backlogs that propel the sophistication of America's

00:06:28 transportation networks. Yet and still emergencies and unforeseen circumstances

00:06:33 happen and this subcommittee should be prepared to help our federal partners

00:06:36 respond. Ensuring agencies such as DOT have the resources and flexibility

00:06:41 necessary to deploy and rapidly respond to accidents, near incursions or major

00:06:46 catastrophe in real time is vital. We must continue to invest in solutions to

00:06:52 create more resilient supply chain networks, workforce pipelines and

00:06:57 multi-modal reliability. Revisiting the emergence of these needs each year

00:07:03 through the annual appropriation process is critical. I look forward to working

00:07:08 with the chairman and you Mr. Secretary in getting to fiscal year 2025

00:07:12 agreement that adheres to the Fiscal Responsibility Act requirements without

00:07:17 compromising the future of America's transportation system. We look forward to

00:07:21 your testimony today and I yield back the balance of my time. I think the

00:07:26 gentleman from Illinois and he is correct, we had a terrific working

00:07:31 relationship over at Financial Services and General Government, look forward to

00:07:34 continuing that relationship here today. The overall chairman of the

00:07:39 Appropriations Committee, Mr. Cole, had intended to be here today but I think

00:07:43 everybody knows he's facing a disaster in his own district with tornadoes a

00:07:47 couple of days ago and he is there attending the matters in his district in

00:07:52 Oklahoma. Without objection his prepared remarks will be included in the record.

00:07:58 And now I'd like to recognize my good friend from the great state of

00:08:03 Connecticut and the ranking member on Appropriations, Mr. Laurel. Thank you so

00:08:08 much Mr. Chairman, Chairman Womack, Ranking Member Quigley. Thank you both

00:08:13 for holding this hearing. Congratulations to you Chairman Womack on your first

00:08:17 hearing as chair of the subcommittee and you are indeed a great friend. I want to

00:08:21 say a thank you to you Secretary Buttigieg for being here today, for all

00:08:24 that you have done to streamline and improve the travel experience throughout

00:08:28 our airports, rail systems, and other transportation modes, and for your role

00:08:32 in overseeing all the work underway across this country rebuilding American

00:08:38 infrastructure and that is thanks to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. I

00:08:43 know we all wish we were joined in this hearing by the new chair of the full

00:08:47 committee and the previous chair of this subcommittee, Chairman Cole, but as the

00:08:52 chair remarked, he's unable to be here but we pray for a swift recovery for the

00:08:58 communities across Oklahoma that are impacted by the recent tornadoes. For

00:09:04 hard-working Americans, business travel, daily commutes, hard-earned leisure

00:09:09 travel, everything in between, life in America requires safe and efficient ways

00:09:14 of connecting. Americans deserve the safest, most advanced systems in the

00:09:19 world across all forms of transportation. Our transportation

00:09:24 infrastructure is central to the health and to the well-being of all of our

00:09:29 communities. It connects everyone, urban, suburban, rural areas, to their jobs,

00:09:34 schools, grocery stores, and the care that they depend on. And the work of your

00:09:39 department, together with this subcommittee, ensures every American has

00:09:43 access to reliable, safe, and efficient transportation. As Americans travel in

00:09:49 greater numbers than ever before, we have seen our transportation

00:09:53 infrastructure really put to the test. Massive air travel disruptions,

00:09:58 catastrophic train derailments, elevated pedestrian fatality rates emphasize the

00:10:03 work to improve our transportation systems is never, never ending. And

00:10:08 together, over the past three years, through this committee's annual

00:10:12 investments and in the bipartisan infrastructure law, we have done so much

00:10:17 to repair our transportation infrastructure. But the progress must

00:10:21 continue. In the 2024 government funding package, this committee made robust

00:10:27 investments in the safety and durability of our transportation infrastructure. We

00:10:32 created and sustained tens of thousands of good-paying American jobs with

00:10:37 investments in airports, highways, transit systems, passenger rail, and in our ports.

00:10:42 We made targeted investments to improve our transportation system safety,

00:10:47 cut emissions, increase resiliency, address inequities, and fight the climate

00:10:52 crisis while generating economic opportunities for working and middle

00:10:57 class families. And we protected the bipartisan infrastructure law, ensuring

00:11:02 that the legislation's generational investments continue to complement the

00:11:08 work that your department does on an annual basis. To build on the success, the

00:11:13 president's request for DOT includes $25.7 billion in discretionary funding to

00:11:19 create safer, more equitable, and more modern transportation systems. Critically,

00:11:25 the budget calls for an additional $1.7 billion in funding for the Federal

00:11:29 Aviation Administration, which desperately needs to bolster staffing,

00:11:33 modernize its systems, to keep up with the historic rates at which Americans

00:11:38 are traveling through the skies. The budget also invests in the Federal

00:11:42 Railroad Administration for infrastructure and safety enhancements,

00:11:45 and to ensure that Amtrak is able to meet the needs and demands of the public,

00:11:51 which is increasingly looking for rail options to meet their travel needs. And

00:11:56 just as an aside, Mr. Secretary, I ride Amtrak twice a week and it's

00:12:04 always crowded. It really is, and it is a great and wonderful, safe way to

00:12:10 travel, and we thank you for that. I know you believe, like I do, that investing in

00:12:14 our transportation infrastructure is one of the best ways to supercharge the

00:12:18 American economy. We get an extraordinary return on our investment dollar when we

00:12:23 connect communities, facilitate commerce, and draw Americans closer together by

00:12:28 building modern, fast, and safe transportation systems. So it's wonderful

00:12:34 to have you here with us this morning. We thank you for all of your work. Look

00:12:37 forward to your testimony, and with that I want to say a thank you to Chairman

00:12:42 Womack and Ranking Member Quigley. And I yield back. I thank the gentlelady. Mr.

00:12:46 Secretary, this is the first hearing of the Transportation, Housing, and Urban

00:12:51 Development Subcommittee in this cycle of appropriations, and I can't think of a

00:12:56 more appropriate first witness than the Secretary of Transportation. And with

00:13:01 that, sir, the floor is yours, and we'll accept your opening statement. Well,

00:13:06 thanks very much, Chairman, and let me add to the congratulations for your

00:13:09 taking on this leadership role. We're looking forward to working with you, and

00:13:12 our whole department feels the same way. Likewise, I want to acknowledge and

00:13:16 congratulate Chairman Cole, and our thoughts are certainly with the

00:13:19 communities impacted that he's with right now. So with that, Chair, Ranking

00:13:23 Member Quigley, Ranking Member DeLauro, and all of the members of the

00:13:26 subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss President Biden's

00:13:30 fiscal year 2025 budget request for our Department of Transportation. And thank

00:13:35 you for your partnership, as we have delivered safer, stronger transportation

00:13:38 across every mode and across the United States. Roadway fatalities are at last

00:13:43 trending downward, shipping costs are down as supply chains run more smoothly,

00:13:48 and airline cancellations last year were the lowest in a decade. As you all know,

00:13:53 we also have much more to do. We are rebuilding, not just from the pandemic,

00:13:58 but from decades of disinvestment, and an enforcement environment that in our

00:14:02 view for too long privileged corporations instead of protecting

00:14:06 people. The President's budget request, totaling $146.2 billion,

00:14:11 builds on the progress that we've made, and enables us to deliver on the

00:14:15 important challenges and opportunities that remain. I'll start with our primary

00:14:19 mission across every mode, which is safety. On our roads, we have funded

00:14:24 projects in every state to improve safety for all travelers. After years of

00:14:28 heading in the wrong direction, we've now had seven consecutive quarters of

00:14:32 declining deaths on America's roadways. But this remains a national crisis,

00:14:37 taking over 40,000 lives a year, and we're requesting $72 billion to improve

00:14:43 America's roads and bridges, with an emphasis on safety and efficiency. We are

00:14:48 constantly reminded of the importance of transportation safety. The country

00:14:51 watched in shock as a cargo ship struck and destroyed the Francis Scott Key

00:14:56 Bridge in Baltimore, taking six lives and closing a vital port. We're working

00:15:00 across the Biden-Harris administration and with state, local, and private sector

00:15:04 partners to help reopen that port as quickly as possible. We also immediately

00:15:10 got to work with the state on the first steps toward rebuilding the bridge. With

00:15:14 regard to aviation, America was rightly alarmed when a door blew out of an

00:15:18 Alaska Airlines flight in January. The FAA acted swiftly to ground 737 MAX 9

00:15:24 aircraft until each plane was safe to return to the air. And the FAA is

00:15:28 significantly increasing oversight of Boeing. The agency is also investing

00:15:32 in the physical infrastructure, staffing, and technology of our national airspace

00:15:36 and airports, and requesting $26.8 billion to the FAA, which will support

00:15:40 oversight of aircraft production, accelerate the modernization of the

00:15:43 national airspace system, increase the target to hire 2,000 air traffic

00:15:48 controllers, and continue improving airports. On our rails, we're modernizing

00:15:52 infrastructure, fixing road rail crossings, and improving service in

00:15:55 places like Chicago, Moore, Oklahoma, and between New Jersey, New York, and

00:15:59 Connecticut, just to name a few. We are requesting $16.4 billion, which in

00:16:04 addition to expanding and improving rail service, will allow us to increase the

00:16:08 number of safety inspectors to 400 and add new staff to complete safety audits.

00:16:12 We recently finalized the rule for safe train crew sizes, establishing what most

00:16:17 Americans assumed was already the case, which is a minimum of two crew members

00:16:21 generally applying to large freight trains. Indeed, we're taking every step

00:16:25 that does not require an act of Congress, but we are also continuing to call on

00:16:29 Congress to pass the bipartisan Railway Safety Act that would provide much

00:16:33 needed authorities to keep passengers, workers, and communities safe. Across the

00:16:38 country, we are repairing and replacing what existed in building and modernizing

00:16:41 for the future. Last week, I was in Las Vegas for the groundbreaking of the new

00:16:46 rail line from Southern California to Las Vegas, which will, we expect, be the

00:16:51 first true high-speed rail line in service in the United States. It was a

00:16:54 very good day for the millions of Americans who will ride that train every

00:16:58 year, for our truck drivers and supply chains that will benefit from less

00:17:01 congested highways, for everyone across the country who will live in a climate

00:17:04 with 800 million fewer pounds of carbon pollution annually, but it is more than

00:17:09 each of those separate benefits. It's a celebration of the idea that America can

00:17:12 still build massive, forward-looking engineering marvels that make people's

00:17:16 lives better, with the potential of many more to come. One project is creating

00:17:21 good union jobs for 1,000 men and women who will maintain and operate the train

00:17:25 line, plus another 10,000 good union construction jobs to build it. And

00:17:29 everywhere I go, I meet workers already benefiting from these jobs. I think of

00:17:33 workers like a young veteran I met in Washington State, who reminded me of so

00:17:37 many people that I got to know in uniform, now facing the challenges of

00:17:40 building a civilian life. He talked about what it was like coming off active duty

00:17:44 as a Marine, how hard it was to get on his feet as a civilian, and then he said,

00:17:48 quote, "I came across this union, the amount of training I got, the amount of work

00:17:52 stability, the level I have to conduct myself at, the purpose I have, prevented

00:17:56 me from becoming a statistic." End quote. And now he is the first person in his

00:18:00 family to own a house. Everywhere we're meeting people who remind us what it

00:18:04 means to have these kinds of jobs. These benefits are being multiplied across

00:18:07 tens of thousands of projects, including construction workers building

00:18:11 livelihoods as they modernize America's infrastructure, helping us build stronger

00:18:15 supply chains, cleaner air, and safer, more affordable ways for every American

00:18:19 to get where they go, where they need to go. We're making good progress, but

00:18:23 there's more to do, and we look forward to working with this committee to

00:18:26 continue delivering for every community in the country. Thanks very much, and I

00:18:30 look forward to our discussion. Thank you, sir. We'll now begin the Q&A portion of

00:18:35 this hearing. Let me remind everybody, strict adherence to the five-minute rule

00:18:39 should be noted that sometime in the next hour and 10 or 15 minutes, we'll

00:18:44 have votes called. We will make a game time decision at that time about whether

00:18:50 we break for votes and come back. The Secretary has been very generous with

00:18:54 his time, and we'll have to kind of sort out where we are in the rounds before we

00:19:00 determine that, and some of that will be influenced by how many members are

00:19:03 expecting to return for potentially a second round of questions. So I'll

00:19:08 recognize myself first, and not surprisingly, we're going to talk a

00:19:11 little bit about the Baltimore Bridge, Mr. Secretary. A couple weeks ago, I had a

00:19:15 chance to sit down with my friend Governor Wes Moore of Maryland to

00:19:19 express my support to Maryland in its recovery efforts after the Baltimore

00:19:25 Bridge collapse. Chairman Cole and I and other members of this subcommittee and

00:19:29 others will get to see those efforts firsthand this coming Thursday when we

00:19:34 take a trip there. I want to take this opportunity to send my condolences, and I

00:19:40 speak on behalf of this entire subcommittee, in expressing our

00:19:44 condolences to the families of the workers who perished in the line of duty,

00:19:48 and convey my sincere appreciation to the first responders who kept this event

00:19:53 from being a bigger tragedy, and to the men and women who are working at night

00:19:57 and day to clear the wreckage and reopen the Port of Baltimore. I understand the

00:20:01 goal is to restore full service to the port by the end of May. I was pleased to

00:20:06 see that more temporary channels have opened recently and ahead of schedule to

00:20:10 allow bigger ships to leave and enter the port. Along those lines, Mr. Secretary,

00:20:14 give us an update on the status of the full reopening of the port, what the

00:20:19 impact on the economy and supply chain has been, and what your department has

00:20:24 done to help the truckers, the shippers, and other industries affected by its

00:20:28 closure. Thank you, and thank you for your and this committee's attention to to that

00:20:36 situation, and certainly was glad to hear that you and other members of the

00:20:39 subcommittee will be visiting, will participate in that visit as well as

00:20:43 Governor Moore hosts you. The Port of Baltimore is essential to the regional

00:20:47 economy and it plays an important role in the national supply chain as well,

00:20:51 especially given its specialization in the transit of vehicles. It's, and then

00:20:57 the bridge itself, which provides such a vital connection for people and goods,

00:21:02 obviously missing that has a substantial impact, there are about 30,000 vehicles

00:21:07 crossing that bridge on a daily basis. We got to work right away as soon as we

00:21:12 got those calls in the middle of the night and have been working with

00:21:15 Maryland throughout to try to help them get back to normal. That's included the

00:21:19 immediate availability of 60 million dollars in quick-release

00:21:23 emergency relief funds for the Maryland DOT. We view that as a down payment on

00:21:28 what we know will be the substantial cost of building a new bridge. With

00:21:33 regard to the opening of the channel, I can tell you that while that limited

00:21:38 access deep draft channel was open, that allowed for 19 total transit, 10

00:21:43 outbound ships, some vessels were effectively stuck there because of the

00:21:47 wreckage, as well as nine inbound and made it possible for more of the workers

00:21:50 in that port to be able to do what they do best. The Army Corps of Engineers is

00:21:57 projecting that they are on track, as I understand it, for that May opening

00:22:02 timeline of the full channel. That really is necessary even that 38-foot

00:22:07 channel is not enough to accommodate the largest vessels and get the port and the

00:22:11 workers who count on it back to normal. Briefly, I would just also note that

00:22:16 through our port infrastructure development program, we were able to make

00:22:18 funds available for paving of a cargo lay down area at a facility called

00:22:23 Trade Point, which is one of the few parts of the port that is outside and

00:22:27 not inside of the channel that was obstructed by the wreckage of the bridge.

00:22:30 My understanding is that that is already now helping to move some cargo. I

00:22:36 would note that we continue to be in regular contact both on the supply chain

00:22:41 side through our new multimodal freight office and our maritime administration,

00:22:44 and then on the bridge rebuilding side through our Federal Highway

00:22:47 Administration and have conveyed our department's echo of the President's

00:22:52 commitment that Baltimore and Maryland will have everything that they need on

00:22:55 the federal side. We'll have some other questions that we'll submit for the

00:22:59 record on the Baltimore Bridge, and I'm sure they will follow our visit up there

00:23:03 on Thursday. Real quickly, in my last minute, the Fiscal '24 Appropriations Act

00:23:09 included $12 million to start the recapitalization of the National Defense

00:23:13 Reserve fleet, which is a project designed to help us in the Navy meet

00:23:19 specifications and build that design of an American shipyard. Can you give us an

00:23:25 update on the status of this project and the timeline to get a contract awarded

00:23:29 in these remaining 45 seconds? I'll do my best to be brief, and knowing that you

00:23:35 will have our Marriott administrator before you soon, I'll just note that we

00:23:39 take great pride in helping to fulfill that important defense mission with the

00:23:42 ready reserve fleet and are working to recapitalize it using the resources that

00:23:47 were provided, while candidly noting that it has been a challenge to

00:23:51 recapitalize the vessels as quickly as they are going out of date. But my

00:23:56 understanding is that we are on track to proceed with that and we'll be happy to

00:24:00 invite the Maritime Administrator to provide a more fulsome update when

00:24:03 there's the opportunity later today. Thank you. Mr. Quigley. Thanks, Chairman. I

00:24:07 want to associate myself with the remarks the Chairman made about the

00:24:11 tragedy in Baltimore and the families who lost loved ones there, but I think we

00:24:18 need to have an honest discussion here about the Emergency Relief Fund. Going

00:24:24 into this, there was a significant backlog and recognizing that disasters

00:24:29 like this can and do happen, but the severity, the number and severity of

00:24:35 natural disasters as well, wearing on our resources is significant.

00:24:41 So we need to have this discussion because there's not enough in that fund

00:24:46 and we can argue, "Oh, we want to cut spending." Well, disasters happen. They

00:24:50 disproportionately impact one area that simply can't handle this, but they do

00:24:55 impact the country. So if you could give us, Secretary, a deeper understanding of

00:25:01 the status of the Emergency Relief Fund, how you envision a supplemental, at least

00:25:07 addressing this Baltimore disaster, but perhaps also the fact that we have a

00:25:13 backlog and that we need to recognize that that spigot, that fund, has to be

00:25:18 larger every year, just to be honest with ourselves, that it needs more money.

00:25:23 Thank you for the question and for your attention to the Emergency Relief

00:25:27 Program, which we know is so important anytime there is an incident affecting

00:25:32 transportation like the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse. For perspective in

00:25:37 terms of the proportions that are in play, in May of 2023, FHWA provided $749

00:25:43 million in ER program funds to help 39 states, District of Columbia and

00:25:48 Puerto Rico, make repairs for roads and bridges that had been damaged by storms,

00:25:52 floods, wildfires, and other events. In January 2024, Federal Highways provided

00:25:57 $729 million in ER program funds to help 34 states, as well as DC, the US Virgin

00:26:03 Islands, and Puerto Rico. The last update I got showed $950 million available in

00:26:10 that fund, but we're tracking approximately $2 billion of unmet need

00:26:15 and that is not including the projected cost of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Now

00:26:19 to be clear, that does not necessarily mean that we would have $2 billion of

00:26:23 requests ready to go looking for reimbursement in a single year. What is

00:26:27 that $2 billion? So that's effectively a pipeline that will then be

00:26:31 reimbursed as the states are ready and do their spending. We've had some cases

00:26:35 where, just because of the length of time it takes to do reconstruction, checks may

00:26:40 be going out five or even more years after the original incident, just through

00:26:44 the flow of the project. But what we do see is there is a mismatch between the

00:26:50 $950 million and the $2 billion plus and counting that we see by way of need. And

00:26:56 so we would welcome support on ways to make sure that that fund is adequately

00:27:00 topped up, knowing that severe weather is becoming more severe and more

00:27:05 frequent, not less, and that even though we are separately working through

00:27:09 programs like PROTECT to make our infrastructure more resilient in the

00:27:13 first place against the kinds of threats that weather, natural disasters, and

00:27:17 other effects can cause, we still are facing an uphill struggle and are going

00:27:22 to need to do everything we can to be ready on the back end to respond when

00:27:25 disaster strikes. So if we equate this as we often do with a household, it's like

00:27:34 operating without insurance in a sense, and disasters do happen. What is the

00:27:40 probable need for a supplemental? And if we're going to go to that expense, what

00:27:46 would it take to fill that fund with a reasonable amount of money, an endowment

00:27:51 in a sense, to not have to have a wanting a wait for a supplemental when

00:27:59 the next disaster takes place? Well I'd certainly concur that it would be

00:28:03 optimal to know that the fund is being refreshed at a rate that keeps up with

00:28:07 the needs that have come to it. Again, if we're using recent years as an index, we

00:28:12 would see the last two years disbursements would have been between

00:28:15 700 and 800 million, but we know there is even more, and you would want, given the

00:28:20 Francis Scott Key Bridge, and you would want some kind of cushion there. So while

00:28:24 we have not proposed a specific supplemental at this time, that gives you

00:28:28 a sense of the proportion that we think would be needed in order to make sure

00:28:32 the ER fund was at a healthy level, and of course would also spare us needing to

00:28:36 go to supplementals in the future if we knew that there were adequate balances

00:28:39 for the unmet need that was coming in. No, again, and those details are matters, so

00:28:44 again, making sure the committee knows for the future, what would it take to get

00:28:48 the fund at a healthy level to address the needs as they hit, and what would be

00:28:54 a normal, appropriate amount to fund that spigot every year? Thank you. Thank you.

00:29:00 So, sorry, you know, being authorized at a hundred million a year and then

00:29:04 periodically being supplemented by Congress, we can work with that,

00:29:08 but a cushion that's more in the line of the levels that we've found ourselves

00:29:12 dispersing in recent years would help us to stay ahead of that and reduce the

00:29:16 need for supplementals or additional work outside of the regular budget cycle.

00:29:20 Sheriff Rutherford. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Secretary, great to see you

00:29:25 again, and thank you for being here this morning. One of the things that I want to

00:29:30 bring up is this issue of vehicle technology and cybersecurity, you know,

00:29:35 these new connective vehicles, as they're called, particularly in light of the fact

00:29:40 that China has emerged now as the largest exporter of vehicles globally,

00:29:45 including here in the United States, and Mr. Secretary, I have to tell you, I'm

00:29:50 concerned about the potential security risk of these connective vehicles built

00:29:55 by the Chinese automakers and now operating in the United States, because

00:30:00 through their massive subsidies and workforce practices, as I said, they've

00:30:07 become the largest exporter. They're here, and these vehicles literally have the

00:30:13 capability of being manipulated and manipulating the vehicle's life and safety

00:30:21 systems, collect and transmit data, and implement surveillance capabilities

00:30:28 embedded within the vehicle's technology. Now, I know the Select Committee on the

00:30:37 Chinese Communist Party has sent a letter to the Department of Commerce and

00:30:42 the Department of Defense issuing those concerns about these vehicles. Can

00:30:47 you talk a little bit about what DOT, maybe NHTSA, whoever can really help here

00:30:55 in America ensure, like the Chinese are doing, if you - any vehicle

00:31:02 data collected in China has to be stored locally. Are we requiring anything like

00:31:08 that? Thank you for the question. It touches on something we take very

00:31:12 seriously, which is the safety implications of vehicle cybersecurity

00:31:16 issues. The reality is that vehicles are becoming more and more complex and

00:31:23 more and more software intensive each passing year. There's already probably

00:31:28 been more computerization on board than many consumers were aware of, but

00:31:31 that is only increasing. NHTSA was involved in establishing a body called

00:31:38 the Auto ISAC, an industry data sharing partnership, which is committed to

00:31:42 quickly identifying and responding to cybersecurity risks and threats in the

00:31:46 nation's vehicle fleet. NHTSA has refreshed its own updated cybersecurity

00:31:52 best practices, which we also believe is a contribution to this issue, working

00:31:58 with a number of stakeholders and also updating a cybersecurity incident

00:32:01 response plan, which makes more clear the agency's responsibilities in the event

00:32:06 of a cyber attack or any issue that would involve safety critical systems

00:32:11 there. I think that going forward we need to continue assessing how best to

00:32:16 protect consumers without, of course, hindering the technological

00:32:20 developments that can make vehicles safer, more convenient. There's a lot of

00:32:25 consumer demand for this. Did they say anything about

00:32:30 collecting data here locally, keep it in America as opposed to

00:32:35 going back to the CCP? I'm not aware of restrictions in terms of how data is

00:32:41 stored. Of course, most of our international automakers are not Chinese

00:32:46 automakers, but you also know how many different components are finding their

00:32:50 way into any vehicle regardless of the OEM. So it's certainly an area that we'd

00:32:55 welcome more dialogue on and be eager to work on. Okay, thank you. I'd like to

00:33:01 flip over to the EV standards and really talk about the CAFE standards that

00:33:09 have recently been announced that everyone is, I don't want to say, well, I

00:33:17 might say up in arms about because nowhere in law did Congress authorize

00:33:23 DOT to set fuel economy standards that effectively mandate EVs while at the

00:33:29 same time will force the internal combustion engine out of the market. In

00:33:33 fact, Mr. Secretary, federal statute expressly prohibits NHTSA from

00:33:38 considering the fuel economy of EVs when determining maximum feasible CAFE

00:33:44 standards for passenger cars and trucks. Now, can you give me a little update on

00:33:50 the CAFE standards? What are they finally going to boil down to?

00:33:55 And how does DOT plan to implement such a massive move to EVs without

00:34:05 consumer buy-in really because as we've all seen, so few really want to

00:34:12 buy them at this point. Well, I do think it's important to note that every year

00:34:16 more Americans choose EVs than the year before and very few Americans who choose

00:34:20 an EV decide to go back. But I do want to agree and note that as you correctly

00:34:25 stated, NHTSA does not take EVs into account when it's formulating CAFE

00:34:30 standards. They're about the quality of an internal combustion engine. The rule

00:34:36 that was proposed would require a fleet-wide average of 58 miles per gallon

00:34:41 by 2032. I know that seems aggressive, but frankly every CAFE... To say the least.

00:34:46 Yeah, but that's exactly what they said when we outrageously suggested that you

00:34:49 could get 20 miles a gallon back in the 80s or 90s. So every time we raise the

00:34:54 bar, we find that the industry is able to meet it and it's remarkable the

00:34:58 innovation that goes on. But ultimately we believe these are about not just

00:35:02 cleaner air but saving Americans money by having more efficient gas engines and

00:35:06 we know that, you know, these gas cars are going to be on the road a long time even

00:35:10 as the EV market share grows, which is part of why we continue to think it's

00:35:13 important to meet our statutory responsibility with the CAFE standards.

00:35:16 Thank You, Mr. Speaker. I yield back, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Watson-Coleman. Thank You,

00:35:24 Mr. Chairman. Congratulations to you. I look forward to working with you. It's

00:35:27 good to see you, Mr. Secretary. It's always good to see you. Thank you for your visit

00:35:33 to New Jersey. Let's make it happen again. You know, through the funding from both

00:35:38 the bipartisan infrastructure and the budget, your department has been able to

00:35:43 provide really good union jobs to many people in this country, uplifting our

00:35:50 working-class families. While lifting them up is vitally important, it's also

00:35:55 very important that we are inclusive and for those communities which have been

00:36:00 marginalized, particularly black and brown, we want to make sure that they are

00:36:05 reaping the benefit of this wonderful work under this administration. Can you

00:36:12 please discuss the Department of Transportation's ongoing efforts to

00:36:16 ensure that members of historically marginalized communities, again,

00:36:20 especially black and brown and even women in non-traditional jobs, are being

00:36:24 included in the efforts to uplift America's working class? Thank you.

00:36:30 This continues to be a very important consideration for us and as we advance

00:36:35 initiatives like the President's Justice 40 commitment, always of course being

00:36:39 mindful of the statutory authority behind it, we believe we continue to have

00:36:44 extraordinary opportunities to lift up communities that have been passed over

00:36:49 or in some cases even harmed by the transportation decisions of past

00:36:53 generations. And we know that when we do that, nobody is made worse off and a lot

00:36:58 of people are better off. In terms of how we can best do that, that has included

00:37:02 measures like technical assistance to help communities that aren't wealthy

00:37:06 enough to have the sometimes the most well-heeled federal relations

00:37:11 organizations, for example, still be able to compete and win in our discretionary

00:37:16 grant processes. It means, to the extent permitted by statute, considering the

00:37:21 areas of persistent poverty or other factors that have placed an area at a

00:37:26 disadvantage and generally ensuring that all community voices are heard in the

00:37:32 proposals for projects that are coming forward. And I really believe that

00:37:36 we are turning a corner as a country in terms of how we make sure that federal

00:37:40 dollars benefit everybody and not just the few or the well-off. Thank you, Mr.

00:37:44 Secretary. How is the Department measuring the success of those efforts?

00:37:49 Well, this is, first of all, again I would point to Justice 40 because that has set

00:37:55 a clear goal for us as an administration and that is being tracked not just in

00:38:01 our department but on a government-wide basis. The White House has updated its

00:38:07 covered program list and 40 of those programs are in the USDOT alone and

00:38:14 they're subject to a level of data gathering that can help us understand

00:38:19 the impacts of the choices that we're making. We're also making sure that we

00:38:24 just track the level of projects that are moving through the different stages

00:38:29 to make sure that those are in lower capacity or lower wealth communities are

00:38:32 not systematically encountering more issues. We know that can happen just

00:38:36 because they have sometimes fewer resources, less experience working with

00:38:40 federal programs. And we're actively engaging those who don't succeed in some

00:38:44 of our applications through debriefs knowing that often it's on a third or a

00:38:48 second or third attempt that a community, especially a low-income community, can

00:38:53 successfully get these kinds of federal funds. So what is it that you all are

00:38:57 doing to be able to demonstrate whether or not you're being successful in

00:39:02 accomplishing what I believe is your noble and genuine goal? My issue has

00:39:08 always been working in this field myself years ago that we put in these good

00:39:13 faith efforts but we missed the mark when it comes time to actually showing

00:39:19 where the dollars went, where the contracts went. So how are we measuring

00:39:24 that, sir? What is your department doing to collect that information and is it

00:39:29 available for us to peruse? So I certainly agree that often we see the

00:39:35 phrase good faith effort used but we don't always see the results. So we've

00:39:39 held ourselves to a higher standard beginning with the dollars that we have

00:39:43 the most visibility and control over which is of course our direct

00:39:46 contracting dollars. There we set a 20% goal. We're transparent about how we're

00:39:51 doing on that and I'm pleased to report we've exceeded that goal and we're

00:39:53 thinking about how to take it higher in terms of the proportion of grant grants

00:39:57 that go to SDBs, small and disadvantaged businesses. We're likewise encouraging

00:40:01 our project sponsors who of course handle the bulk of the money, states,

00:40:05 cities, airport authorities, transit agencies to do the same and our recently

00:40:10 revised DBE and ACDBE role, rules, excuse me, contains provisions to make sure we

00:40:16 have good data going forward too. The balance we're trying to strike of course

00:40:20 is we don't want to make it harder for those very same businesses with overly

00:40:23 burdensome data reporting requirements but we do want to make sure we have and

00:40:26 can publish enough data to really see how we're doing in that regard. We'd be

00:40:31 happy to share with your office more granular numbers especially about the

00:40:34 progress we've made in our own contracting. Thank you. Thank you Mr.

00:40:38 Chairman. Thank you Mr. Secretary. Mr. Gonzales. Thank you Chairman. Thank you

00:40:42 Secretary. Texas has the greatest increase in population than any other

00:40:47 state in the country and I was a little shocked to learn that the chairman of

00:40:52 TxDOT hasn't had an opportunity to to meet you and have a conversation with

00:40:57 you. Would you be willing to get on a call with myself, your team, and the

00:41:01 chairman of TxDOT, an introductory call? Sure I'd be happy to. Typically

00:41:05 engage with leaders of state DOTs in the context of AASHTO but if there's a more

00:41:11 specific issue we can work or you just like to arrange an introduction I'd be

00:41:14 happy to do that. Fantastic. Thank you for that. Mr. Secretary, San Antonio, Texas is

00:41:18 home to one of the largest military populations in the nation. As a 20-year

00:41:23 Navy veteran it is critical, I know that it is critical, that we equip our

00:41:27 military personnel with the tools they need to succeed. One of those tools is

00:41:31 travel and we have yet to see a direct flight added to the DCA to San Antonio.

00:41:36 There are a significant number of personnel that travel back and forth

00:41:39 from San Antonio to our nation's capital. It is critical that we have that we make

00:41:43 this as painless as possible for our men and women in uniform. Currently there are

00:41:47 discussions about adding a direct flight between San Antonio and DCA. I'm

00:41:51 in full support of that. My question for you is do you believe it is important

00:41:56 for our military men and women to have direct access to our nation's capital?

00:41:59 Well having traveled on orders myself I certainly recognize and appreciate the

00:42:04 importance of good air travel and other travel options for our military members.

00:42:08 Excellent. My next question is my district is massive. It's larger than the

00:42:13 state of Pennsylvania. I have 29 counties. 27 of those counties are rural.

00:42:18 Livestock plays a very important role in our economy. For years livestock has been

00:42:23 relied on has relied on an exemption to the electronic logging device, ELD rule.

00:42:29 Without these exemptions for livestock carriers there is a risk of animals

00:42:34 being left without proper grazing accommodations or becoming subject to

00:42:40 other health risks. Mr. Secretary do you have any do you have any plans to grant

00:42:45 an exception to livestock haulers for the ELD rules in fiscal year 2025?

00:42:51 Certainly I'm aware of the unique issues that livestock haulers face when you

00:42:57 have a living cargo. It's a little bit different than than boxes and inanimate

00:43:02 objects and I think that's contemplated in the practices of FMCSA. I'm not aware

00:43:07 of any change to the current practice that is forthcoming in terms of some of

00:43:11 the flexibilities. Of course what we're trying to do is balance the importance

00:43:14 of livestock with the importance of safety and those ELDs are there for

00:43:18 safety reasons but we continually seek to strike the right balance to be

00:43:22 reasonable in our flexibilities and yet demonstrate our commitment to the life

00:43:27 safety issues that are implicated in any of our regulations with FMCSA.

00:43:31 Excellent. I also represent a large part of the Texas-Mexico border. Nearly half

00:43:36 of the overall Texas-Mexico border and trade and commerce is a big part of

00:43:40 that. You know big function of trade and commerce is the infrastructure that

00:43:44 builds out to that and the level of different roads and I'd ask that you

00:43:47 take a look at that as we as we're reviewing you know updating USMCA and

00:43:52 some of these other trade partnerships. It's so critical that we have the

00:43:55 infrastructure built out right as we near shore from other places not only

00:44:00 near shore to America but also North America. I think it's critical that we

00:44:04 we look to you know our partners to the south and how do we have this

00:44:07 infrastructure once again built out. We can't just turn a switch off and turn it

00:44:11 on without that investment in there so I look forward to working with you and

00:44:14 your team on on these projects and others and thank you once again for

00:44:18 coming before the committee and I look forward to that call. Mr. Chairman I yield back.

00:44:21 Thank you Tony. Thank you very much. Ms. Torres. Thank you chairman and I also

00:44:25 want to congratulate you on your new position. I hope that you are kind to us

00:44:30 when it comes to community projects. You started by getting your name right. Yes, thank you.

00:44:38 Secretary it's really great to see you again and I really look forward to

00:44:44 hosting you in my district when the Brightline project finishes and I hope

00:44:50 that you and I and my colleague here can work together to ensure that you know we

00:44:59 move this project as fast as a train will travel. So you know on time, on

00:45:05 budget, all of that. As you know I represent SoCal's inland Empire. You

00:45:12 visited my district a couple of years ago and we were fortunate to receive a

00:45:18 15 million dollar award for a pedestrian bridge that was so desperately needed. We

00:45:25 are the suburbs of workers that work in Los Angeles and you know they travel to

00:45:32 40, 50, 60 miles one way to work. I represent a freight corridor so anything

00:45:40 that happens at the Port of LA and Long Beach impact my district. Alameda

00:45:46 corridor runs and splits my district in half so you can imagine the needs that

00:45:51 we have as you have seen them yourself. In fiscal year 23 funding package I

00:46:00 secured a transit oriented development pilot program with over 13 million

00:46:05 dollars of funding. It's a pilot program transit oriented development is

00:46:10 important as you know for bringing transit and affordable housing together

00:46:15 which is what we desperately need in the inland Empire. Can you provide us an

00:46:20 update on the department's transit oriented development pilot program and

00:46:24 have you worked with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to ensure

00:46:29 that we are coordinating the the goal of this pilot program? Thank you and the

00:46:35 short answer on working with HUD is yes. I've spoken with both Acting

00:46:42 Secretary Todman and before that Secretary Fudge about this because we

00:46:46 recognize the relationship between housing affordability and

00:46:49 transportation options. Specifically with regard to the program just recently in

00:46:55 fact earlier this month FTA announced 17.6 million in grants going to 20

00:47:01 communities in 16 states to support equitable transit oriented development

00:47:06 and the goal is to again try to integrate our thinking about the what

00:47:11 are the two biggest costs for most households taking together housing and

00:47:15 transportation. The overall funding for that program is 68.9 million dollars

00:47:21 provided by the IIJA which is a substantial increase over the prior five

00:47:26 years. I would also note that we have credit programs in the Build America

00:47:31 Bureau which can also be used to support transit oriented development. We hope to

00:47:35 be able to make an announcement in the coming days about a project that will go

00:47:39 forward based on that. So we certainly believe in the importance of transit

00:47:44 solutions to help with housing affordability and welcome the

00:47:46 opportunity to continue working to bring that to your constituents. Thank you.

00:47:49 Thank you so much. This pilot program was so successful that I look forward to

00:47:54 working with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to put it into law to

00:47:58 ensure that we continue to support. By the way, the 16 states that received this

00:48:05 funding and communities across those 16 states, none of them were from SoCal's

00:48:11 Inland Empire. We didn't apply and we didn't apply because again what you

00:48:16 talked about in your opening statement, the need for assistance in filling out

00:48:23 these lengthy applications. I can't stress to you how much we need to ensure

00:48:31 that we simplify the processes, that we simplify the reporting options that we

00:48:39 have currently available for our communities because they just, it is

00:48:44 not sustainable for smaller cities like the ones that I represent. I also want to

00:48:49 ask if you have a status on another program that we funded and that's the

00:48:56 Regional Infrastructure Accelerator, a program that was created for the

00:49:03 development of regional projects to get cities to work together.

00:49:09 Thank you, yes. That's also part of the Build America Bureau that I mentioned

00:49:13 earlier that that program accelerates project delivery and helps clear

00:49:17 barriers. In October we were able to announce another step forward, thereby

00:49:22 expanding the RAA program to 24 accelerators receiving 24 million

00:49:27 dollars in new funding and we look forward to continuing to develop that

00:49:30 program. Also with regard to your earlier note, I appreciate the opportunity to

00:49:34 mention our belief in the Thriving Communities Program and how that has

00:49:38 helped link many of these communities up to support for navigating those

00:49:41 sometimes challenging federal processes. Mayors get things done and with that I

00:49:46 yield back. Amen. Thank you. Mr. Valadiello. Thank you,

00:49:49 Chair. Thank you, Secretary, for your time today. I really appreciate you taking

00:49:52 some time to be with us today. Mr. Secretary, the state of California has

00:49:56 adopted a regulation targeting emissions of locomotives and they are seeking

00:49:59 authorization from EPA to begin enforcing that regulation. The

00:50:03 regulation requires that railroads operating in California must quickly

00:50:07 begin adopting zero emission technology for locomotives, technology that is

00:50:12 currently not commercially available. The EPA authorizes, if the EPA authorizes

00:50:17 California's regulation, supply chains across the country would be in danger due

00:50:21 to the operational and financial restraints placed on the railroads. For

00:50:25 that reason, numerous groups representing manufacturers, businesses, farmers,

00:50:28 ranchers weighed in, with the EPA expressing significant concerns. One of

00:50:32 the reasons why I bring this up is 65% of the national locomotive fleet touches

00:50:37 California. We're obviously 40 million people. We have major ports all along the

00:50:42 coast, moving products. I think 167 million tons of freight that were moved

00:50:49 by rail in California in 2021. It employs thousands of people. It's huge for our

00:50:54 economy. Where do you stand on this? How do you plan to move forward on

00:50:59 this? Hopefully some common sense will prevail here. So when it comes to

00:51:04 railroad regulation, our authorities mostly relate to the physical safety and

00:51:09 safe operation of locomotives and railroads and are in that sense neutral

00:51:17 to forms of propulsion or air pollution issues that might be the jurisdiction of

00:51:21 the EPA. I would have to refer you to the EPA for anything more on their rule. I'm

00:51:26 not as familiar with it. Again, given that our authorities typically have more to

00:51:30 do with physical safety. I understand that it is the EPA that's going to have this position, but

00:51:33 you're the one that's going to be left holding the bag when, again, it's controlling or

00:51:39 having an impact on not just California citizens, across the country. If 65% of

00:51:44 the locomotives in the country are touching California and are being

00:51:47 delayed because of having either changed engines or completely removed engines

00:51:52 off the fleet, it's going to have an impact and you're going to be the one to

00:51:56 blame because when they think locomotives, they don't think EPA.

00:51:59 They're thinking Secretary of Transportation. I mean our experience in

00:52:03 this regard probably is mostly more in the realm of the CAFE rule that I was

00:52:07 discussing with Mr. Rutherford. Certainly corporations tend to resist

00:52:11 regulations to have cleaner air. Our job is to try to make sure that we strike a

00:52:16 reasonable balance between what's feasible and what's going to lead to

00:52:19 fewer harms from pollution. Certainly we're hopeful that our supply

00:52:23 chains can become both more efficient and greener at the same time. But again, I

00:52:28 say that without professing to have more knowledge than I do about the pending

00:52:33 EPA rule or California rule. So 1.6 billion tons of goods

00:52:37 were moved nationwide and the EPA's own numbers, only 2% was from

00:52:45 locomotives of all the greenhouse gas emissions. So we're

00:52:52 talking about a very small amount. I mean you can move a huge amount of goods with

00:52:56 very little fuel, but they play such a vital role. Over the last

00:53:01 few years, and I know your office was really helpful on this, but we struggled

00:53:05 a lot with moving goods. We had cattle all across California were running out of

00:53:08 feed mills because we move in so many goods from Canada and from the Midwest

00:53:11 to feed animals. But there was even a point in time where we were on the verge

00:53:14 of running out of cement at our concrete plants to stop construction in our major

00:53:19 areas. I mean these are things that have a huge impact on housing prices, food,

00:53:24 every other item that is on a storefront. And when you look at greenhouse gas

00:53:30 emissions, locomotives are such a small part of it. But when you look at the

00:53:34 overall part of what they play in moving goods across the country, this is a huge

00:53:39 issue for us. And we have to take this with, we really do have to pay some

00:53:44 attention to it. And shifting just a little bit, you were in Vegas the other day for

00:53:48 the high-speed rail. One comment that you made that stood out to me, because high

00:53:53 speed rail in California they broke around in 2015, was that this was going

00:53:57 to be the first true high-speed rail. What do you mean by that? And why is

00:54:01 California ten years into this project, construction already started, why is Las

00:54:05 Vegas is going to be done before ours? Well Las Vegas is, the Las Vegas to Rancho

00:54:10 Cucamonga project follows a unique right-of-way, the bulk of which is

00:54:15 actually basically shooting down the middle of the median of I-15. It's part of

00:54:21 how they were able to establish the project timelines that they were. So my

00:54:25 remark, I should to be very specific, it is not the first true high-speed rail to

00:54:29 break ground. What I mean by that is it will, we project, be the first high-speed

00:54:34 rail to be in service in terms of revenue rise. Their goal is to be in

00:54:38 operation by 2028. They've got an eye on the Olympics and so we're excited that

00:54:43 that would be happening sooner. The North-South project, which we also believe

00:54:48 in, are investing in, but recognize has a much more complex right-of-way picture, is

00:54:52 on a longer timeline than the Brightline West project. All right, thank you and I

00:54:56 yield back. Now let's have a real Pete to Pete conversation. Mr. Aguilar. Thank you,

00:55:02 thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to your leadership and your

00:55:06 tenure in this committee. I've indicated to you privately I want you to be

00:55:09 successful. Whether that means you want me to be for you or against you, I will

00:55:13 do whatever is best for you. Secretary Buttigieg, good to see you again. As

00:55:21 former Mayor Torres mentioned, it was good to be in your company at that

00:55:25 Brightline event and I want to thank Mr. Valadao for the segue in this question

00:55:31 that I have. The California delegation is incredibly excited to play a role in

00:55:35 bringing the Olympic and Paralympic Games to Southern California in 2028. The

00:55:41 ELA Olympic Organizing Committee is already fully engaged in the planning

00:55:44 process. Historically, the federal government has provided significant

00:55:48 resources to support and ensure the safety and success of the Olympic and

00:55:52 Paralympic Games. Just thinking ahead about the department and their

00:55:58 preparations for LA-28 Olympic transportation needs, how are we, how are

00:56:05 you thinking through that, realizing that this is always difficult, these are not

00:56:09 annual things, but clearly this is a significant event. It was equal to seven

00:56:15 Super Bowls over a short period of time and the significant challenges that we

00:56:21 have. How are you guiding the department and thinking about the LA-28 Olympics?

00:56:25 Well, thank you for the question and as you note, the Olympic Games are just a

00:56:30 massive undertaking that requires a lot of forward thinking about how to move

00:56:34 people around efficiently and safely. DOTB, in particular our Federal Transit

00:56:38 Administration, have been working with the Olympic Organizing Committee, LA-28,

00:56:42 since early 2023. I just had a conversation the other day, most recently,

00:56:47 with that committee myself and I should note there's an intergovernmental

00:56:52 working group that's been set up by the White House to try to make sure that

00:56:55 transportation security and other needs faced by the organizers are well

00:57:00 coordinated on the federal side. We've had DOT staff tour the expected venues,

00:57:05 housing, and transportation projects recently and are committed to working

00:57:10 with the LA region to make these the best Olympic and Paralympic Games in

00:57:13 American history. A couple things of note, they have declared their intention to

00:57:16 expand transit in the region to meet the needs for these games, so they are

00:57:21 establishing a games bus route network to provide the ability to reach relevant

00:57:26 destinations and hubs. There's also the supplemental bus system or SBS concept.

00:57:31 We'll continue to work with LA to address the challenges that come with

00:57:36 that, basically mobilizing vehicles borrowed from other jurisdictions, trying

00:57:40 to help make sure they can navigate funding, availability of vehicles,

00:57:44 drivers, and mechanics, and just the logistics of borrowing buses from other

00:57:47 transit operators in other jurisdictions. I'd also note there are plans to

00:57:51 establish mobility hubs that will create inclusivity for all of the suburbs and

00:57:56 the outlying communities that are going to play a very important role in the

00:58:00 Games, and we're pleased to see that the GM of LA Metro has been working hard to

00:58:05 try to turn LA's resources to work for what we think could be a chance to

00:58:11 really showcase what 21st century transportation can look like under the

00:58:16 kind of pressure that the foot traffic associated with the Games can cause.

00:58:20 And we want that to be successful. What resources do you anticipate

00:58:25 needing from this committee in order to make that happen, specifically the

00:58:28 bus program that you mentioned? It's been discussed about resources. That

00:58:33 certainly is one where funding could play an important role. We'd be happy to

00:58:37 work with this committee and work with the organizers depending on what funding

00:58:41 Congress could make available, just because we're talking about a lot of

00:58:45 vehicles and a lot of pieces that have to come into place. We're also working to

00:58:49 just make sure we have the technical expertise and assistance in place and

00:58:53 think that that working group and that regular cadence of contact is going to

00:58:56 serve us well. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. As Representative Torres mentioned, and

00:59:03 again, Mr. Valadao alluded to, we were at that Brightline event. I appreciate in

00:59:08 your testimony, I also wanted to highlight that you discussed the project

00:59:11 creating 35,000 jobs, lowering our carbon footprint, and bringing communities

00:59:16 closer together. As the DOT distributes funds from the infrastructure law and

00:59:21 the Inflation Reduction Act, how do we ensure that communities and

00:59:24 transportation agencies at the state level are working together for that

00:59:29 shared goal of lowering emissions while connecting communities? Well, we certainly

00:59:36 find that every state has a different strategy for addressing air pollution

00:59:39 and carbon emissions. So we're trying to meet them where they are and at the

00:59:44 same time ensure that every statutory high bar is met. Often we

00:59:50 find there are projects that the states have been wanting to do for a long time,

00:59:53 but until the IIJA just didn't have the resources for. And so whether we're

00:59:58 talking about long-standing programs like the Congestion Mitigation Air

01:00:01 Quality Program or things like the Protect Grants on Resilience that didn't

01:00:06 exist before the bill, we're mobilizing every tool that we can. And also, I would

01:00:12 mention in addition to our state partners, sometimes directly engaging

01:00:14 cities, transit agencies, airport authorities, especially if we find that

01:00:18 they have maybe a higher level of climate ambition than their respective

01:00:21 state capitals. And we want to make sure we're supporting them too. Thank you, Mr.

01:00:25 Secretary. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Pete. Mr. Kline. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank

01:00:29 you, Mr. Secretary, for being here. I want to ask a couple of questions about the

01:00:33 6th District of Virginia and the way that various national events are

01:00:38 impacting transportation in the 6th. We all are concerned about the bridge

01:00:43 collapse, the tragedy involving the six deaths and the billions dollars in

01:00:48 damage, effectively closing the Port of Baltimore, affecting 100 to 200 million

01:00:52 dollars in cargo every day. Understand that this could have some impact on rail

01:00:56 traffic in western Virginia. Union officials say some coal trains are being

01:01:00 rerouted through Roanoke to coal piers in Norfolk. It could require Norfolk

01:01:04 Southern to double the amount of export coal loaded each month at the Lambert

01:01:08 Point terminal. With coal, Baltimore is the number two port, but Norfolk is the

01:01:13 number one port. And it's my understanding that CSX and Norfolk

01:01:17 Southern are the two main coal carriers in the region. Can you tell us how you've

01:01:22 been working with the railroads in the Port of Norfolk to ensure not only that

01:01:26 Norfolk plays an integral role there in accommodating a lot of the traffic from

01:01:29 Baltimore and that there's a seamless transition there, but how we can

01:01:37 ensure that rail is able to accommodate without delays, in particular to

01:01:41 passenger rail that's grown quite a bit in that area as well. Thanks, and

01:01:45 yes, this is not only a shipping picture, but really has impacted rail, trucking,

01:01:50 every form of freight transportation. The week of the Francis Scott Key

01:01:56 Bridge collapse, I convened supply chain stakeholders from across the spectrum as

01:02:00 well as across the region and the country, not just the ports, but for this

01:02:04 very reason. We had rail trucking and cargo owners and other representatives

01:02:09 there. I will say I've been impressed by how various ports, including Virginia

01:02:14 ports, have stepped up to absorb some of that temporarily diverted cargo, and not

01:02:19 just what that means in terms of port capacity, but the railroad and also

01:02:23 trucking elements of that as well. Just to convey how complex it can be, there

01:02:27 are actually some processes in the automotive finishing process that take

01:02:32 place on the grounds of the Port of Baltimore that can't easily be moved

01:02:36 such that vehicles that were absorbed in Georgia or in Rhode Island because they

01:02:40 couldn't get to Baltimore coming off the ships still had to be trucked to

01:02:43 Baltimore in order to be finished and then trucked back out, and obviously they

01:02:46 had to do that without the benefit of having the key bridge which serves so

01:02:49 much of that cargo. So at the working level, our multimodal freight office,

01:02:54 which was newly created by the IIJA, has been a very important tool that's helped

01:02:58 us to have those conversations, that dialogue, and we find that all the

01:03:01 different players have stepped up very effectively to absorb what we certainly

01:03:05 expect is a temporary but not trivial impact. Now when it comes to road

01:03:10 transportation, Interstate 81 has been overburdened by truck traffic for

01:03:17 decades now. Originally built for around 15% truck traffic, it accommodates over

01:03:22 30, 40, sometimes even 50% truck traffic depending on the day of the week,

01:03:28 traveling up to the northeast from Point South, but and while we are working to

01:03:35 add a third lane, and would appreciate your cooperation with that, traffic

01:03:39 fatalities are up on 81. NHTSA estimated that nearly 41,000 people died in traffic

01:03:45 crashes nationwide in 2023. What are NHTSA's plans to reduce fatalities

01:03:51 impacted by crashes? Is widening one of those ways that you all are seeking

01:03:57 to reduce crashes, and can you speak to the department support for adding that

01:04:04 third lane to 81? Thanks. NHTSA is very focused on reversing the rise in roadway

01:04:09 deaths that we've experienced in recent years. The data is suggesting we have

01:04:14 finally come off the peak, but I am certainly not satisfied with the current

01:04:19 level of roadway death in this country. About 40,000 people, which means roughly

01:04:23 the equivalent of a fully loaded airliner every single day, and a number

01:04:28 that I should also add is significantly higher than our peer-developed

01:04:33 countries. Our strategy for addressing that has five elements, safer roads,

01:04:37 safer vehicles, safer speeds, safer people, including drivers, and then a higher

01:04:42 standard post crash care. And that first thing that you mentioned, safer roads,

01:04:46 wouldn't adding additional lanes mileage be part of that? Potentially, yes.

01:04:51 It certainly depends on the project and the specifics, but we want to make sure

01:04:55 that there's a healthy and safe flow of traffic on any interstate. Let me ask one

01:04:59 more question before my time expires. That impacts the Roanoke Airport because

01:05:03 we do have flights that go through Reagan National. The FAA recently issued

01:05:06 an analysis of adding more daily round-trip flights to Reagan National. It

01:05:11 found that five more round trips would result in an extra 12 hours of delays

01:05:14 each day. It's already the 10th most delayed airport in the country. It would

01:05:17 have a negative impact on safety at the airport. Just a few weeks ago there was a

01:05:20 near collision between two commercial flights on a runway. With 819 daily

01:05:25 takeoffs, more than LAX, Newark, or O'Hare, it's clear that Reagan National's

01:05:29 runway is the busiest in the nation, already ranks third for runway incursions.

01:05:33 Can you comment on the administration's position on adding those extra five

01:05:38 slots? Yes, we certainly recognize and respect the role of Congress in

01:05:42 determining the availability of slots. I would note, having spent time up in that

01:05:46 tower at DCA, that it really is an exceptionally, as you noticed, not only an

01:05:51 exceptionally busy, but airstrip in terms of that one runway, the hardest

01:05:56 working runway in the the national airspace. We would be concerned about the

01:06:00 pressure that that could put on the system. Of course, we stand ready to to

01:06:05 make good on whatever Congress provides. Thank you. Mr. Espaillat. Thank you, Mr.

01:06:10 Chairman, Secretary, thank you. First, I want to thank you for your recent

01:06:16 compensation program for flights delay and cancel, and the dashboard page that

01:06:23 you have available for consumers. I think it's important that we help consumers as

01:06:29 delays and cancellations continue to occur. But thank you for that, and I also

01:06:37 obviously want to thank you, express my sincerity for including 496 million

01:06:45 dollars in the proposed funding for Second Avenue subway. And thank you for

01:06:50 coming to Harlem. That's an important project that will obviously connect

01:06:55 Harlem to the rest of the world. And I also want to stress to my colleagues in

01:07:01 the committee that this also provides a social equity component that I

01:07:07 think is so important to the communities that we represent, those that have been

01:07:12 left behind for far too long, and that need for these projects not just to be a

01:07:18 transportation project for a transportation desert, but an economic

01:07:24 stimulus for the communities that we serve. And I thank you for your

01:07:29 vision and the President's vision for this particular model. Given the complex

01:07:35 nature of urban subway expansions, what measures are being implemented to ensure

01:07:41 that Second Avenue phase, Second Avenue subway phase two remains on schedule and

01:07:47 within budget? Well, thank you for your ongoing support for this effort, and

01:07:54 it was an absolute joy and one of the highlights of my time here to be able to

01:07:58 celebrate that signature with people who had been waiting for so long in

01:08:04 the case of the Second Avenue subway, and finally seeing that funding. Now all eyes

01:08:09 are on delivery, and that means making sure that we maintain a tight cadence of

01:08:14 interaction and collaboration with MTA and all the players involved in that.

01:08:18 And we're doing that through our Federal Transit Administration, but this is also

01:08:21 a big enough project that is being tracked at an agency-wide level, too. We

01:08:26 know that hurdles and issues can come up. We stand committed to working

01:08:30 through any of those to make sure that this is delivered now that the funding

01:08:35 is in place, because the people of those Harlem communities and really that

01:08:40 whole part of New York that has served up to 125th Street

01:08:46 deserve finally seeing that project through after having waited literally

01:08:51 for decades in order to see it become real. Well, I hope the subway leaves the

01:08:55 station fairly soon, Mr. Secretary. But I have another question. As you know, I

01:09:00 represent a district that has a significant number of Dominican

01:09:04 Americans, and as you know, the Department of State and the

01:09:09 government of the Dominican Republic are in final talks for a long-anticipated

01:09:14 modern USDR Open Skies Agreement. The cost of flying back home for many of

01:09:21 these families is exuberant. When they go visit their families back home, sometimes

01:09:27 they have to pay $1,500 to $2,000. So a family of four is going to have a

01:09:33 difficult time going back home. And I want to know, given the evolving

01:09:38 dynamics of international air travel, what strategies are in place to ensure

01:09:43 the effective implementation of the modernized USDR Open Skies Agreement?

01:09:49 Thank you. I know how important this is, especially to Dominican communities in

01:09:53 the U.S. and to the Dominican Republic, and have had direct conversations with

01:09:57 my counterparts from the Dominican Republic about the importance of this.

01:10:00 Our department and our interagency partners at State and Commerce are all

01:10:05 participating in these negotiations. We've been negotiating for some time.

01:10:09 We're very encouraged by recent progress, though we're not there quite yet.

01:10:13 And the real focus is to make sure that we can get to a good place while

01:10:19 maintaining the essential elements of the U.S. Open Skies Agreement and the

01:10:24 policies that have helped to define that through us in our relationships with all

01:10:28 of the countries where we have an air transport agreement.

01:10:31 So we're looking forward to getting to a conclusion on a modernized agreement for

01:10:35 what is the largest Caribbean market for U.S. travelers. And Open Skies would

01:10:39 certainly further facilitate travel and tourism by promoting competition and, we

01:10:44 think, creating more affordable options for travelers.

01:10:47 Thank you. And finally, could you elaborate how the Federal Highway

01:10:51 Administration investment will help to advance environmental restoration and

01:10:55 cleanup within our nation's highways?

01:10:58 Yes, thank you. Often there is a brownfield element to some of the grants

01:11:04 that we are pursuing, including federal highways. That's one of the things that,

01:11:08 pursuant to our statutory authority, can help a project to score well in

01:11:12 discretionary programs. And we certainly value chances to work with project

01:11:17 sponsors to make sure that cleanups are, where required, part of the benefit of a

01:11:23 transportation project for the future.

01:11:25 Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

01:11:26 Thank you. Mr. Soskomany.

01:11:29 Thank you, Chairman. And glad to see you in this committee as well. And I've been

01:11:33 serving for a while and it was great serving with you on FSGG, so great to be

01:11:36 working with you here as well. Thank you. And thank you, Secretary Budajk, for being

01:11:40 here today. First, I actually want to thank you, offer you our gratitude in

01:11:46 Arizona for, it's great to see the I-10, as you know, a main corridor here for us

01:11:51 in our state, both for commerce and for tourism, for safety reasons, all of the

01:11:56 above, receive a desperately needed funding for widening earlier this year.

01:12:00 So I want to thank you for that. The grant will go a long way in improving

01:12:05 safety, travel, and commerce, like I mentioned. This was long overdue, so I do

01:12:09 want to once again thank your department for prioritizing this important issue

01:12:13 for Arizona. Now, Mr. Secretary, I'm sure you're aware that there was recently a

01:12:18 major train derailment along the Arizona-New Mexico border in which a train

01:12:24 carrying cars and hazardous material fell off the tracks, caught a fire, and

01:12:28 consequently closed down parts of the I-40, which is an essential route for

01:12:33 trade and commerce. Many Arizona-New Mexico residents, as well as the Navajo

01:12:38 Nation tribal members, have been evacuated from their homes, and many more

01:12:43 are concerned about the health effects that this derailment will have on their

01:12:46 neighborhoods moving forward. While I'm grateful for the fact that local first

01:12:51 responders took immediate and effective action to ensure that no one was injured,

01:12:55 train derailment after train derailment should not be the new normal. In America,

01:13:00 our transportation safety standards should be the gold standard, but the

01:13:03 American people are rightfully beginning to lose faith in that standard when they

01:13:08 see incidents like this one in Arizona putting their communities at risk. What

01:13:13 are those - what specifically - what are you specifically changing within your

01:13:18 department to ensure something like this never happens again?

01:13:22 Well, thank you for the question. I passionately agree that there needs to

01:13:25 be more done to secure rail safety and to prevent derailments and other

01:13:29 accidents. In regards to this particular incident, that day I was in touch with

01:13:34 the leadership of the Navajo Nation, as well as Arizona and New Mexico. Our FRA

01:13:39 administrator was on site yesterday and will continue to engage. I-40 - that

01:13:43 stretch of I-40 is back open, but there continue, of course, to be effects due to

01:13:47 that derailment and that fire. Within the department, we've taken a number of

01:13:52 steps, some of which we were working on from day one, others accelerated in the

01:13:56 week - in the wake of the East Palestine, Ohio derailment. That's included

01:14:00 focused inspection programs, including a focused review of the phase-in of

01:14:05 robust tank cars that can handle the transportation of hazardous materials, as

01:14:09 well as a route assessment for high hazard flammable trains. Railroad by

01:14:15 railroad, we've been conducting safety assessments and acting on the findings

01:14:21 of those assessments. And I'm pleased to note that just a couple of days ago, we

01:14:26 welcomed a new partner to our C3RS, or confidential close call reporting system,

01:14:30 as BNSF agreed to join that pilot following the lead of Norfolk Southern. I

01:14:36 will say, though, that the overall rates are an extreme concern. With the

01:14:40 exception of Norfolk Southern, we have not seen a dramatic reduction in

01:14:46 derailments in the last year with Class 1 railroads. In fact, for many, if not all,

01:14:50 of them, the rate has gone up. That's one reason that I take every opportunity to

01:14:54 renew my urgent call for Congress to act on the Bipartisan Railway Safety Act. We

01:14:59 will continue to do everything that we can that doesn't require an act of

01:15:02 Congress, but given that it's been more than a year since East Palestine, we

01:15:08 strongly believe that it is time for Congress to act because that bipartisan

01:15:13 legislation would give us a stronger hand and more tools to try to drive down

01:15:17 that accident rate. I don't think most Americans realize that there were

01:15:21 derailments on a daily basis in this country until what happened in Ohio, and

01:15:25 every community that lives near a railroad, including where I grew up, is

01:15:29 asking whether they're safe. Well, I agree with you that there's a heightened

01:15:32 attention on this, and certainly in Arizona we're seeing the effects of the

01:15:36 rates that you're mentioning. I do want to urge you and your team to prioritize

01:15:41 rail safety, which it seems that you have a clear understanding of the rates

01:15:44 going up on that, and get boots on the ground as soon as possible to see what

01:15:48 the community is dealing with in Arizona as soon as you can. And as a result of

01:15:53 this incident, analyze how DOT can do better moving forward, which by

01:15:59 your notes it seems that that's what you're doing. I'd love to work with you on

01:16:02 this. I do have another question, but we're running out of time, and I know

01:16:05 votes were called, sir, so we'll, um, well, it may take more than 30 seconds, so I'll

01:16:11 wait for the second round if that's okay.

01:16:13 Next question.

01:16:17 Thank you, Chairman Womack. Congratulations to you. I have no doubt

01:16:29 you will continue Chairman Cole's high standard of leadership for this great

01:16:33 subcommittee. As members of the committee may know, last year I was

01:16:37 diagnosed with progressive supernuclear palsy, or PSP. I describe it as

01:16:42 Parkinson's on steroids, and I don't recommend it. PSP makes it very difficult

01:16:46 for me to speak, so I use an assistive app so that I can participate and you

01:16:51 can understand me. I want to thank the chair and the ranking member for

01:16:54 allowing me to do so today. Secretary Buttigieg, it's great to see you again. I

01:17:00 want to take a moment to thank you on behalf of the father and father to be in

01:17:04 my office for taking parental leave not long after you and Jason adopted your

01:17:08 two kids as newborns. Even though you didn't take anything close to the 12

01:17:11 weeks that your staff would, it was still a great example to set. I was also happy

01:17:16 to read recently that although you are not the stay-at-home parent, you give the

01:17:20 twins their bath every night. I'm intrigued that you composed a bath time

01:17:24 song. My husband was a stay-at-home dad when our kids were young, and when they

01:17:29 were toddlers, bath time was my special time with them. I'm not creative enough

01:17:33 to compose my own song, but my bath time selection was "I Like You" by Ernie and

01:17:38 Bert from Sesame Street, and yes, I sang both parts. If you're ever looking for

01:17:43 another bath time song, I highly recommend it. I also want to thank you

01:17:50 for the recent alternative PNTRFP that DOT released. We've spoken about this

01:17:55 critical vulnerability several times before, and I'm excited to see things

01:17:59 moving forward to address it, thanks to you and the department's leadership. It's

01:18:03 an exciting time to be a passenger rail supporter in Virginia. At the end of the

01:18:07 last year, and in large part thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure law, two

01:18:12 major awards were announced through the Federal-State Partnership Program for

01:18:16 the expansion of Long Bridge and for high-speed rail service between Richmond

01:18:20 and Raleigh. The FRA also awarded two grants to extend the DC to Roanoke Amtrak

01:18:26 line to Bristol and establish daily Cardinal Line service, which travels

01:18:30 right through my district in Manassas. Just yesterday, it was announced that

01:18:34 Amtrak Virginia had its highest ridership ever this past March, with over

01:18:39 123,000 passengers. As you know, Union Station is the second busiest rail

01:18:45 station in the country. We are all aware that it has significant infrastructure

01:18:49 needs, yet it is getting no direct funding from the infrastructure law. I

01:18:53 was glad to see the environmental impact statement and record of decision in

01:18:57 March, but that's just one step towards the much-needed expansion project. We all

01:19:02 want to maximize the investments in Virginia that I mentioned, as well as all

01:19:06 the work that's being done in the Northeast Corridor, but we won't be able

01:19:10 to if Union Station remains a bottleneck. My question for you is, how can DOT, FRA,

01:19:16 our regional delegation, and other important partners like Amtrak work

01:19:20 together to identify funding solutions for this critical project? Well, thanks

01:19:26 for the question. First, let me just note my admiration for the courage and

01:19:31 spirit that you have shown in confronting your diagnosis and

01:19:34 continuing to be an effective leader here in Congress, and for your kind words

01:19:38 about my family. With regard to Union Station, we recognize its importance

01:19:45 really as not just a regional but a national transportation center, and while

01:19:49 we're glad that the President's budget proposes to reserve a $15 million

01:19:54 set-aside for immediate state-of-good-repair projects, as you are

01:19:58 well aware, the ultimate needs at Union Station are at another order of

01:20:02 magnitude. The completion of the EIS is certainly an important step, and I've

01:20:08 been in dialogue with the District of Columbia and other stakeholders about how

01:20:12 to best position Union Station for long-term success. That's going to

01:20:18 include working to make sure that they are not just on top of addressing some

01:20:23 end-of-life station infrastructure, but really preparing the vision for what the

01:20:28 future can look like in ways that would qualify for discretionary funds. And, of

01:20:33 course, we welcome opportunities to work with appropriators on any source

01:20:38 of funding that could help get that done. There's little questions that will

01:20:42 require multiple sources, federal, district, Amtrak, and others. Certainly

01:20:46 that's an eligibility for Amtrak with the Amtrak grants, but we know how many

01:20:50 different needs they're trying to cover on the Amtrak side as well, and we'll

01:20:53 maintain that dialogue to try to make progress there. Thank you. I also want to

01:21:00 thank you for your and the administration's steadfast support for

01:21:03 our nation's transit systems and transit workers. Transit workers deserve to be

01:21:07 treated with respect and to be free from violence, injury, and harassment in the

01:21:12 workplace. I was very glad to see the FDA announce a final rule earlier this

01:21:16 month taking major steps to protect transit workers, including giving workers

01:21:21 an equal seat at the table with transit agencies in identifying and addressing

01:21:25 safety and policy issues. How do you see this rule making things safer for

01:21:30 transit workers and riders, and how can this subcommittee support that goal?

01:21:34 Well, thank you for the question, for your support of transit workers. We believe

01:21:38 this rule is an important step forward in giving transit workers the right

01:21:42 kinds of protections and the right kind of voice, participating in the newer

01:21:47 structures that have been created by legislation, including committee

01:21:50 processes so that any kind of safety critical needs are addressed in a way

01:21:55 that has to include the voice of transit workers. Operators have been through so

01:21:59 much, and we think it's very important to back them and believe it's absolutely

01:22:03 possible to back them and hear them while also meeting the needs of

01:22:07 management and operating these agencies. And I should note that I was thinking of

01:22:11 them and of your longtime advocacy yesterday when the family minivan became

01:22:15 unavailable and I found myself on a WMATA bus in the morning and the Metro

01:22:19 in the afternoon getting my kids back and forth from daycare, and that bus was

01:22:23 full of people who count on it every single day.

01:22:27 Thank you. I yield back. Thank you. Jennifer, you are a valued member of this

01:22:37 subcommittee, and I share in the Secretary's remarks about your courage

01:22:44 and your willingness to continue to participate, and I for one am thankful

01:22:49 for the technology that has been developed that allows you to be that

01:22:54 valued and important member of this subcommittee. Thank you so much. We are

01:23:00 going to be called for votes here in three or four minutes, which means in

01:23:05 typical congressional fashion we probably got a good half hour left if we

01:23:09 need it. And Mr. Joyce walks in just in time to go have a seat and I'll call on

01:23:16 you here, Mr. Joyce. If anybody at the dais has a burning question that they

01:23:22 would like to ask in round two, I'm going to be able to yield that. And so, Miss

01:23:27 Watson-Coleman, I'll recognize you first. Just be as brief as you can so that we

01:23:31 can get - well, I know you are, and you are recognized. Yeah, please. Thank you, Mr.

01:23:38 Chairman. Mr. Buttigieg, you know what I'm going to ask about. I'm going to ask

01:23:41 about Mercer Airport. For three years we've been trying to get that

01:23:45 infrastructure built. We were told most recently that we asked for too much for

01:23:51 this size airport. A, I needed to know is there sort of a metrics where size equals

01:23:57 the maximum amount you can be awarded? That's number one. Number two is, can I

01:24:03 have a conversation with someone who will kind of guide me as to how to

01:24:07 direct this airport to ask for the right amount to get this infrastructure? You

01:24:12 know how much we need it? We deal with 400,000 people a year now, looking to

01:24:17 double that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Was that quick enough? Thank you.

01:24:22 I'll try to likewise be concise. There's of course no way that I could miss out

01:24:26 on the importance of Mercer Airport after you hosted us for a visit there,

01:24:30 and I saw both the importance of it to passengers there and the and the needs.

01:24:33 With regard to successfully receiving a discretionary grant, it is often the case

01:24:41 that a project might be re-scoped in dialogue with the partner to try to get

01:24:44 the size to something that is enough to get something done, but but also fits

01:24:48 within the program given all of the different grants that are needed. Without

01:24:51 knowing all of the details of the most recent application, you certainly have my

01:24:54 commitment to make sure that there is a good debrief, which we would welcome

01:24:58 your office participating in as well, to try to get them the best possible

01:25:02 information about how to put their best foot forward for any upcoming rounds of

01:25:06 discretionary grants. Thank you. Mr. Joyce is ready. The gentleman is recognized.

01:25:13 Thank you, Chairman Womack, and I apologize for being late. I was at the

01:25:16 defense hearing and certainly apologize to you, sir. Mr. Secretary, in FY19, the

01:25:23 Department of Transportation launched the Port Infrastructure Development

01:25:27 Program. Since then, the department has distributed more than $2 billion to port

01:25:30 authorities, tribal, state, and local governments, and private companies. While

01:25:34 72% of those funds have gone to the West and East Coast, only 8% of those funds

01:25:39 have gone to the Great Lakes ports over the last five years. I'm concerned that

01:25:44 these funds are not being distributed in a regionally equitable manner. Given the

01:25:48 concerning disparity, what should we in the Great Lakes region be telling our

01:25:51 local communities? Well, as you know, Representative, I'm myself a creature of

01:25:57 the Great Lakes. I grew up in Indiana, live in Michigan, met my spouse in Chicago

01:26:04 soon after he'd returned from Milwaukee, and I know how important those

01:26:08 facilities are. I will say that while the dollar amounts can vary on our grants,

01:26:13 especially when you consider the different size ports that we support, the

01:26:17 Great Lakes ports characteristically have been punching above their weight,

01:26:20 not just in the value they add to the American economy, but also in the

01:26:23 last couple of rounds of the PIDP program. Now that, of course, doesn't mean

01:26:27 that every application was successful, but what I will say is that we

01:26:31 recognize that America's supply chains and the importance of our ports isn't

01:26:35 just about the well-publicized matter of the large container ships that are

01:26:40 bearing down often on ports like LA and Long Beach, but the traffic that goes on,

01:26:44 often bulk traffic, that traverses the Great Lakes and that we also, of course,

01:26:50 support through our management of the U.S. side of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence

01:26:54 Seaway, which links those to the Atlantic. And we're certainly happy to provide

01:26:58 debriefs to any port that was hopeful of a grant recently, is going to try to come

01:27:04 back for another round, again noting that these ports have really demonstrated

01:27:08 their often small but mighty character, both in our programs and just in their

01:27:12 contributions to U.S. shipping. Can you describe any actions your department has

01:27:16 taken to ensure and improve the equitable distribution of federal grant

01:27:19 assistance under the program? Well, one thing I did was I sat with the

01:27:22 representatives of Great Lakes Ports, make sure that my staff and I had an

01:27:25 opportunity to hear about the pride they rightfully take and the value they add,

01:27:29 and to share some thoughts on how our programs are structured and how to make

01:27:32 sure that they do well and continue to grow their share. At a project-by-

01:27:38 project, report-by-port level, also would be happy to engage and would note that

01:27:42 our GLS administrator is himself a veteran of the Great Lakes Ports world

01:27:47 and we just see a ton of opportunity there. Thank you, I appreciate it, and I

01:27:52 apologize again for being late, sir. Mr. Siskimani. Great, thank you, Chair, for

01:27:58 this second opportunity. Mr. Secretary, my question is around rest stops and rest

01:28:03 areas. As you know, Arizona is one of the fastest growing states in the country,

01:28:07 and such, it's got pressing needs in transportation now. Arizona DOT needs

01:28:13 more financial resources and it's looking at creative ways to bring in

01:28:16 additional revenue, and also you may know that many states in the Northeast,

01:28:22 especially along the I-95 corridor, have commercialized rest areas. They add

01:28:26 convenience, safety, and more importantly, a revenue stream for states to utilize

01:28:30 them. However, because of a 1956 federal regulation, some western states like

01:28:34 Arizona can't commercialize their rest areas. While some states produce revenue

01:28:39 because of these rest areas, Arizona is burdened with the cost of these areas. I

01:28:43 kind of see this as a double standard, to be honest with you, that's what it strikes

01:28:47 me as. So all I'm looking for is, can you commit to working with me to address the

01:28:52 disparity through the appropriations process or the surface transportation

01:28:56 reauthorization? Yes, as you know, this relates to federal law that prohibits

01:29:00 that kind of commercialization, knowing that there's a great interest in

01:29:04 provisions that would either open up additional exceptions or change that

01:29:09 provision. We'd welcome any request to provide technical assistance and work

01:29:13 with you in your office on that. Excellent. Well, I'll follow up offline

01:29:17 here as well so we can work on something. This is something that Arizona has been

01:29:21 working on for a long time. We've worked with different secretaries on this and

01:29:24 in different Congresses. We haven't been able to get the result that we need

01:29:29 on this, so I'm looking forward to working with you on that and hopefully

01:29:32 get it done. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Chairman. All right, thank you.

01:29:35 Mr. Joyce. Given the opportunity for a second round, thank you very much, Mr.

01:29:39 Secretary. It pays to come late. Discretionary grants are becoming more

01:29:45 and more difficult for smaller communities to apply for because the

01:29:47 amount of work needed to complete a given application. From completing the

01:29:52 benefit cost analysis to having to review 60 pages for notices of funding

01:29:56 opportunities, small businesses are effectively being disqualified from

01:29:59 receiving funds for vital community projects because of this burdensome

01:30:02 process. Mr. Secretary, what is the Department doing to make these programs

01:30:06 more accessible to small and rural communities? And once these funds are

01:30:10 awarded, what is the Department doing to streamline the process so that they can

01:30:13 be completed in a timely manner? Thanks for the question. I approach this, as many

01:30:18 other things, with the mentality of a mayor who once found myself knocking on

01:30:21 the door of the USDOT and a mayor of not the biggest city. I also think back to

01:30:26 our time as a mayor when I found out that our paperwork for tax abatements

01:30:30 was 17 pages and that we had a chance to get it down to two double-sized sheets,

01:30:34 and I try to take the same approach in getting our federal paperwork under

01:30:39 control. Believe it or not, when I began pressing our team to find ways to get

01:30:43 our notices of funding opportunity under 100 pages, that was actually considered a

01:30:47 reduction from past practice. Of course, part of what contributes to the

01:30:50 complexity of it is just the nature and the number of statutory requirements

01:30:55 that are built into each program, but it's certainly our intention to make

01:30:58 sure that these are more user-friendly processes, especially so that smaller,

01:31:02 rural, tribal, and lower-income communities, which are some of the ones we most want

01:31:06 and need to help, find it just as easy to navigate and succeed as the biggest

01:31:11 cities that have a full-time staff of federal relations personnel here in DC.

01:31:16 Some of the measures we've taken to do that include not just trying to simplify

01:31:20 or consolidate our application processes. For example, we took rural, mega, and

01:31:25 infra programs and rolled them up into a single notice of funding opportunity,

01:31:29 kind of the same way when you have an application for college, there's a common

01:31:33 application so you don't have to fill in your zip code seven different times, but

01:31:38 also working hand-in-hand with those communities on the front end. I'd like to

01:31:43 take this opportunity just to again mention our belief in the thriving

01:31:47 communities program, far from the biggest dollar item that we'll be asking this

01:31:51 committee for, but one that's enabled us already to enlist dozens of communities

01:31:55 in a program where we pair them up with capacity-building partners with a view

01:31:59 toward making them better able to to compete and win. The last thing I'll

01:32:03 mention is that it's not just the matter of applying for a grant and getting

01:32:07 the yes, but then once you get the grant there's the whole matter of actually

01:32:10 getting through implementation, and the smaller or lower income of community, the

01:32:14 more challenges they often face, and even just getting from the award announcement

01:32:17 to the grant agreement, a process that it's not unusual for just that part to

01:32:21 take a year, and we're trying to fight that down to a tighter timeline. There I

01:32:24 think hands-on assistance helps, but we're also always interested in ways to

01:32:27 simplify it all the way down to just creating templates or finding ways to

01:32:32 use online tools where there had been paper, pre-selected drop-down menus,

01:32:38 anything that can just take some of the complexity out of it, and if you're

01:32:41 hearing specific examples or pain points from communities you serve, we'd be

01:32:46 interested in hearing that too so that we can make these processes, again, more

01:32:49 user-friendly. Thank you, and you'll appreciate the fact that I sort of

01:32:53 tailored my questions to your background being a Great Lakes kid and a former

01:32:57 mayor, and I also want you to know that if there's something that's in the

01:33:01 statutory process that's creating these type of issues for you, this is a two-way

01:33:05 street. You tell us where you think we can help simplify those and we'll do the

01:33:09 necessary work here to make sure that we make it easier for these communities to

01:33:12 get those, because I think you hit the point. The smaller communities are the ones

01:33:16 that need the grant the most, and they have the hardest time in doing that, or

01:33:19 they're hiring somebody from the outside to be their grant person, and the money's

01:33:23 not going to where it's needed, the people itself. So, thank you for your time.

01:33:26 Thank you. Thank you, Dave. Quiggs. Thank you, Chair. I hope the public has enjoyed

01:33:32 Mayor's Day here on the Hill. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here.

01:33:38 Appreciate your good work, and Mr. Chairman, great initial hearing, very

01:33:43 important. We all know we have critical work to do in a pivotal year on all this.

01:33:48 I think we have the right team in place. Very important hearing and well done.

01:33:54 Thank you all. Thank you. All right, before we go, Mr. Secretary, one one final

01:34:00 question from me as we wrap up. Federal Transit Administration's Capital

01:34:05 Investment Grant Program is heading into an era where the size of the grants

01:34:10 committed for transit projects are the largest in history. Inflation has had a

01:34:16 big impact on it, but the amount of demand on the Capital Investment Grant

01:34:22 Program pipeline looks astronomical over the next decade. Now, based on projects

01:34:26 selected for FY25 in the annual report, FDA is slating over 20 billion in

01:34:32 commitments via grant agreements, many of which are expecting hundreds of

01:34:36 millions in payments each year from the from the THUD bill. IIJA provides a

01:34:41 billion six in advance appropriations, but the well runs dry in '26. So quickly,

01:34:47 what is your response to the concern that this 20 billion dollar projected

01:34:51 level of commitment over the next decade might create a check that we can't cash?

01:34:56 In brief, we are working to make sure that we support as many worthy transit

01:35:03 projects as we can with the funding that we have. As you note, there is a long list

01:35:08 of projects that have met the statutory criteria to get a full funding grant

01:35:13 agreement or to go into engineering. The 25 budget request 2.4 billion combined

01:35:20 with that 1.6 that came through the infrastructure law that gets us to about

01:35:24 four billion dollars to meet those current and future needs. Just in terms

01:35:29 of how that breaks out, that's about 1 billion for four existing new starts,

01:35:33 2.1 billion for six new starts projects not yet under construction grants, and

01:35:38 then funding for new starts projects that might become ready for construction

01:35:43 funding in '25, core capacity projects that might be ready in '25, and then 533

01:35:49 million for four projects that come under our small starts project. We do

01:35:55 have enough currently to meet these commitments, but the impacts of budget

01:35:59 cuts could force us to make payments over a longer period of time, which as

01:36:04 you note, can increase the time-related costs to projects. Not to go one more

01:36:10 time into former mayor mode, but we all know that the longer a project takes, the

01:36:15 more it costs if you've been in the business of delivering it. If FTA is to

01:36:20 run up against the funding cap during the later years of an authorization, what

01:36:25 that would mean is that FTA would have to delay signing any new full funding

01:36:29 grant agreements until a new authorization was signed and provided

01:36:32 additional funding authority, and it's fair to say that each passing year those

01:36:36 projects would become more expensive if we can't get to them yet, because the

01:36:40 funding hasn't been available. Thank you. We are not going to require a second

01:36:47 round. We've had a sampling of it here today. We're going to release the

01:36:51 secretary to a cheeseburger or whatever he has on the menu for lunch today.

01:36:58 The rest of us are going to go vote. I want to thank publicly our team, Doug,

01:37:02 your team, Avery, Kate, Jared, Naomi, Christina, Charlie, Dimlin. How could I miss you?

01:37:12 Christina, thank you. We don't want to overlook you, but we just appreciate the

01:37:19 outstanding work of our team that has WOMAC-proofed this hearing today, so

01:37:26 thank you so much. Mr. Secretary, as always, we're just delighted to have you

01:37:30 here, and thank you so much. For members that have follow-up questions that want

01:37:35 to submit them for the record, you've got seven days. Get them to subcommittee

01:37:38 staff, and we'll make them a formal part of our record. In closing, again, thanks to

01:37:43 all for coming this morning. Look forward to working with you as we continue down

01:37:46 the path of the FY25 appropriations season.

Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg Testifies Before House Appropriations Committee

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