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WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is pushing for a six-year, $53 billion investment in high-speed, higher-speed and expanded passenger rail service, but a fight is brewing with congressional Republicans.

An initial $8 billion in funding for these rail projects is expected to be included in the president’s fiscal year 2012 budget request that will be transmitted to Congress next week.

Vice President Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood lifted the curtain on the proposal Feb. 8 at a Philadelphia press conference, announcing the Obama administration wants the $53 billion focused on three areas of development:

  • Core express that will develop electrified high-speed trains operating between 125 and 250 mph on dedicated track reserved for these trains.
  • Regional trains that will operate between 90 and 125 mph.
  • Emerging rail where trains will operate up to 90 mph — intended to expand rail service to regions of the nation not currently served.

No specifics were provided.

Said Biden: “As a longtime Amtrak rider and advocate, I understand the need to invest in a modern rail system that will help connect communities, reduce congestion and create quality, skilled manufacturing jobs that cannot be outsourced.”

Republican leaders were quick to respond — and not positively. Congressional approval of the Obama administration rail plan must begin with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The committee’s chairman, Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), and the chairman of the Rail Subcommittee, Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), called the administration’s rail plan equivalent to “giving Bernie Madoff another chance at handling your investment portfolio.” Madoff is serving a 150-year jail term, having been convicted of what was called the largest investor fraud in U.S. history.

Mica and Shuster criticized the Obama administration’s rail policies, alleging “the Federal Railroad Administration is neither a capable grant agency, nor should it be involved in the selection of projects.”

They said that what the Obama administration so far has “touted as high-speed rail ended up as embarrassing snail-speed trains to nowhere.”

Mica said he would prefer federal money to be spent on the federally owned Northeast Corridor, operated by Amtrak, which he called “the most congested corridor in the nation.” The Northeast Corridor connects Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York and Boston.

Federal spending on passenger-rail projects, some of which will benefit freight railroads, is part of a broad jobs-creation initiative of the Obama administration. In his State of the Union message in January, Obama spoke of providing high-speed rail access to 80 percent of Americans within 25 years.

During 2010, the administration, through the Federal Railroad Administration, awarded $10.5 billion in federal grants to 15 state for rail projects. Two of the states — Ohio and Wisconsin, both with Republican governors — rejected the federal money, saying their states couldn’t afford to pay for the bulk of the projects’ costs and the expected future operating subsidies.

Included in the $10.5 billion grants in 2010 was $2.3 billion toward a $40 billion, 800-mile California high-speed rail project intended to link Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego; and $1.25 billion toward a $2.3 billion, 84-mile Florida high-speed rail project intended to link Tampa with Orlando (and, eventually, Miami). Mica, from Florida, has not opposed that Florida project outright, but said he wants to see the private sector commit at least $300 million to the project before it moves forward.

(The following article, written by Ken Orski, editor and publisher of Innovation Briefs, is reproduced with permission of Mr. Orski.)

WASHINGTON — Congressional action on transportation this year, including the shape of the next surface transportation bill, will be inevitably influenced by the changed political geography of the 112th Congress.

Not only will the level of funding for transportation be dictated by new, fiscally conservative House appropriators, but the program priorities will be influenced by a new House majority that largely hails from small-town and suburban America.

None of the new GOP majority on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee represents big city transit-oriented districts. A majority come from the heartland. The closest to a major urbanized areas that any of the Republican members come from, are Oklahoma City and Charleston, S.C.

Thus, the committee will likely focus on traditional concerns of keeping roads and bridges in a state of good repair — and try to stabilize the Highway Trust Fund by bringing expenditures in line with expected gas tax receipts. That means a budget of approximately $40 billion to $41 billion annually.

Within these budget limits, transit will maintain its customary standing — although it may receive somewhat less emphasis, given the changed composition of the T&I Committee.

Also likely to be curtailed will be support for high-speed rail, given its cool reception in Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa, Florida and other Republican-dominated state legislatures.

Discretionary “executive earmarks,” such as the TIGER grants, will most likely be severely cut back if not entirely eliminated. They have not been popular with Republican lawmakers.

Chairman Mica’s resolve to make passage of a multi-year authorization a top priority increases the likelihood that a transportation bill will be brought to the House floor and approved during the first session of the 112th Congress. The Senate is likely go along.

While the next authorization will almost surely be more modest in size and less “transformational” than many in the transportation community would like to see, it will at least restore the federal surface transportation program to a stable and predictable multi-year footing.

WASHINGTON — Republicans have finalized appointments to the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, which will be chaired in the upcoming Congress by John Mica (R-Fla.).

Members include Minnesota’s Chip Cravaack, who defeated Democrat Jim Oberstar in the November congressional elections. Oberstar has served as chairman of the T&I Committee under Democratic control that expires at year-end.

Most transportation legislation affecting aviation, bus and rail originates in this committee.

The Republican members (excluding subcommittee chairpersons, yet to be named) are:
      
Lou Barletta (Pa.)
Larry Bucshon (Ind.)
Shelley Capito (W.Va.)
Howard Coble (N.C.)
Chip Cravaack (Minn.)

Rick Crawford (Ark.)
Jeff  Denham (Calif.)
John Duncan (Tenn.)
Blake Farenthold (Texas)
Stephen Fincher (Tenn.)

Bob Gibbs (Ohio)
Sam Graves (Mo.)
Frank Guinta (N.H.)
Richard Hanna (N.Y.)
Andy Harris (Md.)

Jaime Herrera Beutler (Wash.)
Randy Hultgren (Ill.)
Tim Johnson (Ill.)
Jeff Landry (La.)
James Lankford (Okla.)

Frank LoBiondo (N.J.)
Billy Long (Mo.)
Pat Meehan (Pa.)
Candice Miller (Mich.)
Gary Miller (Calif.)

Tom Petri (Wis.)
Tom Reed (N.Y.)
Jean Schmidt (Ohio)
Bill Shuster (Pa.)
Steve Southerland (Fla.) 

Don Young (Alaska)

WASHINGTON — The outgoing chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee – Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), who was defeated in the Nov. 2 elections – fears increased polarization along party lines when the new Congress is seated in January.

In an interview published by cnn.com, Oberstar, who was known to exert great effort to reach bipartisan agreement, said:

“I think there will be a significant loss of ability to moderate and mediate and bring consensus together … what the election brought into the Republican Party are persons who are committed to the more extreme conservatism, and on the Democratic side those who are more hard-core liberals … governance is best when you govern from the center and reach out to bring the views of both sides to a compromise.”

Oberstar was not speaking about the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee leadership, where most transportation legislation affecting UTU airline, bus and rail members originates.

In fact, there was considerable bipartisan agreement among the T&I committee’s leadership under Oberstar’s chairmanship; and, previously, the chairmanship of now retired Republican Bud Shuster of Pennsylvania, when Oberstar was the ranking Democrat on the committee.

The new chairman of the T&I Committee will be nine-term House member John Mica (R-Fla.), who was the ranking Republican when Oberstar was chairman.

The ranking Democrat in the 2011-2012 Congress will be Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), a 17-term veteran who is respected for his efforts at seeking bipartisan consensus.

Oberstar, who will depart Congress Dec. 31, has served in the House for 18 two-year terms.

By Richard Deiser, Vice President, Bus Department
Bonnie Morr, Alternate Vice President, Bus Department

The Surface Transportation Authorization Act, introduced by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), includes provisions of interest to bus operators. The proposed law would:

  • Require interstate motor coach carriers to demonstrate knowledge of safety, accessibility and financial responsibility prior to being granted operating authority, and place a priority on safety audits.
  • Require safety fitness determinations, assignment of safety ratings, regular monitoring of safety performance, and annual inspection programs for motor coaches.
  • Require electronic on-board recorders to track hours-of-service compliance.
  • Require minimum driver training requirements, including behind-the-wheel instruction. We would also like to see required training in dealing with passenger threats and hazardous driving conditions.
  • Establish unique medical exams and certification forms for commercial drivers.

President Futhey also has directed our National Legislative Office to support H.R. 1135, the Bus Uniform Standards and Enhanced Safety Act, which would require increased bus-roof strength and fire suppression.

We are also seeking improvements to that bill to set window glazing requirements, construction standards to protect against hazards from alternative fuels, and authority of school bus drivers to discipline unruly students. And we are pushing for appropriate funding.