U.S. Legislative Issues
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GOP Moves to Punt Major Spending Decisions to Next Spring
House and Senate Republican leaders have announced that they will abandon plans to finish up this year's appropriations bills this fall in order to give the new Congress and incoming Trump Administration the final say over fiscal year (FY) 2017 spending. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said the Trump transition team urged Republicans to forego any omnibus or set of "minibuses" in the lame-duck session and instead pass a new continuing resolution (CR) that will put off decisions affecting the 11 unfinished bills, including the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development spending bill, until next spring.
Speaker Ryan says the House will take up a new CR in December that mostly continues current funding through March 31, 2016. With the current CR set to expire on December 9, passage of a funding bill is necessary to keep the government up and running. Senior Member of the House Appropriations Committee Tom Cole (R-OK) said he expects some additions to the short-term bill to be included. "It will not be a clean CR," he said.
While Congressional Republicans will certainly get a better deal with the new President than under President Obama, some conservatives warn of a drawback for Mr. Trump in that he will now have to spend time and political capital on a debate over federal spending during his first months in office, at a time when he will be trying to get other items on his agenda through Congress.
While Congressional Republicans will certainly get a better deal with the new President than under President Obama, some conservatives warn of a drawback for Mr. Trump in that he will now have to spend time and political capital on a debate over federal spending during his first months in office, at a time when he will be trying to get other items on his agenda through Congress.
NTSB Unveils Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements
On November 14, 2016, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed its "Ten Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements" for 2017-18. The NTSB says its decision to move to a two-year cycle for the list instead of issuing it annually will allow for more time for the transportation industry, safety advocates, regulatory agencies, and individuals to implement the changes necessary to address the 10 issues on the Most Wanted List.
"Since 1990 our annual Most Wanted List has been our roadmap from lessons learned to lives saved," said NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart. "It represents actions which, if taken, will save lives and reduce the number of people injured, and amount of property damaged, in transportation accidents.
The list includes: eliminating distraction; reducing fatigue-related accidents; ending alcohol and drug impairment; requiring medical fitness; and increasing implementation of collision avoidance technology. Also on the list are: ensuring the safe shipment of hazardous materials; strengthening occupant protection; expanding recorder use; improving rail transit safety oversight; and preventing the loss of control in flight in general aviation.
NHTSA Pushes for Front-End Regulatory Approach to Autonomous Vehicles
On November 15, 2016, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade held a hearing on self-driving cars entitled "Disrupter Series: Self-Driving Cars," to examine the effects of federal policy on emerging technologies. During the hearing, members addressed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Federal Automated Vehicles Policy guidance issued in September.
Subcommittee Chairman Michael Burgess (R-TX) praised NHTSA’s proactive guidance of self-driving vehicles, but expressed concern over the implementation. In response, NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said that the guidelines represented NHTSA’s best approach for the time being and were designed to be flexible. He also stressed to lawmakers that fully self-driving cars are still many years away. "There will probably be several decades of a mixed fleet of different levels of automation and people still with their hands on their wheels, that we’ll all be in for at least 20 plus years," Rosekind added.
Administration officials hope that if the U.S. Department of Transportation works with companies to ensure they implement sufficient safety features, the agency won’t need to impose regulations that hinder development. Industry cooperation also tends to outpace the regulatory schedule.
"We’ve already seen best practices come from the auto industry basically on cybersecurity," Rosekind said. "We saw twenty of them come together and basically make a commitment to get automatic emergency braking on the road standard in all their vehicles by 2022, beating regulation probably by three to four years." Rosekind was quick to warn, however, that NHTSA "has not given up and will continue to pursue all of our rulemaking and enforcement authorities."
