| | | | |  | | By Chris Marquette and Oriana Pawlyk | Presented by Norfolk Southern | With help from Mia McCarthy
| | — Boeing CEO David Calhoun is set to testify Tuesday in the Senate as the company's probes and problems escalate. — House appropriators are standing by for a Baltimore bridge funding request from the White House. — Former President Donald Trump's Capitol Hill visit included a pledge to repeal the Biden administration's "disastrous" electric vehicles policies. IT’S MONDAY: You’re reading Morning Transportation, your Washington policy guide to everything that moves. We’re glad you’re here. Send tips, feedback and song lyrics to Chris at cmarquette@politico.com and Oriana at opawlyk@politico.com and follow us at, @oriana0214 and @ChrisMarquette_. “Newingburgh, Kingston, Albany and on we go/ To Utica, Syracuse, Rochchester an' Buffalo.”
| | | | A message from Norfolk Southern: Rail remains the safest way to move freight over land, and we’re committed to making our railroad even safer. Learn about Norfolk Southern’s commitment to becoming the gold standard of safety: NSABetterWay.com | | | | | CALHOUN IS COMING: Outgoing Boeing CEO David Calhoun will finally appear Tuesday before the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The visit comes weeks after subcommittee Chair Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and his team began negotiating with the company to get top executives to answer for the plane manufacturer's quality control problems and plan to improve — questions that escalated after January's door plug blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight. When he announced the hearing, Blumenthal said Calhoun’s testimony will serve as “a necessary step in meaningfully addressing Boeing’s failures, regaining public trust and restoring the company’s central role in the American economy and national defense.” We expect senators to ask about the 90–day action plan Boeing submitted to the FAA detailing how it seeks to improve by strengthening internal audits, oversight and training. House members have gotten the report and are digesting it. House Transportation Committee ranking member Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) told your MT host on Friday that a memo on the full report “will be a weekend read” for him. The FAA has its own problems: Just last week, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker told the Senate Commerce Committee that his agency did not monitor Boeing rigorously enough and “should have had a better handle on what was going on.” Those senators largely avoided blaming Whitaker, who assumed the post last fall. Grassley jumps in: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, announced on Friday that he’s launching an inquiry into the FAA and Boeing, citing “dozens” of manufacturing and quality-control issues that have persisted without proper oversight. (He joins the Commerce committee and Blumenthal’s subcommittee — and multiple federal agencies — already probing these issues.) In a statement, Grassley’s office said Boeing, “an engineering company that receives billions of taxpayer dollars annually,” must explain how January's door plug incident happened and what it's doing to rectify its production standards. He also wants the FAA to explain how it allowed these problems to happen. He outlined his demands in a letter to the FAA and a letter to Boeing. Boeing said in response to the Grassley probe that the company "will continue to be responsive and transparent with Congress.” TAINTED TITANIUM: The FAA is investigating how titanium that came with falsified documentation made its way into parts used for Boeing and Airbus planes. The New York Times first reported that a supplier found “small holes in the material from corrosion.” — In a statement WHEN, the FAA said Boeing brought the issue to its attention, and the company sent out a bulletin highlighting ways suppliers should be on the lookout for the possible phony records. The agency is now investigating the scope and impact, which also affects Boeing's and Airbus’ supplier Spirit AeroSystems. — “This industry-wide issue affects some shipments of titanium received by a limited set of suppliers, and tests performed to date have indicated that the correct titanium alloy was used,” Boeing said, adding that it is removing any affected parts on airplanes “prior to delivery.” — The Aviation Supply Chain Integrity Coalition, which seeks to prevent unapproved aviation parts from entering the supply chain, said Friday it will publish recommendations this fall that will be useful in stopping these types of events.
| | | | JOIN US ON 6/26 FOR A TALK ON AMERICA’S SUPPLY CHAIN: From the energy grid to defense factories, America’s critical sites and services are a national priority. Keeping them up and running means staying ahead of the threat and protecting the supply chains that feed into them. POLITICO will convene U.S. leaders from agencies, Congress and the industry on June 26 to discuss the latest challenges and solutions for protecting the supply lines into America’s critical infrastructure. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories.
| | THE LATEST ON BALTIMORE BRIDGE FUNDING: The Port of Baltimore is reopened, the Fort McHenry Channel is cleared and, so far, a lot of money is being spent. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expecting to spend $75 million for the salvage cleanup, and the Coast Guard response to open the channels has cost $24 million. Additionally, DOT has released $60 million in emergency funds, with the total cost of rebuilding the bridge estimated at around $1.9 billion. Positive discussions in Washington: House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told us last week he has had “a couple of preliminary discussions back and forth” with the White House on funding, the most recent of which took place about two weeks ago when he called Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget. When Cole called Young, he asked for a timeline on a potential funding request. She told him officials were still crafting it and "want to be sure" they get it right, Cole recounted, adding that he is on the same page. Cole said there’s questions about how the funding would be packaged and noted that it will be on a separate timeline from the immediate, emergency money DOT approved. What you don’t want to do, Cole said is “get some number out there and then have to come back and change the number, particularly since there doesn't seem to be an immediate pressure.” What’s next: Cole said he wants to work with the White House and said “when they give us a request, we'll look at it really seriously.” A Biden administration official said the White House is working quickly to examine funding needs: "We are committed to working as rapidly as possible to complete that assessment, communicate those requirements to Congress, and work on a bipartisan basis to secure those critical resources." MOORE WANTS TO MOVE FAST: On Sunday, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said on CBS' Face the Nation that he is continuing to push for a 100 percent federal cost share for the bridge and officials need to move expeditiously. "The reason that we are urging a federal cost share, and a 100 percent cost share, is just simply because we have to move quickly, and I need to get this done on time and on budget," Moore said. "We know that in order to move fast, we've got to get that 100 percent cost share. So we are spending time working with members of both sides of the aisle, Democrats and Republicans ... if we can work together in this moment, we are going to get something really important for the American economy done."
| | | | A message from Norfolk Southern:   | | | | | TRUMP VS. EVs: Former President Donald Trump may be cozying up to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, but his visit to Capitol Hill last week made it clear he hasn't changed his mind about unwinding Biden administration policies to boost electric vehicles. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said Trump promised to reverse President Joe Biden’s newly tightened EPA regulations on pollution from cars and trucks, which conservatives consider a de-facto mandate to make electric vehicles. “He said he thought the Biden EV policy was disastrous,” Hawley recalled Trump saying. “He thought it was handing a whole industry to China. He thought it was costing us jobs in this country. And he would reverse it.” EPA has insisted its rule is not an EV mandate and that automakers could use plug-in hybrids or other types of vehicles to help comply with the pollution limits. Emma Dumain and Kelsey Brugger have more.
| | GRAVES IS OUT: Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), a cerebral and dedicated member of the House Transportation Committee, will not run for reelection, he said Friday. The chair of the aviation subcommittee chose to quit rather than run in the redrawn 6th Congressional District that favors Democrats or run in a heated member-on-member primary in surrounding areas. Chris has more.
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Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other—with teams embedded in the world’s most active legislative and regulatory power centers. From Brussels to Washington, New York to London, Sacramento to Paris, we bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | | | | | Christina Baworowsky, a former Tesla employee, is now vice president of policy and advocacy at Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions.
| | — “FAA, NTSB investigate Southwest Airlines 'Dutch roll' incident." USA Today. — “Ford walks back EV dealer restrictions to boost sales.” Reuters. — “Boeing tells suppliers it is slowing 737 output goal by 3 months, sources say." Reuters. — “Could a cockpit warning system prevent close calls between planes at U.S. airports?" AP. — “Nice EV You Got There — Can You Afford to Insure It?" Wall Street Journal. — “Southwest Plane Plunged Within 400 Feet of Ocean Near Hawaii." Bloomberg. — “Pete Buttigieg’s Paternity Leave Was Complicated. Here’s What He Learned." GQ.
| | —12 p.m. FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker speaks at a luncheon hosted by the Aero Club of Washington. The event will take place at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, D.C. —3:30 p.m. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will travel to Wyoming to get updates from Governor Mark Gordon and the state's department of transportation on the landslide that shut down a part of Teton Pass. Buttigieg will attend a media event on the progression of a project on Highway 30 and talk about investments made in Wyoming from the 2021 infrastructure law. Know of an event we should have on our calendar? Let MT know at transpocalendar@politicopro.com.
| | | | A message from Norfolk Southern: We’re working together with our employees, unions, and third-party safety advisors to enhance our culture and processes. We’re investing $2 billion in safety and infrastructure improvements each year. Norfolk Southern is committed to A Better Way for the rail industry. Learn more at NSABetterWay.com. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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