Budget Hearing – Department of Transportation

The subcommittee will come to order. You'll have to pardon us a little bit. We're uh kind of running on fumes right now. Chairman Cole had us up till midnight. And uh And I had our subcommittee

Early.

up kinda early this morning. It is early morning. So um

Early morning.

they will uh they will earn a good rest when all is said and done. Today, this subcommittee welcomes the Honorable Sean Duffy, Secretary of the Department of Transportation to testify for the fiscal twenty-seven budget. Secretary Duffy, it's good to see you. Thank you for appearing before us today. Um, the President's request for DOT is twenty six point eight billion in discretionary budget authority for fiscal twenty seven. This amount includes an increase for air traffic operations to continue efforts to hire controllers and other safety personnel, another installment for air traffic modernization, and new investments in ports, shipyards and rail safety. We're gonna hear a lot about that today. This is the first year without advance appropriations from the IIJA, which totaled a hundred and eighty-four billion for the department, from twenty twenty-two to twenty twenty-six. I appreciate your efforts, and the efforts of your department to move things forward. Since you were in front of this subcommittee last, the obligation rate for the IIJA division J dollars has increased from thirty-nine percent to fifty-one percent. In the past year, the backlog of thirty-two hundred grand has, all but, been eliminated. We appreciate that effort and would remind you of the requirements set forth in the fiscal twenty-six law regarding proper execution of programs appropriated by this committee along with new congressional notification requirements. Our hearing today serves as an example of the reciprocal relationship between this committee and the executive branch to ensure the appropriate resources are provided to DOT to meet our shared goals of safety infrastructure improvements and modernization of our transportation systems. The investments we've made together in air traffic control prove this concept. Funding to rebuild the controller workforce, combined with long-overdue modernization of air traffic technologies, uh, reflects the kind of sustained bipartisan commitment that a safety-critical mission demands. This work is far from finished, and the challenges ahead are significant. The progress we've made shows what's possible when Congress and the Department focus on common priorities and follow through with real resources. As we look to fiscal twenty-seven, we know more needs to be done. For the seas, we need to ramp up our investments in the nation's maritime workforce and infrastructure to ensure we have the commercial competency to compete globally. This will also support our national defense capability in the Indo-Pekom region and elsewhere. For our surface transportation infrastructure, we're on the precipice of a reset following the expiration of the IIJA. How we build upon what worked and how we course correct from those investments that were serving political pipe dreams is the key question in my opinion for fiscal twenty seven. I look forward to seeing what our authorizing counterparts put forward. They're in the process of doing that as we speak. and we stand at the ready on the Appropriations Committee to cut the check when the time comes. I should be clear, however, that this committee has the sole jurisdiction on discretionary funding. Efforts to recreate the advance appropriations of the IIJA are ill-founded and not to be contempl- contemplated without the full involvement and deliberation of this committee. The invite remains, Mister Secretary, to come down to Arkansas's third district and see how the investments of your are flowing into communities like mine. The department is a unique department in that way, as the impact of your work is seen in every single congressional district. As such, this committee enjoys a history of bipartisanship, and I look forward to continuing as we begin the fiscal twenty-seven process. Speaking of which, I'd like now to recognize my dear friend and the ranking member of this subcommittee, Mister Clyburn of South Carolina, for any opening remarks he prefers to make. I now recognize the gentleman from South Carolina for that purpose.

Thank you very much, Mister Chairman, and welcome back, Mister Secretary. DOT's primary mission is to invest in solutions that improve transportation safety. This includes safer transportation in our skies, on our rails, in our ports, and over and under our bridges. According to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, there are more than nine thousand five hundred bridges across my home state of South Carolina. And more than two thousand one hundred and thirty of them are in disrepair. To make matters worse, another six hundred bridges are structurally deficient, a number that has grown over the last three years. As you might be aware, South Carolina is the fastest growing state in the nation. This means that as we welcome more people and businesses, there will be more wear and tear on our roads and bridges. At the same time, South Carolina ranks among the highest for fatalities on our highways. According to the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, in one year alone, twenty twenty three, My home state has seen more than one thousand fatali- fatalities on our roads, including in rural areas which face unique safety challenges. And this is not unique to South Carolina. In fact, the American Society of Si- Civil Engineers gives United States infrastructure a C grade. Uh, although an improvement uh from C minus, which it was before, it is in part attributable to the major investments enacted by this body. The bipartisan infrastructure law made a historic five-year investment in our nation's transportation systems. Whether it is helping to repair efficient bridges or improve our ports, these investment investments are intended to enhance safety, employ American businesses put more people to work and create new uh private uh public partnerships i am pleased that our colleagues in the house transportation and infrastructure committee have begun their work to reauthorize so many uh of the programs important to our districts however i am concerned that the committee this committee is not at the table uh to support another tranche of much needed supplemental advance appropriations. As you are aware, the bipartisan infrastructure law included an additional thirty six point eight billion annually over its five year span to help meet our transportation infrastructure needs. Unfortunately, no new supplemental funding will be available beyond September thirtieth of this year. I implore my Republican colleagues and you, Mister Secretary, to impress upon our leadership and the White House to help ensure that this committee continues to help close the gap on transportation projects across the country. I believe this subcommittee can work in a bipartisan fashion to deliver safer transportation networks for the American people. And I look forward to hearing from you, Mr. Secretary, about how we can best use America's resources and talents to build a safer, more secure country. Now with that said, Mr. Secretary, I would be remiss if I did not raise on this panel today my concern with your great American road trip. While I agree with the importance of having boots on the ground, so to speak, To learn more about the complexities of our transportation and travel needs across the country, it's important to keep in mind the millions of struggling taxpaying Americans who are not afforded the same opportunities. My hope is that as you move it around the country, you will include some roads less traveled. Now, while I do not argue with Robert Frost, I believe that what really makes a difference is in our lives, or the people we encounter during our travels, irrespective of which road one might take. It is my collective duty, our collective duty to make America's greatness accessible and affordable for all, not just some. And with that, Mr. Chairman, Uh, you're back.

Thank you, Mister Clyburn. And at the risk of uh patronizing the overall chairman, let me just say as I said earlier today, reimagining the appropriations process for this Congress has been a challenge for a number of years, dating all the way back to the time, Mister Secretary, that you were serving in this great body. This guy to my right that's about to speak deserves a lot of credit for moving us toward a much more perfect and meaningful process. He's done it skillfully, he's done it very patiently, and against great odds. And I want the public to know how grateful I am and how grateful this committee is for the work of our overall chairman, Mister Tom Cole of Oklahoma. You're recognized, sir, for five minutes.

Well, I thank you for that very generous and fulcrum but i can tell you any success i had wouldn't happen without my friend the ranking member uh because this is a bipartisan exercise in appropriation it always is and uh i'm particularly proud of this subcommittee because the bipartisanship that exists between its chairman and its ranking member and how well they've worked together uh so thank all of you and thank all the other members for being here secretary duffy welcome to back to uh thank you so much for appearing before this subcommittee again And for your continued leadership and service, I particularly want to commend you for your commitment to modernizing our air traffic control system. Upgrading aging air traffic control infrastructure is long overdue, and your leadership and urgency on this issue are exactly what is needed. As we move through fiscal year twenty twenty seven, uh, I remain focused on maintaining responsible investments in our nation's transportation system. Uh, as uh Chairman Womack has already stated, team has already made uh exceptional efforts to ensure that we're investing taxpayer money uh in uh infrastructure and safety uh improvements that are worthwhile taking a hard look at thousands of funding decisions to make sure they deliver real results for the american people you're to be commended for that the subcommittee furthered these efforts uh in the fy twenty twenty seven bill uh under chairman womack and ranking number library and leadership, supporting programs that improve infrastructure while scrutinizing those that are wasteful and duplicative. Uh, but make no mistake, we've not uh sacrificed DOT's safety mission in that process. Over the past three fiscal years, this subcommittee has made the hiring and training of new air traffic controllers a top priority and our FY twenty-seven bill was supporting twenty-three hundred new controller candidates on top of the twenty-five hundred we funded in fy twenty six reflecting the committee's commitment to rebuilding the controller workforce that keeps our skies safe and the economy moving i also want to recognize your personal interest and support for the mike monroney center in oklahoma city and your determination to supercharge controller hiring across the board that attention has made a real difference and it reflects a genuine understanding of what this facility means to the safety of our tire aviation uh system. We have uh the land, the facilities, world-class staff at Oklahoma City to insure that uh controllers receive in-person focused and state-of-the-art training. I'll continue to fight uh for the funding that this center needs to modernize and expand. And I'll frankly pu- push back any efforts to decentralize a week in what we've built there. This uh commitment extends beyond controllers alone. aviation safety depends on a full complement of qualified safety personnel across the faa i will also reiterate my steadfast commitment to prioritize investments in tribal and rural areas and the fy twenty seven bill under uh mr. womack's leadership demonstrates that commitment nearly seventy percent of america's uh road miles are in rural areas and about a hundred and forty five thousand of those miles are on roads

I thank the chairman.

Thank you.

And what I said about Mister Cole goes for uh the ranking member as well, Mister Deloro of Connecticut. Um, it is a true partnership and we're grateful for your leadership as well, ma'am. And I recognize you for five minutes.

Thank you very much, Mister Chairman, and it is uh an honor for me to work with uh both you and and ranking member, Clyburn, to work with you and Chairman Cole as we make sure that the appropriations process is as strong as it needs to be and that it is um really where the power of the purse resides and thank you very much um uh thank you uh mister secretary for testifying today we look forward to your testimony and to uh hearing your answers to our questions uh america's transportation infrastructure is crucial it's crucial to the economic health of our country it connects communities expands prosperity extends opportunities to people across this country, from big cities to small towns. Unfortunately, the President's budget request proposes substantial cuts to many of the programs and initiatives that Americans rely on. The budget proposes to cut three hundred and twenty-seven million dollars from Amtrak, including two hundred million from the Northeast Corridor and a hundred and twenty-seven million from the national network. Amtrak is crucial to my home state of Connecticut, where nearly one thousand of their employees are based. More than two million travelers were served by Amtrak in Connecticut, um, in twenty twenty five, and they f- facilitate an incalculable quantity of economic activity. Uh, investing in this service they provide is essential for supporting so many of my constituents. Uh, so I I'm disappointed to see, um, uh, such steep cuts proposed, uh, in the president's budget. It's crucial that this administration restore Americans' faith in the safety and security of air travel. Following a series of tragic incidents last year, uh, I understand the FAA, I understand that the FAA recently revised downward their projections for necessary air traffic controllers, the staffing levels, to maintain safe skies by roughly two thousand positions. And as we approach some of the busiest travel months of the year, the administration needs to do everything it can to provide the American people with the assurance that they will be safe in our skies. We didn't we need to know what is needed as appropriations committee to be able to provide the resources needed to keep pa- people uh uh uh safe uh uh to keep our our aircraft moving uh making the airspace more efficient. The American people are struggling every day uh with the rising cost of living and robust transportation infrastructure is key to connecting

Thank you. Uh, Mister Duffy, Mister Duffy, your uh full written statement will be included in the record. your uh full written statement will be in the record. And at this time, I recognize you for five minutes to summarize your remarks.

Uh, Chairman Womack, Chairman Cole, uh, Chairman Rogers as well, uh, Ranking Member Claburn, and uh, Deloro, thank you for having me. It's good to be back in the house. Uh, it's great to have such wonderful attendants, even though you guys are supposed to be gassed, you're all here. It's great for me. Um, I I I I hope today we do have a chance to talk about what Mister Claburn uh mentioned about the the bridges. uh it's an issue um and you also mentioned and we all know this that our infrastructure has a c rating um and i think as we sit here together um this is probably the most bipartisan place in this whole body uh we all work together because there is not a republican road or a democrat bridge um there's not a republican safe airport or a democrat safe airport it's we are all in this together as one american family and doing this together um i think is is critically important and uh chairman kohl i would agree with you on tribal lands as well making sure that is not forgotten uh in rural places like where i come from uh the road less traveled um is one that i have been on for a very long time so uh to the committee thank you for having me and again it's good to be back uh in the house uh for the past sixteen months with your support the department of transportation has been hard at work uh delivering wins for the american people we have a once in a generation opportunity to revitalize the critical infrastructure that millions of Americans rely on every single day. From our one rays, to our roads, to our railroads, we have upgraded our national infrastructure, invested in the backbone of our economy, and made life safer for American families. We are aggressively moving to clear the backlog of three thousand two hundred grants that were left behind in the last administration. Our goal is simple. to ensure that these grants deliver safe, enduring infrastructure that will serve Americans for generations to come. At the FAA, we have kick-started a historic overhaul of our air traffic control system. This has made it, this has made it possible because of this Congress and I am grateful for that. Thanks to the Working Families Tax Cut Act, we received twelve point five billion dollars as a down payment to begin deploying state of the art equipment across our airports and NASS. um and that work is underway we replaced fifty percent of legacy copper wiring converted two hundred and seventy eight radio sites installed fifty eight new surface awareness systems and transitioned seventeen towers to electronic flight strips but technology is nothing without people we need the people our air traffic controllers so since march we've hired a record-breaking two thousand four hundred air traffic controllers and we had an innovative gamer uh campaign we realized at the academy as we surveyed the the the the students uh uh out of two hundred and fifty surveyed uh all of them but three are gamers and so we made a pitch to the the gamers by the way they have multiple screens yes um they're problem solving and they're talking at the same time we received over twelve thousand applications in twenty four hours to be an air traffic controller it was it was it was quite historic um we smashed the old records it was a great ad campaign um and Uh, but it's, it is truly bringing in the best and the brightest who wanna serve their country, and and they're and they're concerned about safety. And I think these are the young men uh and women we're bringing into this field, that that is so important. We're also restoring integrity and safety to the American trucking industry. It was the policy of the last administration to allow for unqualified foreign drivers to get behind the wheel of a truck. Those days are no more. Uh, we just saw an incident in California a couple days ago, I think it was yesterday. um i think we all have to work together to have the right policy in place to make sure that our roads are safe and what should that policy look like uh i have my ideas on on what we need to do together we've worked uh with states to cancel twenty eight thousand illegally issued licenses for unqualified foreign drivers and we're holding um some states that aren't cooperating accountable we all need to follow the same rules we've also knocked more than twenty thousand drivers out of service for failing to meet basic requirements like reading the road signs or being able to communicate with law enforcement these changes aren't just keeping you and your family safe on the road they have added benefits to boosting wages for the great american truckers uh who serve our communities every single day our commitment to historic safety standards is already delivering historic results um in twenty twenty five we successfully reduced roadway deaths by six point seven percent across the nation mr. Kleibernath be happy to talk to you more about what's happening in south carolina but the numbers nationally have come down and that is a good thing uh this is the fifth largest drop in roadway deaths uh in the history of DOT so we're making progress we have a long way to go um we're at you know thirty six thousand plus deaths a year still way too many uh but we're making progress we're going in the right direction we're working on our freedom to drive initiative working on bottlenecks um uh across the country making sure we can alleviate uh traffic snares um i'm gonna try to move through this uh quickly but i wanna talk uh about um what we're doing uh collaboratively with states to finally make transit safe and clean and dependable i'm a republican and uh i recognize that our states do not work our cities not our states our cities don't work if we don't have good transit systems Um, but I do think we should expect from those systems that they are clean, that they're safe, uh, the people want to ride them. You should have your, well I have a, your sixteen year old daughter should be able to take um, the subway or the transit system at seven o'clock at night on a Saturday. And if we don't hit that standard, we have work to do together to make sure that is, the bar is high for us, to make sure that people wanna ride and they can ride and they can safely ride, cuz a lot of people can't afford. to ride other forms of transportation. So I think we owe it to our uh fellow brothers and sisters. I I would like to just mention bef- before I turn it back to you, Mister Chairman, I would at one point like to talk about the Merchant Marine Academy. Uh for those of you who have been there, um that's wonderful, if if you haven't been I'd ask you to go. Uh these are some of the most amazing young men and women, um have such great heart. And this, their academy was built in the nineteen forties, after world war two. and um it's as a service academy as americans i don't i don't think our our young men and women deserve to have um the buildings the heating systems the lack of dishwashers um i believe that either we have to invest in this academy um and in these young people or um i don't i love i love i love that i have it and you have it on this committee but if we're not gonna make the investments you gotta shut it down maybe you gotta give it to the navy and i don't want you to do that but we we can't let these kids american men and women in this academy have this kind of infrastructure we can't and because we let it go for so long it's gonna take a lot of money and that's the decision that you all have to make but i'll i'll plead with you cause if you haven't been there go see it and and and talk to the midshipmen and you'll be heartened to see the men and women that wanna serve this country and be mariners. So I've gone way over, Mr. Chairman, I apologize for that. I'm looking forward to your questions and uh thanks for having me again.

Uh thank you uh Mister Secretary and and on the subject of the Merchant Marine Academy there's a couple of kids from my hometown and Rogers it will be incoming freshman uh class of twenty thirty uh so you have my commitment to visit uh the Merchant Marine Academy uh we owe that to you.

Thank you.

We have um um typically start with the the leadership of the subcommittee, but today I'm going to yield first to Mister Shreve of Indiana. He is performing double duty today, not only is he a member of this subcommittee, but he's also engaged in the mark-up on TNI, on the service transportation bill. And so at this time I'm going to recognize Mister Shreve for any questions he may have. You're recognized for five minutes, sir.

Uh, Mister uh, chairman thank you very much i appreciate this privilege uh mr. secretary thank you uh for appearing uh before us thank you for spending some time in my state looking at a bridge project and and many other things i am the newest member of this subcommittee so this is a particular uh privilege uh and i serve on uh tni where we're obviously wrestling with the uh a surface reauthorization today and so there's a lot going on two floors down i'm looking at this as a new member but through the lens uh of both the appropriator and an authorizer uh i am from indianapolis where we met last time my district uh runs south and east uh our motto back home is we're the crossroads of america and that's not just a slogan indianapolis my district includes material portions of i sixty five i seventy i seventy four i sixty nine uh i've got parts of i four sixty five were a major short line rail state. We're talking a little bit about rail safety, uh, today and and beyond, two floors down. The Indianapolis International Airport's in my district. It is the top-ranked mid-sized airport in our country, and it's the home to the second largest FedEx Air Hub. So there's there there there's my uh my my pitch for Indiana's sixth district. Hoosiers know how to move freight. And we also know what happens when the system fails. In recent years, Hoosier families have suffered tragedies. involving commercial drivers who should not have been behind the wheel of eighty thousand uh uh pound rigs. Secretary Duffy, you have taken steps at your department, including stronger English language enforcement for commercial drivers and broader push to remove unsafe drivers from our highways. I wanna focus on what Congress, our Congress, can do to help you finish the job. Our protections are only as strong as the systems we rely upon That's why I'm co-leading legislation to modernize DHS's save system, so immigration status checks

Good.

to non-domiciled CDLs come back currently and quickly. Indiana has been cracking down since April first, just since April first our state has revoked eighteen hundred non-domicile uh domiciled CDLs. What else does this Congress need to codify or fund to help your department and F m csa keep in eligible and unsafe drivers off of our roads

uh thank you congressman not uh bad at freight and ok at basketball um in indiana and i appreciate your work on the on the save act that's uh that's important on the save um uh system so here's i want to to to to be clear to everybody on the committee uh the issues we've had with commercial driver's licenses um has been a nation wide problem there's not a difference between a democrat state and a republican state alike all the states uh perform poorly meaning they're they're giving uh commercial driver's licenses to uh people who maybe should not have been in the country at all they were illegal um or others who had come into the country in the last four years and they were given a driver's license for way longer than their work permit and so we've uh now modified the rules and um we're not allowing for the new rules on commercial driver's licenses to operate that way anymore one of the problems we have though is i don't have the authority to retroactively look at the all the thousands tens of thousands of commercial driver's licenses that were previously issued um and and encourage or incentivize states to take those drivers off uh the road and just one of the issues at play here is for an american truck driver to get a commercial driver's license we look at their record what do they have drunk driving so have speedings like who are they as a driver we'll look at their criminal records so we get a full purview into who these men and women are they that are gonna buy the uh drive these eighty thousand pound rigs when we've had uh people come into the country recently it's very challenging for us to look at their records and so we don't know who they are what is their driving record and i think that's creating some risk to the system and if you're going to church or you're going to walmart um you should be safe you should be the best drivers on the road not um some of the ones that are killing our families

uh so i'm i'm hearing that you don't have the data sharing tools or all those tools that that your department needs

uh i don't i don't have all the authority that i need and i would like to work with this committee in a bipartisan way to to talk about what should it look like

mmm

what should the rules be um and look forward and look back

i appreciate that

can i can i mention one other thing we we just uh launched the modus um system where we have a lot of these chameleon carriers and they are um you'll have one address that has a a hundred or a hundred and fifty trucking companies at one p o box or one address and just you guys see this across across the spectrum the technology is old

yeah

and we have a hard time dissecting the the the all the information so modus has come out uh new software system that's allowing us to actually have per view can have a hundred or ten or five trucking companies from um in in one peel box that's that'll that'll be a sign of fraud we should also have a conversation of do we want foreign operators in eastern europe or somewhere else to own trucking companies in the us and have a hundred trucking companies we're seeing some fraud with that as well we could work together on tightening up those rules that will drive the safety and and reduce fraud.

Miss, Mister Secretary, I would love to delve deeper into the problem of chameleon uh carriers, but I so appreciate your indulgence uh, Mister Chairman, and I yield back.

Thank you, Mister Chief. I'll recognize myself now for five minutes. Um, Mister Secretary, the the twenty-six uh, TIHUD bill requires billed awards to be based solely on the selection criteria in statute. That criteria include the extent to which a project improves safety, Quality of life, economic competitiveness, state of good repair, and cost effectiveness. Your FY twenty-six build NOFO issued in December includes project labor agreements as part of the economic competitiveness consideration for applicants. But I wanna talk about that for just a minute because I think every state that has, uh, and my staff can correct me if I'm wrong, every state that has an anti-PLA law is represented on this appropriations committee. Um, so, can you walk the committee through your rationale to add PLA preferences back into the NOFO?

So, the PLA's uh uh uh option is in there, but I believe there's ten criteria. So, a state like Arkansas would not be penalized at all if you have a, if you're one of the twenty-two states that uh don't allow for PLAs, there's no penalty to your state in access to the built grants. Um, it's one of uh ten factors that can be considered um in in the process. So it's not exclusionary at all.

What specific analyses or procurement reviews or economic calculations has the department conducted to evaluate whether a a PLA preference is um makes you know, or economically competitive? Can you help me understand what background you have to make those determinations.

well we'll look at um we'll try we'll ask for data to be submitted information to be submitted but eh eh we we we isn't you know this we want good good projects and projects that um we're not going to spend just a lot of money on to spend money we want the deliverable um and does it make economic sense as well um and so we'll uh we'll ask for information from uh from the project sponsor And then we'll analyze that and I'm not not to shock anybody, but sometimes people fudge information to us. Um, and we have to go through and suss out the truth of of the information that was submitted to make a a determination.

Well, I ask the question only because, uh, we wanna make sure that, uh, non-union states like my state of Arkansas can remain competitive. Uh, and it's good to know that they're not gonna be punished, uh, for having, uh, those, uh, those types of prohibitions. Um, finally as you know I've championed funding to address the chronic shortage of safe parking for American truckers. Our twenty-seven bill made uh another installment in this priority. The trucking industry, state DOTs and local communities are watching closely to see how the department moves on these grants. This is not a single agency problem. Um, it crosses the federal highways infrastructure portfolio and the federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's safety and hours of service mission. It's not just a convenience issue, tired drivers who cannot find a legal safe place to stop are a safety hazard. And you don't have to drive America's interstates, particularly at sundown, to understand where these truckers are finding some relief. They're on our exit ramps and entry ramps.

That's right.

Um, can you provide us with an update on the implementation of this program, and specifically when you anticipate the release of a no-fo?

Yeah, so first I appreciate the committee's work in making sure it was two hundred million dollars for uh for truck parking and you're right uh you go to a a on-ramp or off-ramp on any freeway at sundown we have trucks uh pulled over they're looking for places to park sometimes spending upwards of an hour looking for a place to park and it becomes a safety hazard and a safety risk for the drivers but also uh for um uh those commercial drivers so i i believe it's either uh this week or the start of next week that nofo on the two hundred million uh will come out and if i i do think if the uh the money comes back for a second round of of truck parking i do think there could be an opportunity that we could work on is there is there a way we could expand the money that this body gives to have a public-private partnership where we bring in private capital to um truly expand and give us more uh parking across uh the country on our on our freeways and interstates

are federal highways and the motor carriers working on a joint framework on on this how these funds are gonna be deployed

well the world we've uh ost is uh putting out the the nofo and we worked with all uh all the modes and we'll together work through the best uh applications there's some there's a there's a thought process on how we could do that and um how we should look at

well

where we do it is it sporadic or is it on you know several different routes

we have another installment that's in our bill that we marked up this morning and will be in front of the full committee in a couple of weeks but i wanna make sure that truck parking will continue to be a priority of your administration

and i think we're going to ask for a quick turn um uh of the nofos so we can make determinations and get those dollars out relatively quickly

i thank the gentleman

thank you

mister cliborne

thank you very much mr chairman uh mr. i've got a a safety question uh that uh is a two-parter uh one involvement manpower the other uh methods um the first one is you know we've uh spent what ninety six million dollars to um hire a new air traffic controllers and i understand that um uh there's been a sort of a new supercharged hiring process uh that is uh is being undertaken uh but it's been called to my attention that the uh NACRA uh the air traffic control union uh is not involved in this process at all uh could you explain why uh the group representing uh the employed uh we're not

yeah

was not brought into this

that's a a great question thank you congressman for asking it um so just if you give me i'll try to be quick the historic level of staffing up till twenty twenty four was the one point eight seven uh which is what we've gone back to right now um and it was bumped up to a higher staffing level um for the last two years but historically that's the number that we've determined is a safe staffing level um to operate the national airspace but because of the disagreement between the faa that wanted the historic number and natca that wanted the the bigger number um you all told me to go to the transportation transportation research board and have the transportation research board independent nonpartisan look at this and tell us what's right what's right staffing levels and they did come back and they've said that the staffing level that we've come out with the historic staffing level is the right level not the heightened one from from Natkin i just i do work very well with Natkin the team and i'm grateful for the controllers and have a wonderful relationship with them

well i i hope that the relationship will continue because i uh do believe irrespective of what one's feeling may be about uh organized labor uh when there is a legitimate group uh representing employees uh i think uh irrespective of what not we follow their suggestions bringing them into the process uh i think uh is a good thing uh my other uh question on safety is this now i understand uh that um our commitment to modernizing uh your efforts uh has been uh met with some skepticism about a fee that you talked about charging uh in order to uh facilitate that modernization could you tell me a little bit about this fee and

oh no thank you that was someone had asked me a question um uh about how could we fund this so i would tell you i the twelve and half billion that you all gave me um i'm by the way that was a leap of faith that was truly a leap of faith because this goes back to next gen and early uh early two thousands we knew this was a problem and you all gave billions of dollars and the you never got the deliverable and so the you've seen all the aviation incidents and you took a leap of faith and given us that money i'm i'm grateful for but that's not enough so we're doing the infrastructure i mentioned the the telecom and the radios and the radars all the all all that's being done but the deliverable for the american people the magic for the american people is gonna be the software cause i think people don't wanna be delayed they don't wanna be cancelled if it's a mechanical issue or it's weather like we we can't control that but would have more uh more airplanes commercial general evatels drones in the airspace and the software is a big part of it and i don't have the i keep asking for money uh i haven't got it yet i'd love if you all want to give it to me um but if that wasn't the case another option i'm just an idea factory over here if you want to charge a fee and put that on to you know come in and and fund this um but but i prefer that you all just gave me the dollars And just if i can make one other clarification, the the way this works is that you're very strict in how I could spend the twelve point five billion. I don't have a lot of latitude. I wish I had latitude to take some of the money and move it towards software development. I don't think we wanna wait till the twelve point five billion is deployed and we got a better infrastructure and then you're like, well then let's take another three years and start to develop the software, like we sh- we I think we could do it all together. And that's what I'm

You have you given us a plan of how you would do this and how much it would cost

um yeah yeah i have i i think i did um i so i'm i'm gonna ask for uh so i wanted another uh i originally i was at thirty one point five billion dollars you gave me twelve point five well in everyone here has a problem with a uh a tower in their in their community everyone calls me about their towers cause they're really old i took the tower money out now and i'm asking for ten point two billion i think you all are gonna give me money for towers in your own districts cause everybody has a problem cause it's really old but the ten point two gives us some money for the chicago um the the the chicago tower and then gives us the money for um the software that we're gonna need now i'd happy to i i

well it's hard time has expired but i

i i would i would welcome to sit down and or give your team a call on what we wanna do

please please cause i'd like to know little more about this fee

sure

thank you mr. Kleibern mr. mr. kohl

you're welcome

uh thank you very much and again mr. secretary as i said in my opening remark we very much appreciate your focus on the mike monroney center and and uh getting a handle on this problem with the uh air traffic controllers how many of them we have producing i know that over many years uh uh we've gotten a a high washout rate which in some ways is reassuring cause it means the standards are high and and uh they're tough to meet But I know you have a particular focus on trying to improve the student graduation rate. Could you tell me a little bit about what you're doing and what kind of success you're having in that regard?

So, you you bring up a good point. Uh, the the washout rate is about thirty percent and you we want a washout rate. We don't want everyone that gets into the academy to graduate cuz you you you need the best ones and the and the right ones. Uh, thirty percent is too high. Um, and so we've had some unique an unique set of problems where we lost some students um last fall um and that's brought our washout rate back up cause they count as a washout um but what has been the the ad campaign to bring in excited young people to be controllers uh you know coupled with the time frame we've truncated the time frame that you can apply in in until you get a seat in the academy it's thirty nine days it was uh pushing a year before and by the way that was not an easy uh problem to grapple with probably one of the most difficult problems to grapple with how do we truncate the time you know get the physicals get the testing you know and get a spot in the academy um so that is still a work in progress but it um it should be lower than thirty percent but we had some unique problems in the fall

uh couple you and i'm sure you're aware of this uh recently we had the faa director mr. bedford out there which was i think the first time we've had a visit and seven or eight years really appreciated it appreciated the team uh very very impressive uh uh group that you've assembled there um could you talk a little bit about the importance when you're training of having literally direct trainers there with them not you know not trying to do all of this over the uh over the internet makes a big difference to have real instructors in a face-to-face relationship with students