Republicans’ transport agenda unclear as they take control of Congress

As Republicans take control of the 114th Congress with large majorities in the House and Senate, they are starting to look like that neighborhood dog who barked and chased the fire truck down the street lo those many years.
 
The dog has finally caught the fire truck. Now, what?
 
That’s the question many transportation lobbyists in Washington are asking as Republicans enjoy the largest majority in the House since World War II and a 54-seat majority in the Senate.
 
In addition, at the state level, Republican governors now operate in 31 states, up from 29 last year. That includes Republicans in governors’ mansions in such blue states as Massachusetts, Maryland and Illinois.
 
The breakdown in the House this next year will be 246-188, but could grow. There is an automatic recount in a Democratic-held district in the Tucson, Ariz. Area where Rep. Ron Barber trails Republican challenger Martha McSally by fewer than 200 voters.
 
If McSally wins, Republicans would have 247 seats, the largest majority since 1929-31 when the GOP controlled 270 seats in President Herbert Hoover’s administration.
 
The Senate breakdown includes 54 Republicans. That does not include Angus King, I-Maine, who has not definitively said which side he will caucus with. And Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., is whispered to be considering changing parties. If both those break for Republicans, that would give the GOP 56 controlled seats, close to approaching the 60-vote majority needed to overcome President Barack Obama’s vetoes.

“As you get closer to 60 votes, that gives you more of a chance to get things done.” says Bill Graves, president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations. “It’s a huge sea change shift in politics.”
 
The biggest issue for transport in 2015 is funding for Interstate highways. That current funding will expire in May after a stop-gap nine-month continuing resolution expires. Whether the new Congress has the gumption to tackle the sticky problem of how to pay for much-needed highway and bridge reconstruction is an open question, however.
 
This much is clear: even President Obama has virtually ruled out any increase in the federal fuel tax – 18.4 cents on gasoline, 24.4 cents on diesel, unchanged since 1993.
 
At a Business Roundtable event in Washington last month, FedEx Chairman and Founding CEO Fred Smith directly asked the president why Congress is ignoring bipartisan pleas on the part of transportation and construction interests (including FedEx and the ATA, among others) to raise the fuel tax to pay for much-needed highway construction, the president virtually shot down any chance of a fuel tax increase this year—or anytime before the 2016 elections.
 
“In fairness to members of Congress, votes on gas taxes are really tough,” Obama said, according to the AP. “Gas prices are one of those things that really bug people. When they go up, they’re greatly attuned to them. When they go down, they don’t go down enough.”
 
Even if raising fuel taxes seems off the table for 2015, there are a number of key changes in committee leadership posts in both the Senate and House.
 
In the Senate, venerable Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, takes over from Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in the key Senate Finance Committee. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., assumes the top leadership post at the Senate Commerce Committee, from Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. And conservative Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., assumes leadership of the Sen. Environment and Public Works Committee from Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
 
“I’m thrilled to see John Thune take over the Senate Commerce Committee,” ATA’s Graves said. “He gets it.”
 
The election loss of Mark Pryor, D-Ark., to incoming freshman Sen. Tom Cotton (R) is considered a wash for trucking interests. Pryor was a reliably pro-trucking vote in the Senate, representing the home state of such trucking heavyweights as J.B. Hunt, Maverick USA, ABF, P.A.M. Transportation and others. 
 
On the House side, Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., the son of Bud Shuster, legendary horse trader and deal maker extraordinaire, remains in control of the influential House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. But the younger Shuster takes over a shrinking T&I Committee, now comprising a bit over 60 members, which also has a much more conservative makeup than in the past.
 
Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., will be ranking minority member of the T&I Committee. Rep. DeFazio is a reliable voice for infrastructure spending and new innovative ways of raising revenue.
 
“He understands we can’t keep coming up with pennies from heaven,” Graves said. “He understands we have to come up with real money.”
 
Key losses in transport-related committees are Jay Rockefeller, D-W., Va., who is retiring as chairman of Senate Commerce Committee. Also, Nick Rahall, ranking minority member of House T&I committee, D. W. Va., lost his seat after nearly 30 years in Congress.
 
Even though Democrats have lost 16 Senate seats and as many as 77 House seats during President Obama’s terms in office, that may not have increased the president’s urge to compromise during his final two years, transport lobbyists say. 
 
“The situation we find ourselves in the President needs to compromise and he really doesn’t know how to do that,” one transportation lobbyist said privately. “The House doesn’t want to compromise. Sen. Mitch McConnell (the new Senate majority leader) wants to compromise, but I don’t think they (the Republicans) know how.”
 
In other words, stay tuned. With the highway bill’s future in the balance, how much either side is willing to cave in order to get a deal is an open question in Washington.