Test. Test. Tom udall. Todd young. Captioning performed by vitac thats a really good question. Im glad you asked it. When something does become mandatory, it must have a very consistent repeatable Test Procedure and what we find is when a technology is new, for instance, a certain kind of alert or blind spot detection, we learn a lot from the fact there are a little bit of a difference in different folks that are adopting it or different manufacturers who are designing different systems. Thats a time of learning and then if it seems appropriate to adopt it as a mandatory standard, we can then identify which of them is best. So that is one of the reasons why when a technology is first introduced we allow some Consumer Experience and some innovation before a mandate you couldnt just make it mandatory and give them the flexibility to do it however makes sense while youre testing this. Under the laws that we execute we actually have to be to have a consistent Test Procedure. So we cant say do it and we will figure out later whether or not we can confirm youve done it. So i can we can talk a little bit more about that offline, but when we have a federal Motor VehicleSafety Standards, it will have a Test Procedure and a consistent engineering description for execution, which means theres only one way, or a narrower set of alternatives. Were very excited to see that consumers are adopting the technologies, an example would be blind spot detection i have a couple other questions. Sure. In 18 there is a small overall reduction in road deaths, but a 4 increase in cycling death excuse me, pedestrian deaths rose by 4 and cycling deaths went up by 10 . What is going on and what are you going to do about it . There are two pieces of that, recognizing the data that was just released was an early projecti projection, those numbers will change twice, one when we issue the numbers for 2018 with a fuller sample submitted by the states okay. Is this data valid . So the data is indicative of a trend, yes, weve seen an increase in fatalities of pedestrians and bicyclists in our work with states, in our Grant Programs, in our development of programs that states implemented at the local level we are supporting local programs to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety. So our work is largely twothirds of our budget is going to states for them to implement programs that are appropriate for their condition. As you know, here in the district of columbia, more than 50 of the fatalities in traffic situations are pedestrians. Thats also true in nevada. But its not true everywhere. So some states will choose to use their state grant funds to execute programs that address a pedestrian risk that is high in their area, other places it will be a speeding risk or an Impaired Driving risk and we develop programs so your answer is that you have a Grant Program and you let states and counties and municipal Transportation Planning organizations do what they see fit . We develop programs that you develop programs, but we do research that supports them, why he. Okay. Is there no place for nhtsa to develop best practices and implement them as opposed to just pushing money to states and counties . No, we certainly do that. We do behavioral research, mechanical research, we develop programs, with he develop Public Education details. Let me ask you a personal question. Is this alarming to you . As a former Law Enforcement officer who has worked crashes and taken care of people who were injured or killed, as a former 911 dispatcher and a former emt working in my community, yes, it is absolutely alarming and every single man and woman of nhtsa is committed 24 7 to doing everything that we can to support local traffic safety. We develop programs some of which are appropriate for distribution and application nationwide, sometimes we need to address problems locally. I mentioned drug Impaired Driving earlier, there are areas where opioids are the larger problem, there are parts of the country where meth is the larger problem. My name is expired, but i have no idea what this has to do with pedestrian deaths and cyclist deaths going up pra sip to usually. Thank you. So the chairman has stepped out so im going to take the gavel and call on myself. So i appreciate this hearing and im assuming that all the witnesses are supportive of what we did four years ago which was actually a longterm fast act, it was a fiveyear authorization, prior to that there had been 36 shortterm reauthorizations which i dont think anybody regards as helpful. Do you all agree that we should be working on another longterm reauthorization in terms of highway transportation . I see nodding of all the heads. We look forward to continuing to work with you. Okay. Good. Let me ask a couple questions that relate to, you know, one of the things that im going to be focused on in this reauthorization is the permitting streamlining, which i know secretary chow has been very focused on. It shouldnt take eight years to build a bridge or to permit a bridge in america, 19 years almost from planning to construction of our highways. We need to fix a broken federal permitting system. So were going to continue that. I know the secretary is focused on that. But the hearing here is focused more on safety, which is appropriate. Mr. Szabat, i want to ask you, in terms of the consideration of grants to be distributed by the build america bureau, you might know, but a lot of the members of this committee are also members of the Armed Services committee. Does the agency take into consideration the role that commercial ports play with regard to national defense, in particular department of defense designated strategic ports such as the port of anchorage, and should congress consider this during the reauthorization of the fast act . As you know a lot of our commercial issues are deeply integrated with regard to our National Security issues. Senator, thank you for that question and thank you for a question that touches on my previous role in the department. Thats why i asked you. I assumed that you had an ulterior motive, sir, but i was seven years as executive director of the maritime administration. I think as you are aware in asking the question, there is no Statutory Authority for the department to consider the strategic nature of the ports. Do you, though . I mean, whether you need the statutory consideration or not . Its what we would consider to be a plus factor when you look at it. Should congress wish to make that a mandatory factor, that would have to be done statutorily. Do you think thats a good idea . Thats certainly an issue that we would look forward to working with you, the committee staff, the Committee Members that are interested in this to find a way forward. Okay. Good. I look forward to working with you on that, if you view it as a plus factor, i think most of us view it as a plus factor and maybe getting it in statute would put an emphasis on that. Ms. King, i want to follow up on a couple issues that youve talked about in the questioning. You mentioned the education materials and Public Education campaign for Impaired Driving, particularly with, you know, drugs beyond just alcoholImpaired Driving. Are you focusing that in particular with regard to states like alaska or i was just talking to senator gardner, colorado, that have legalized marijuana . Is there an area that youre focusing on to help those states in particular . Our initial work has been driving Public Education with respect to marijuana impairment because we have found in our Market Research that users feel that they drive better. But do you focus on states that you know, there are certain states that have legalized this where there is more activity there. Have you given thought to focusing in those areas . Yes, we have actually first traveled to washington, we later traveled to denver in colorado to have meetings and learn from them and learn best practices. Have you traveled to alaska yet . I have not yet. I look forward to seeing you there soon. I would look forward to that. But were sharing best practices. One of the things we find is the states who have been early early legalizers of marijuana products Like Washington and colorado, they have a great deal to learn. Other states that were early medical marijuana adopters like the state of california also have something to share so we visited places, iowa, new jersey, other places we just had a meeting in florida can i get your commitment to get to alaska soon . We have these issues and i think its important. I would love that. Thank you for the honor to do so. Great. Let me ask a related question. Senator schatz was talking about in terms of bicycle traffic fatalities. We also have a big community, cycling community. The municipality of anchorage and bike alaska, they have a program theyve put together called vision zero. Yes. Which is working on a coordinated approach, data driven, to have a Public Education, best practices, as you mentioned, with regard to these higher fatality rates and injury rates for bicyclists. Is nhtsa doing work with local partners like vision zero to identify best practices, what youre learning and how do we get involved in that at the local level . I think its really important that youre learning from them and theyre learning from you. Absolutely. One of the advantages of the local Community Groups working through vision zero or road to zero which are more international learnings is that the solutions can be best adapted to local conditions. So, for instance, the infrastructure needs might be a part of it, Public Education or traffic patterns might be a part of it. So all of that can be incorporated and encouraged for adoption in local laws, where the local jurisdiction is stronger. Nhtsa is supportive of all of those efforts and welcomes any opportunity to support those efforts to drive local traffic safety. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator sullivan. Senator markey. Thank you, mr. Chair man. Administrator king, im very disturbed with the administrations roll back of the fuel economy standards on 54. 5 miles per gone to 37 miles per gone. I think that it states that the Trump Administration are technological nehalists. These recommendations that the Obama Administration put on the book would back out 3 Million Barrels of oil a day, which is still the equivalent of what were importing from overseas, especially when we see incidents in the gulf of hormuz and the other areas of the middle east, we can see how quickly the United States could get drawn into essentially a war over oil. And so our answer has to be that we are the technological giants and were going to invent the vehicles that back out the need for oil and we will strengthen our hand diplomatically in the middle east very dramatically if we do that, otherwise we are over there primarily because of the oil, lets just be honest about it. So i dont understand, ms. King, what your logic is in rolling back these fuel economy standards, but i will tell you that ultimately you are on weak ground because, amongst other things, pretty much the entire Auto Industry is protesting that youre taking this action, that youre going to create a divide in the country between all of the american states that follow the california waiver and the Trump Administration, and they are saying its going to be very bad for business. So i guess what i would ask you to do is to explain whether or not you believe it is possible for the United States to reach 54. 5 miles per gallon, and it is wise for us to just stop dead i will ask the question this way, in your opinion is it wise just to stop at 2020 and not to advance all the way out to 2025 in improvement of the fuel economy standards . Do you agree with that . Senator markey, im so pleased that you asked. I have good news that we have proposed a rule but not yet finalized it, in that proposal we solicited comment on a wide range of options including the current standard that was issued in 2012. So we are reviewing the comments now and have not yet selected a final. There is no roll back, there is consideration of 650 to 700,000 comments on a complicated and important rule. Im very pleased to have your enthusiasm for that. To answer your question no, my enthusiasm is for the Auto Industry to reach 54. 5 miles per gallon. My enthusiasm is not for 650,000 comments to be heard over this question, it is just to continue on the course to solve this problem. I am pleased to be representing consumers interests here as well. I recognize the auto manufacturers have a very important voice. We also want to make sure that consumers needs and safeties are considered as congress directed me and the e. A to consider. I will just say this, that 13 federal agencies in november of 2018 concluded that if we continue with business as usual the planet is going to warm by 9 degrees fahrenheit by the year 2021 by the year 2100. So from my perspective this is just not an option. It also says that the seas are going to rise by 11 feet if we dont take action. So we have the blueprint from all of our own federal agencies as to the danger, we know that Greenhouse Gases are the largest cause of it and we also know that this is the largest single reduction thats ever been proposed by any law of any country in the history of the world. So i just disagree with you given the urgency of the problem. And if i may say that fuel economy is also pro consumer, its pro safety and the rules that are on the books right now are the answer. I just also want to say to you, mr. Batory, i know that there has been a withdrawal of the twoperson crew rule, but i want to tell you that im going to introduce the safe freight act, that legislation would mandate twoperson crew Safety Standards going forward. I think that your agency has abdicated its responsibility to provide oversight and safety rules, but to actively declare that no state could take action as well, just leaves a regulatory black hole that endangers [ inaudible ]. Mr. Chairman, i thank you so much. Thank you, senator markey. I have senator scott and then senator tester. Mr. Szabat, can you tell me under the first of all, thank you all for being here and thanks for your hard work. On infra allocated 4. 5 billion in grants over the life of the fast act. How much has been spent, do you know . Do any of you know . We have that information, senator. My apologies for not having it here in front of me, but we can get that back to you for the record. If you can get it to me and if you can get it to me by state. Of course. And do you take into consideration the amount of tax revenues, gas tax revenues, that come in and how you allocate those 4. 5 billion or not . For the discretionary Grant Program, senator, thank you for the question, this is a good one, one of the factors that we look at is the local match as opposed to what is being proposed for the grant itself as opposed to the overall tax rate of the state. Thanks. Mr. Martinez, my father was a truck driver and he would be real excited now because Truck Drivers get paid a lot more than what he got paid when i was growing up. In florida we have in florida you can drive in state from 18 to 20, but you cant cross state lines. I have cosponsored a bill that senator young has allowed people to start driving at 18 nationally. What do you think about that . Thank you, senator. The good news is that we have recently undertaken the under 21 military Pilot Program at the direction of congress to study those who have had military experience driving heavy trucks either as they come out of the military, National Guard, reserves, and we have started engaging with carriers and they will we need at least 200 participants to begin that Pilot Program. We also have an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking out asking for input from the industry as to what should we look at if we were going to move beyond that to a broader population. So will you take a position on senator youngs bill or not . I mean, is it typical im new, ive been here six months we generally to ask you all to take a position and give feedback or not . We generally would not do that. What we will do, as we are doing now, is conduct a Pilot Program or study to see if we can get some data before we move forward on that, but obviously we want to engage with congress on this issue because i hear it every day from the stakeholders all around the country and we understand that there is a shortage of drivers, so we want to be helpful there, but our primary focus remains safety. And have you do you have any data to suggest the states that have reduced it to 18 like florida, that they are you know, there are more issues there . And that is the problem that we face is that we dont have hard data on that, and thats what were hoping to get from this Pilot Program. I take your point that in large geographic states, florida, california, new york where im from originally, you can drive all over the state, but you cant cross state borders. That is it makes you scratch your head. The rule has been in place since the 1930s, so it is something it deserves a good hard look now because things have changed. We have new technologies that may be able to monitor and tell us not all drivers under 21 are the same. I know you have a lot more monitoring now. Yes. My father would not like to fill out the logbooks. I think he generally pulled them out when he got home. Which is probably not the exact way that you probably would have liked. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Senator tester. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to follow up on what senator scott was asking about. Your Pilot Program deals with 18 year olds . It would be under 21. 18 to 20. 18 to 20. Correct. Can you tell me what you ar measuring since they cant drive across state lines . So in this Pilot Program we would be looking for individuals who have had they must have had this Prior Experience in the military okay. Look, if they had Prior Experience in the military theyre not 18 years old anymore. Correct. Okay. So the point is this, because im actually a cosponsor of that bill with senator young, if we are going to be able to do this and you want to get Accurate Information on whether this is right that Pilot Program isnt going to tell you what you need to know because youre talking with people probably that had experience driving truck in the military, number one, and number two theyre probably eligible to drive across state lines right now if they want to. I understand that and that is one of the challenges of the Pilot Program, honestly. What i would recommend is because there is an education component to that bill that senator young and i have, is that you guys try to come forth with an idea on whether you are going to support that or not because i will tell you if the department doesnt support it were into the going to get it passed in my opinion because everybody is concerned about safety. Just a sidebar. I just want to say one thing, ms. King. Senator markey talked about the mileage standards and you talked about consumers. I can tell you when the mileage standards were dropped, i dont know what consumer benefit they got. Oil Companies Got a benefit. Ive got a peter built and ive got a prius, 8 miles versus about 99 miles to the gallon because its a hybrid. I think this is a huge step. Climate change aside, this is a huge step against the consumer. I mean, gasoline has gone up significantly and quite frankly it cuts a good hole in my pocketbook when i fill up my peter built. In fact, you better have a damn thick checkbook. I would encourage you to reinstate it where it was. It doesnt make any sense. Everybody else is heading in that direction. We are the greatest country in the world until we elect President Trump and now were taking a back seat to everybody. This is crazy. I just i cant markey and i dont agree on everything, i will tell you that, but we sure as hell agree on this. This is important. So, mr. Batory, i want to talk to you a little bit about amtrak. There is a component in the fast act that allows you to work with on states and border routes, work with a pretty Broad Coalition of people on how that is going to work. Is there the same kind of committee youre familiar with what im saying, i will explain it out more if you arent but is there the same kind of committee for Long Distance routes, amtraks Long Distance routes to talk about where youre going . Senator tester, i really appreciate that question because its something thats come to my mind. Keep in mind but do we have we dont. Would you support the establishment of such . I think there is an opportunity. You would support it . You have states supported under 750 miles so take that business model, learn from it, maybe expand it. So you would support it . I would. Okay. Good. Can you tell me what the longterm vision is for amtrak . Look, ive been to europe once and it was 70th anniversary of normandy five years ago, but i have people who go over all the time and they come back and rave about the Train Service. Happened again this weekend, they absolutely rave about timeliness, cleanliness, user friendliness. Are we looking to do away with our Train Service for passenger purposes with the exception of whats going on on the eastern seaboard or are we looking to expand it and make it better and serve states like montana to a greater degree . There have been some actions taken about i amtrak and i love ceo anderson and loved him when he was delta president , but he has done some stuff thats made me upset, lets just put it that way. So do we have a longterm plan . Is it to privatize it . Do away with it . Or is it to make it better . All you will get from me is an opinion. Okay. I think amtrak can best answer that question. Okay. All right. So last thing, i live four blocks from here. Okay . I get in that prius, it gets 99 miles to the gallon and i drive here and every time i drive those four blocks somebody is looking at their damn cellphone when the light turns green and it backs traffic up. Are we doing anything about that and if we are what are we doing . Excuse me for running over, mr. Chairman. Yes, we are, at nhtsa we have quite a bit of research, we have programs to educate consumers and support local Law Enforcement. Its illegal to be driving while texting so theres distracted drivers in the car, there are distracted drivers on the road, some jurisdictions in the u. S. Have actually put restrictions on the use of phones while pedestrians are in the road. So, again other than education, have you done anything . Yes, theres education, research on the psychology of the Human Factors and what policies work to address the problem. They are adopted and implemented with nhtsa support at the local level through our Grant Programs. Are we doing anything like partnering with Insurance Companies or high schools or things like that . We are talking to Insurance Companies. With high schools, yes, there are various organizations that use the community of younger people to drive better decisionmaking, whether it be on distracted driving or or on Impaired Driving. We are just now increasing our support because of the importance for youth for driving better decisions. I would just say this, just a sidebar comment, i mean, drunken driving is a huge problem in this country. Yes. Text driving may even be above it to be honest with you. You have people who have their hands off the wheel, got their eyes off the road. Its insanity. We have to figure out how to do a better job educating folks that this is not tolerated. Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, senator tester. Senator blackburn. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank each of you for being here. I look forward to the work were going to do with the fast act. Ms. King, i want to come to you first and talk a little bit about Autonomous Vehicles. When i was over in the house we had passed the legislation to put in place some parameters and we look forward to the senate, i know senator thune and senator peters have filed legislation that would deal with the avs. We know this ak notechnology is coming, we know that some of the Pilot Projects are going to be taking place, but Congress Needs to act and build that framework out. I think its also an important step for us to take because when it comes to the avs and the evs, we want to set the standards for this. We do not want china setting the standards for this. If we dont take that action, we know who will take that action. So if you will just speak for a minute about nhtsas involvement, where you are, why its important for you all to engage from the manufacturing process through well, the design process, the manufacturing process and then the rules of the road. If you will give me one minute on that. Absolutely. And im watching my clock. At nhtsa everything starts with research. We feel very strongly that safety relies on data, science and engineering and we have quite a number of Research Projects not only on the technologies themselves, how they work and maybe where they still need to improve, but also on how humans interact with those technologies because its important to make sure that human drivers or operators are engaged when they need to be and that systems are safe if a driver is able to disengage. One of the challenges we have, of course, is that currently there is some advanced technologies that i call fancy Cruise Control that are on our roads now. They support a driver, but the human must still be actively engaged. There is no selfdriving car for sale in the United States today, but those systems, the highly Automated Vehicles, are under development, were learning together and in anticipation of that we are at nhtsa evaluating and are taking comment on and assessing our comment Regulatory Regime to make sure were prepared to safely update regulations. In your Pilot Program, you are looking at avs Pilot Projects, wherer you on that. We received comments on a Pilot Project that could allow for sharing of information and Community Engagement with the testing of highly Automated Vehicles in our comments i will say roughly that we find theres some confusion about what the purpose of the Pilot Project is. So were reviewing those comments now and will, again, go back to the public for engagement before we take next steps. Wonderful. I know senator fischer mentioned the hours of service and this is very important, and, mr. Martinez, let me come to you on this. Im fully aware that farm bureau and other entities have weighed in with you all. Tennessee is a big ag state, tennessee and kentucky produce more beef than anyone else east of the mississippi. What we are hopeful of is that you all will arrive at something that is going to be supported by the ag community, also workable and just common sense for them and allow some flexibility. Understood, senator. We have been fully engaged with the industry representatives here in washington and also with our colleagues over at the department of agriculture to make sure that we are sensitive to the specific needs of those in the agriculture community, but and specifically to the livestock community. We are fully engaged in that. Thank you. I appreciate that. And before i let you go and my time runs out, the cdl issue, and looking at those that are under 21 being able to drive across state lines. I appreciate your comments to mr. Scott, but this is something i think that, again, common sense needs to be engaged in the Pilot Project that you all are moving forward with, we will look forward to hearing about some results on that issue. Thank you. We will as soon as we can get the results out, but also, you know, those in the National Guard and reserves are under 21, were hoping to get at least 200 participants that we can monitor and in addition to that we are we do have a request out for more information from stakeholders. If we were going to broaden that beyond those who have served in the military to see what we should be looking at. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you, senator blackburn. Senator duckworth. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding todays hearing. As Ranking Member in the transportation and safety subcommittee i would appreciate the opportunity to learn more about each of your specific ideas about fast act reauthorization. I was hoping administrator batory, administrator mart neds and ms. King, would you each be willing to commit to meeting with me in the coming weeks to discuss ideas and priorities that you may have for your reauthorization . Yes. Yes, senator, i will. Yes, senator. I would look forward to it. Thank you. Administrator batory, as you know, the Illinois Department of transportation is working closely with Iowa Interstate Railroad to advance a chicago to quad cities Passenger Rail project. Will you commit to providing stakeholders with appropriate flexibility to ensure they finalize a deal . I know its a long time coming, but they need some flexibility, would you work with me on that . Yes, senator, ive been very involved in that since the spring of last year and i think we see light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you. Mr. Szabat, unless you have an answer at your fingertips, would you get back to me in writing as to whether or not usdot has any plans whatsoever to claw back federal funding for this critical rail project . We will be happy to get back to you, senator. Thank you. Obviously i would strongly object to any such actions and i hope its only a rumor and a false one at that. Ms. King and mr. Martinez, the road to zero Coalition Led by the National Safety council and in partnership with nhtsa, fmcsa and over 900 members is laying out strategies to end road rate deaths by 2050. Yes or no, are you both still 100 committed to eliminating road rate deaths by 2050 adds a goal. We continue to partner with that group, with he come up with Innovative Strategies and the combined power of the partners is wherein ovations will come that get us to the zero goal. Mr. Martinez. That remains our goal. One death is one too many. Is it still, ms. King, nhtsas policy that every child on every three bus should have a threepoint safety seat belt . So it is our policy that everybody should be safe on our roads, as martinez said, administrator martinez, one death is one too many, why he. Thank you. Administrator batory, as you know, senator durbin and i have been working with amtrak, Canadian National and idot, the Illinois Department of transportation to address signal activation issues known as short shunting on a rail corridor in illinois that impacts amtraks rail time performance. While all stakeholders are working in good faith more active and direct involvement by fra is necessary to identify a permanent long Term Solution because different people have different explanations as to why. I do think fras increased involvement is going to be vital to us moving forward on this. Will you direct your staff to play a more active role in these discussions . Yes, senator, they are already actively involved. When it came to my knowledge last year i was highly surprised about how long the tail is on this, over five years. Yeah. Its frustrating. I speak personally about that. Ive been on those trains. Well its very frustrating when you are on the trains. The thing of it is, okay, something that should be resolved, okay, needs to be resolved and at this juncture my outlook on it has taken on a life of a soap opera and you only have to study things so much. Finally you have to do something. I think your leadership fras leadership is going to be critical on that. Perhaps you can commit to asking your staff to double down and lets get this resolved. Yes, maam. Thank you. Mr. Szabat, the president s executive order 13771 requires federal agencies to eliminate two regulations for every new regulation thats created. Can you guarantee that this executive order has not delayed the implementation of critical safetyrelated regulations at dot . Senator, yes, i can. I think we in the department are very proud of our record and, in fact, of the deregulation. And of the deregulation actions that he have with taken, our actions save money as well as either do not adversely affect or actually promote more safety. So just i mean, one out of dozens of examples, faas rote toe craft compartment review, we eliminated a requirement to save more than 525 million for the operators and yet actually makes it easier for them to achieve Safety Standards. Are you saying that no safety regulation has been delayed in implementation because youre looking for two other regulations to eliminate first . That is true to my knowledge. If i find out otherwise, i will get back to you. Thank you. And, mr. Szabat, senator purdue and i included a requirement in the reauthorization act for u. S. Dot to report to congress within nine months on the benefit of expanding the program to include airplane projects. Do you expect the report to be on time. Senator, yes, we will commit to delivering copies of the report to you and senator purdue and any other member of Congress Interested in seeing that. We are currently working on the draft of the report, so i cannot commit that we will exactly meet the deadline, but if we miss it we wont miss it by much. Im over time. I do have more questions, but in the interest of time i will submit them for written responses. Thank you, senator duckworth. Senator blumenthal. Thanks, mr. Chairman. Thank you all for being here. Administrator batory, you and i last october discussed the gateway project, and you will recall during that hearing before this committee you told me we should expect to see a final Environmental Impact statement and record of decision, and im quoting, in the first or Second Quarter of 2019, end quote. You also committed to provide me with a more specific answer in writing. Were eight months later, almost halfway into 2019, i have still heard nothing on the final eis and the record of decision for gateway. The completion of the eis is critical to preventing costly delays and ensuring that the project moves forward quickly to construction and the further delays risk the shutdown of one or both of the existing 108yearold tunnels. I dont think i need to emphasize or even articulate to you or anyone else in this room the importance of this project. They are 108 years old. They would have required this project even without the storms that did further damage to this vital artery. I would like to ask again and would you please be more specific when we can expect that the final eis and the record of decision for the gateway tunnel project will be done. Yes, senator. Two things, and one i want to just take 15 seconds, i apologize to you. Thank you. The last time we had a hearing inadvertently i shared with you everything i knew about that subject matter and i ran the clock on you and you said you were going to send me a letter and then i followed up to find out that letter had never been responded to. So i have to wear it. I failed. Well, i more than accept your apolo apology. Now, here is the fact. Im interested in the facts. Exactly. What we assembled, okay, was a timeline and, by the way, hudson tunnel had its threeyear birthday last month starting may of 2016. Last fall i asked for documentation to walk me through from may of 16 all the steps that had been completed and what steps had to be completed. I get it updated monthly. It resides in the policy and development, in the legal sections of fra as far as doing, if you will, further vetting of the draft eis. We have 95 processing steps completed behind us, theres another 27 yet to be completed. You know, one could do the math and say does that mean another year . I dont know. But i can look you in the eye and everybody thats interested about this hudson tunnel that it is actively being worked on, its not on my desk with a paper weight on it, and its not upstairs on the ninth floor anywhere in ost with a paper weight on it. Everybody is working. Now, just one piece of color, the portal bridge is a tenyear nepa process for 1. 6 billion. Its ready to go but theres no funding. Right up the street where the virginia avenue tunnel started out with an ea ended up with an eis 120 million private funds, ran over 400 million and it took ten years for an eis. Now, one of the things i find interesting and somewhat frustrated just is the process and the time in which these nepa projects take. Not just the hudson tunnel, all of them. The general complaint, and i apologize for cutting you off, but i have limits on my time, im frank to tell you im disappointed in this response because you have not given me a time by which any of this work will be done. Time is essential to this project. This is a vital artery under the hudson that carries commerce, freight, passengers, rail and it is in danger of physically collapsing. It would cripple the economies of new york, new jersey and states that adjoin them, maybe the entire east coast. I will give you another chance to respond in writing with a more definite date. I dont mean to be unfair, im not blaming you alone, but the buck has to stop somewhere on this project. And i will put this point again in writing to you and i hope that you will respond. Id like to ask finally all the members of the panel, as you know ive been an advocate of prompt deadlines to meet full implementation of positive train control. The fast act reauthorization presents an opportunity for congress to prompt railroads to complete this work through additional fines, penalties and other means of encouragement. What do members of this panel believe what should happen if regards fail to meet that deadline . That is the 2020 deadline. First, im not looking forward to any failures. Thats not to say there may not be some failures. We are being very proactive starting with First Quarter 2017, weve made considerable inroads. As far as any particular railroad that fails to complete the statutory and regulatory requirements, i have been an advocate from day one that the fra should assess nothing less than, my quote, full retail in the way of fines and violations. Now, you could question that and say what does a penalty do . By statutory whats set forth before us statutorily, if a railroad fails come 1 already been 1 1 21 all we can do is send violations and assess fines. It is on january 1st of 2021, statutorily, that fra can then start invoking conditions of operation on railroads that still dont have ptc in place. The one thing that i am very pleased to report to you is that the men and women of this country that are employed in this Railroad Industry that lead, maintain and operate it daily are doing an exceptionally good job in their fulfillment of operating a safe network. And the commuter railroads have improved considerably. Now, on july 12th, and this is one it really has a lot of my concern, were going to have a meeting with everybody that resides in a Corner Office starting with amtrak and all the commuter railroads on the northeast corridor and in some instances the chairman will be there, chairman kosher will be there, chairman foy will be there. The issue is to apprise everybody where we are at and let them go back to their home offices and if they think theyre going to fail on delivering on 1 1 21 then they need to start thinking about coming up here and meeting with yourself and your colleagues and explaining to them why theyre going to fail. But im not going to wait until Fourth Quarter of next year to raise that flag. Mr. Blumenthal, will it be all right if anyone else wants to answer if they do so on the record . I would appreciate that and i apologize, mr. Chairman, that ive gone over my time. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good series of questions. Senator peters. Thank you, chairman wicker and to our folks who are testifying here today. But first i want to first say i want to express my appreciation to you, mr. Chairman, as well as to Ranking Member cantwell for your support of legislation that im writing and working closely with senator thune related to the deployment of selfdriving vehicles. I appreciate your interest in that topic and your willingness to work closely with us. Im glad that weve been able to have some bicameral, bipartisan discussions with colleagues in the house as well and i look forward to our continuing Work Together through the surface reauthorization effort to make some meaningful progress in this area if possible. My first question is to deputy administrator i think can. I understand there are now at least three petitions to nhtsa for exemptions from federal Motor VehicleSafety Standards for selfdriving technologies and im sure youre going to have many more to come in the weeks, months and years ahead, but im concerned that under current law and the currently available exemption process will not enable the agency to acquire the robust data thats needed to inform safety regulations in the future, nor does it provide a stable regulatory signal to help spur Business Investment in this rapidly emerging area. So my question to you is what other options does nhtsa have under existing authority to help facilitate the safe testing and deployment of Autonomous Vehicles . Senator, thank you for that question and i agree with you, i share that concern, because we are all so excited about the potential of these technologies to assure us safety on our roadways as well as to create economic benefits, give us some time back. Im aware of two petitions for ex exemption from fmvss and those two have been open from public comment. We are learning from the Public Comments submitted to us now. But to answer more directly your question about what other tools nhtsa has in its toolbox, we are already opening the dialogue around how do we update our processes which are cumbersome and outdated. Weve already removed the completion step in review of the two petitions that we just discussed. We are also considering other tools in our regulatory toolbox where under our existing congressional authorities we can streamline the processes. As you mentioned, data, engineering, is absolutely going to be required to assure that we make safe decisions while allowing new technologies to come to our roadways. We have both the opportunity to be performing our own research which we continue to be doing, also learning from the field experiences from those who are testing on our roadways. In pulling that information together we can identify gaps, fill those gaps and move Forward Together more quickly. We are still in the testing and Development Phase, were still learning and were hesitant to make conclusions too quickly during this testing and Development Phase because we dont want to discourage the innovation, but we prioritize safety overall and continue to learn together. All okay. Autonomous. Fmbss. Another question for you. As you know, the fcc chairman has announced interest in taking a quote, fresh look, at the 5. 9 gig a hertz ban. It consists of seven channels, all of which are currently used not just by the Auto Industry, by states, municipalities for testing a vehicle to everything, v 2 x. Communications which will enhance Public Safety dramatically. These safety investments have been funded from federal taxpayer money as well. If you could for the record share the perspective on potential interference concerns associated spectrum in the 5. 9 gig hertz. We are committed to preserving all seven channels for Transportation Safety applications across the transportation system. We are still doing research on interference. We are in phase two, expect thats a track testing. We expect to have some findings by late summer. Then we move to phase three should the findings be positive. I want to flag that someone very visionary 20 years ago held the spectrum, back in the day we were dreaming of 3 g. We held that spectrum. We have had experts not only within the federal system and private sector designing protocols, building technologies, designing boxes and only last year finally issuing registration and security requirements after 20 years of designing lifesaving technology. One doesnt decide to build a dream house, design and build it, furnish it, not move in because you werent living there when it was designed. Now is the time to take advantage of this technology to fully occupy that technology. One thing is to remove Technology Requirement that is in fcc regulations that restricts only dsrc technologies to be used on the band, and allow for other technologies for Technology Neutral so the superior technology can deploy. I am out of time. Quick question, really quick answer, based on what you just said. Ill try. Chairman pie suggested phase two and three of testing of the band to assess interference had not taken place because the department of transportation hadnt elected to do so. Sounds like you are doing it . Phase two and three are informed by phase one. The fcc had ownership of managing phase one. That report was issued late last year, at which time we agreed with fcc. Let dot lead the next one. Were moving quickly because we care a lot. Senator udall. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Really appreciate you doing this hearing. In 2017, 10,874 people died of drunk driving, 30 of all traffic facilities. Thousands of lives needlessly lost, families destroyed. I have been working to bring down the number of drunk driving deaths since attorney general of new mexico in the 1990s. This technology to bring the number closer to zero than we have ever seen. My legislation, the road safe act, authorized and funded the testing. I asked if they were working to test the technology, and if they are not planning to use the technology to prevent drunk driving, i asked reasons for not doing so, whether they are pursuing other measures to reduce drunk driving fatalities. I request a copy of the letter and responses i received be placed in the hearing record, mr. Chairman. Unfortunately, responses leave a lot to be desired. Since the manufacturers support my legislation, have been engaged with the dads program for a decade, i expected more positive responses particularly when so many lives are at stake. But arguments from the automobile manufacturers, why theyre not planning to implement this technology sound all too familiar. They are the same arguments they made why air bags, backup cameras, and probably every safety feature shouldnt be deployed. They claim the technology is unproven and we need to move cautiously before installing it. Enough is enough. Im tired of waiting. These same Car Companies have aggressively pushed for deregulation to allow Autonomous Vehicles to be widely deployed and used all of us as test subjects, but when it comes to Safety Technology that is close to being able to deployed, caution is requested. My position is we must take steps to advance the lifesaving Technology Much more quickly. I recognize that the field testing stage is happening now, and im hopeful new mexico will be one of the states where testing occurs, but we must have support for dads from every single car company and from nhtsa. We have to do more to get this technology on the road. Every manufacturer should be integrating this into vehicles as soon as possible. Miss king, theyre required to send annual reports on the dads program to congress. My office has reports up through 2016. Can you explain the delay releasing the 2017 and 2018 reports . Thank you for that question, senator. And no. I cannot explain it. I am unaware, i will look into it and get back to you in haste. I hope youll give us a strong answer for the record. I will, for the record, i want to say i am impressed with the technology, pleased at the work the Research Effort have completed, the technology seems very well suited in particular for fleet use to my eyes. It is now low profile and it is attractive and it has a high record of success with detection of alcohol presence. Thank you. Im supportive. Thank you. Assistant secretary, in your prepared testimony you highlighted dot infrastructure for rebuilding america grants known as in fra grants. The Program Designed to support large projects that promote economic benefits in addition to enhancing transportation and most critically improve safety. In 2017, new mexico had the fifth highest rate of deaths from fatal Motor Vehicle crashes per capita. Fifth most dangerous state for traffic accidents. From 2015 to 2016, new mexico saw the largest percent increase in traffic fatalities in the nation, 35 . These arent just numbers, they represent hundreds of lives lost. New mexico has one of the largest if not the largest need for money to support traffic safety. But do you know how much my state has received from dot infra grants . Zero dollars. State and local governments in new mexico have a demonstrated need, submitted to you a request for over 284 million from the infra program. I encourage secretary chow to fully consider the request in light of heightened need for safety funding in my state. I hope youll do that. Senator, we will. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you very much, senator udall. Thank you to the participants and witnesses. Hearing record will remain open for two weeks. During this time, senators are to submit anything for the record on receipt, witnesses requested to submit written answers to the committee as soon as possible, no later than wednesday, july 10, 2019. Thank you very, very much. This hearing is concluded. Testifying about vulnerableabilities in the tsa. Maryland congressman Elijah Cummings chairs the House Oversight committee. This should get under way in a moment. Live coverage on cspan 3. Dpekos dpekoske