Changes provided for under the fast act including processing procedures and an application dashboard. And finally something that goes hand in hand with all of the departments efforts is research and innovation. In march we began the competition for utc grants which allows students and faculty to Work Together towards innovative transportation solutions. Weve received 212 applications for the 35 grants available. Im proud of the work the department has accomplished in such a short period of time. But this is just the beginning. And it would not be possible i would like to repeat without the work of this congress on a bipartisan basis. We will continue our aggressive schedule to execute the reforms you put into place because if our nations going to have the type of Transportation System tomorrow that is better than it had today, wasted time is something none of us can afford. So with that, mr. Chairman, i want to thank you and i look forward to your questions. Thank you, mr. Secretary. And ill lead off and then well open up to our members in the order in which they arrived. Your testimony noted that the federal Railroad Administration is making progress on a number of important initiatives from streamlining the permitting process to reforming the riff program and id like to get a little bit more specific if i mike about the expected implementation timelines, in particular you mentioned that fra plans to propose expedited procedures this week. Do you plan to finalize those procedures before the end of the year . That is my plan, yes, sir. And when does the department expect to have a functional, Innovative Finance Bureau and what riff Program Reforms can be implemented as the bureau is set up . Were using a belt and suspenders process by basically twotracking everything to get it up and running. I expect that we will have the Bureau Office space up and going by the middle part of the summer. I also expect that we will issue and i think we may have already done so Job Description for the executive director of the bureau as well. So, my goal is to have it fully operational no later than the end of the year but youll see the rolling out of it steadily over the next six months. Can the riff reforms get going in the meantime . Yes. They actually already are under way. Theres a lot of work to try to consolidate a lot of the Program Structures of the riff program and the tifia program so they look more like each other. I think work is already under way. I think youll start to see a steady rolling out of that on the outside as well. The 24 7 Sobriety Program and Impaired Driving acts wassing . That the fast act made some significant reforms to, and has a number of Highway Safety grants that provide more flexibility so that states can qualify for the grants and address their own unique Highway Safety challenges. And this new grant aids states with a 24 7 Sobriety Program is something we were very focused on while maintaining the alloffender alcohol ignition interlock grant so now youve got a program thats worked very well and proven to be effective but we believe the 24 7 Sobriety Program is something that will enable states to use all the tools in their toolbox to combat the problem of Impaired Driving. Ive pointed out in the past south dakota has been an innovative in creating the 24 7 Sobriety Program and the Rand Corporation recently showed that such programs reduce repeat dui and Domestic Violence arrests at a county level. So, can you give us an update on the approach the department is taking to work with the states to provide more flexibility as you go about the process of implementing these grants . Yes. On may 16th of this year we issued an interrim final rule on the ignition interlock and 24 7 Sobriety Program. At this point a lot of the work were doing on this is working with the states to get the word out so that they are aware of the flexibility they have. We will be doing that through the summer and the fall, but i expect that well have a very robust response given the additional flexibility. Thank you. During consideration of the fast act there were a number of senators focused on supporting the needs of rural states. When implementing the law the department i believe should consider the burden of regulations on rural states and areas as the cost of implementing regulations on a per capita basis is higher. Im told that current proposed performance rules would require all states to file reports for all parts of the national highway system. And the question really comes back to do states really need to prepare reports to show, for example, that rural roads are operating at the posted speed limit . I mean, some of the reporting requirements it seems to be a little bit extreme. Ill take a look at it, senator, and perhaps maybe respond either in an rfq or in a letter back to you on some of the questions related to this. I would just simply say that it seems to knee at least that a more targeted approach to these reporting requirements would make some sense and it would save money for investment in transportation as opposed to reporting, so i would encourage you, mr. Secretary, as you look at those to be more skeptical about how some of these proposed requirements may work and how they would impact rural areas of the country. Finally, let me just talk a little bit about csa. As you know, the dotig and the gao and an internal d. O. T. Report concluded that the program was in badly need of reform. While theres broad support for the intent of the program to focus limited enforcement efforts on the least safe Truck Companies congress expressed concerns about the quality of analysis used to develop scores for motor carriers. The fast act required the scores to be fixed before they could be publicly held out as safety data. And we appreciate that the scores were removed on the date of enactment and that the raw factual data was restored to the website in a timely fashion after adjustments to the website were made. So, the question is, when will the program be reformed so that the scores can be returned to the public website with confidence that the analysis is appropriate and represents the risk of an individual carrier . Based on our preliminary assessment its going to take a while to do revised analysis of this. And i would expect it would have to be maybe a year or two. Probably more like two years before that information will be posted back up. Okay. My time is expired. Senator nelson . Okay. Mr. Secretary, on what i had talked about before, back in march we sent out letters to 14 automobile makers involved in the takata recalls and we said we want you to identify all the new models that are equipped with the defective takata air bags that are offered for sale or are contemplated to being offered for sale. Now, some responded and some didnt. And we put that into a detailed report which we released last week. But a bunch of them refused to answer whether they are currently selling new vehicles that contain the nondesiccated or, in other words, the ones that dont have the moisture absorbent desiccant that has been mixed in with the Ammonium Nitrate. So, this is a failure of informing consumers. And i think your regulator ought to be getting answers on this. Now, i can tell you, this senator and i think i can speak for a lot of senators up here intends to get answers. And thats why i put in the record the 14 letters that we have just asked again for complete disclosure of any new models with those defective air bags. And im expecting them to give us complete answers. So, now let me go to my question. Under current law whether its the law, whether its the fast act or whether it is the amended takata Consent Order, do you have the authority to say, number one, stop selling a new car with a bag that is going to be recalled in two years . And the second question is, do you, in fact, have the authority to require the disclosure to the buying consumer of that new car . That its got a bag thats going to be recalled. First of all, senator, first, i want to thank you for your persistence and the dogged determination you have to get to the bottom of this. I share your frustration with takata. We have been doggedly pursuing this issue from day one. Weve gotten a Consent Order with takata that we keep amending as the environment continues to change. The questions that youve asked i think on the first question, we are bound by our authorities to act where there is clear evidence that an action can be taken. And absent that, it would be something of a pyrrhic victory to recall vehicles without having the substantiation to be able to hold those recalls under the lawsuit. You would effectively find ourselves twisting in the wind on lawsuits before people would actually not have to be in those cars. Okay. Let me interrupt you here, then. What i think youre saying where as the law says because the chairman and i put this in the fast act. It says that you cannot sell a new vehicle with a recalled item. But the fact that they are selling a new vehicle with an item that is going to be recalled in two years correct. Youre saying you dont have the authority . Thats correct. Thats correct. Okay. How about disclosure . How about the protection of the consuming public . Within our existing authorities i do not believe we have that authority. I will ask our lawyers to confirm that for me, and i will share the answer with you. However, within the Consent Order weve been able to obtain additional requirements from takata that would not have otherwise been available to us. And so what i would like to do is to pursue getting that kind of disclosure requirement within the Consent Order and within the remedies that weve been able to obtain from takata and so make those disclosures happen. I agree with you that these disclosures should happen to consumers before they are purchasing these new cars. And, therefore, if your lawyers determine that you do not have that authority, then would you tell us what we do so that the buyer can beware, so the buyer knows what theyre buying . Yes. If theyre buying not the full package of what they think theyre buying, theyre buying . That they got to go in and have it recalled in two years . Yes. No, we will Work Together on this issue to get to the bottom of it, and i pledge that to you, sir. Great. And will you also, please, help us if any of these automobile makers are dragging their feet, not responding to these 14 letters, that we just sent out, will you help us . Ill help you, yes, sir. Maybe you ought to call a little prayer session with them. We did that back in january. Maybe well do it again. Thank you, mr. Secretary. Thank you, senator nelson. Also good line of questioning there. Hopefully we can get some followup. Senator fisher . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Secretary foxx, its good to see you, again, and i do thank you for your good leadership in this very critical area. My first question is about the National Freight policy which we established in the fast act. And in order to remain competitive, we need to have a robust multimodal freight policy that enhances the efficiency of both our rural and our urban first and last mile connectors. In fact, d. O. T. s National FreightStrategic Plan noted that freight flows across all modes will increase by 42 by the year 2040. In your perspective, what is the status of the implementation of that National Strategic freight plan, and how do you think the states are doing at designating those very critical rural and urban corridors and hows d. O. T. Providing any kind of assistance, Technical Assistance, to the states so that they can move forward quickly on that . Senator, first of all, i want to, again, thank you and this congress for the focus on freight. This is an enormously important issue to our country, as you know. And what the fast act has done both on the policy side and on the resource side has really been to pivot the country towards focusing on this much more. I want to speak on your question to two things. One is the formulabased freight program. We have provided guidance to the states as of this winter to help them understand how to access those resources. And our experience to this point has been theres a lot of interest and excitement at the state level to implement on the formula side of the effort. The period has closed as i pointed out in my Opening Statement for the discretionary freight program, which we will hope to make announcements on that program in the summertime. But our goal is to continue not only putting the resources out there but things like the expedited permitting and the categorical exclusions and all the work thats involved in trying to get projects teed up. We are moving on an accelerated basis and we made a lot of great strides. Thank you. There are resources out there and states like nebraska i believe are ready to nove on this so that we can start some good progress. As you know one of the elements of the highway bill that im really pleased with are the regulatory reforms that i authored for the fmcsa and that was to help with transparency and consistency. But also with the public being more involved in the rule making on that. I understand that next week the departments Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee is going to hold a Public Meeting concerning the implementation of that section 5203 of the fast act and that would require the fmcsa to conduct a comprehensive review and assessment of all the Regulatory Guidance thats currently on the books. In relation to this meeting how does the fmcsa plan to continue the process of reviewing Regulatory Guidance so we can look at the consistency and the necessity and also creating Greater Transparency as we move into the future . Well, im also very pleased to report that the fmcsa has been conducting listening sessions throughout the country and will continue to do so even above and beyond the commission that you just referenced. This is helping us understand the perspective of industry, understand the perspective of other stakeholders and frankly i think it will benefit our operational approaches but our policy and regulatory approaches Going Forward. In addition to that we have created a regulation Evaluation Division as of last year. This division is working to increase the use of available data and has advanced the agencys efforts to help to arrive at the best available solution on various regulatory and technical issues. Were also using that agency to increase transparency in our regulatory evaluations which is also of great interest to our stakeholders. Were also committed to advancing the advance notice of proposed rule making or pro seeding with the negotiated rule making considering major rules that require sufficient technical or scientific information. So, these are just some of the process changes that we are working through in response to the language that you were good enough to put in the bill. Do you think that will help you to respond quicker to stakeholders when they are dealing with that so that the agency can have a formal response in a more timely manner . I think it will help us times money in building roads. I think it will help us with speed and i also think it will help us with transparency, because the more youre not communicating in a vacuum the more people are constantly having communication with us the less surprises there are on both sides. So, i think it will be very helpful. Exactly. We want to see commerce continue and the fmcsa is important in making sure that our stakeholders are able to do that. Thank you, sir, its good to see you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator fisher. Senator klobuchar is up next. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, secretary foxx, i know you were there in spirit but we just dedicated the overpass that you helped with with the tiger grant. I know we talked about that. Congressman emer and i were there. And thats in his district and its going to save a lot of lives. Thats great. Its the worst intersection in our state. And i want to thank you and the department for that. Some really fast questions here related to the fast act and the map 21 and the fast act and trying to reduce delays. What progress has d. O. T. Made to date in implementing the project, delivery reforms in the fast act, how are they going to communicate with State Governments . This question i talked to some of our state people, its their question. And how do you plan to monitor and assess the effectiveness of the reforms . So, were doing a number of things really across a variety of modes including fra, fta and the Highway Division. But with the Highway Division specifically on project delivery we are looking at the expanded use of categorical exclusions. We have through our bureau that was alluded to earlier we are also working on speeding up the permitting process by incorporating more concurrent reviews in the work so that there are fewer documents flowing between agencies and government. Were using one table to make these decisions which actually helps speed up the time. Those are two of the proof points of what were trying to accomplish and there are many more and id be happy to give you a more elaborate answer. Very good. Im going to move on from the safety issues with rail, but weve just gotten a statewide rail director appointed who is coordi