Members about the president s plan to privatize the nations Traffic Control system and reductions to Capital Investment and surface transportation projects. This is two hours. The subcommittee will come to order. Before i begin, i just i know that all of our minds are a little bit in many ways elsewhere because of the incidents yesterday at the baseball practice field, and i just wanted to once again mention how all of us are praying for, obviously, the whip, mr. Steve scalise, the two Brave Police Officers that were injured, along with a member of the staff and a former member of the staff who were injured. So just we cannot forget them and we wish their full recoveries. With that this morning we welcome secretary chow to testify on the fiscal year 2018 budget for the department of transportation. I dont have to tell any of you that secretary chow comes to this position with thank lone o most impressive records of Public Service that anyone will see, having served as chairman of the maritime commission, director of the peace core and secretary to the department of labor, you know, not to mention a number of leadership positions in the private sector and nonfor profit sectors. Secretary, you have led large and complex organizations and i will tell you that all of us agree we are fortunate to have someone of your expertise, of your experience, of your knowledge as dot heading dot as we are facing some challenges, of course. We always face challenges, but nobody is more prepared than you. So were grateful that you have agreed to once again again come back to Public Service as you always have. Thank you for your service to our nation. I look forward to working with you to maintain and improve the safety of our Transportation System. All the while insures our Infrastructure Investments lead to Economic Growth and really to improve the daytoday lives of the american people, which is really what were talking about. The budget request for the department of transportation is 16. 3 billion in Discretionary Budget Authority and a total of 75 billion in total resources, including obligation limitations for Service Transportation and aviation programs. Now, safety is this committees top priority for dot. Im pleased that the budget request places priority on safety programs, madam secretary, funding several programs with the fast act and continuing many of the safety priorities in the previous 17 bill. So i think thats frankly very good news. In addition to focussing on safety of our transportation network, we obviously must ensure that we grow our economy. And yes through fiscally responsible transportation investments. And in doing so, we must make sure that we dont leave Rural America and economically distressed areas behind as we make the tough decisions that face us for the 2018 and beyond, 2018 budget and beyond. I just want you to know that i want to work with you. We want to work with you to make sure that we continue, for example, air service to small towns and remote communities, and i want to make sure that we address Passenger Railroads for our rural communities. I also want to take a careful look at transit. We can. We must make obviously tough choices in federal spending. We all have to do that. We have to be willing to do that. I have some concerns about the proposal to terminate the departments work with local governments on several projects, but i work forward to working with you and through all of those very difficult issues. I look forward to a spirited discussion about the administrations proposal to transfer air Traffic Control operation from facilities to a corporate, nongovernmental entity. Were dealing with a monopoly, whether its the monopoly controlled by the government or a monopoly controlled by someone else, it will still be a monopoly. I have not been shy about saying it should be accountable to the public. I dont see any other way to achieve this than to continue our congressional oversight role. I belief that preserving the publics voice is the only way to control our air space as a National Asset and protect access to all users, commercial aviation, general aviation, and this is key, new entrants such as drones and in many cases we dont know what they are, but it is starting to happen now. So we must to the maximum extent possible protect the right of the traveling of the traveling public as well. Its not a secret. Our air space is the most complex in the world, with an unmatched safety word. We can Work Together to build on that Safety Record and i look forward to it and open the air space to more and more users. Lets make sure were not limiting it. But we open it to more and more users. Some of which are beyond our current imagination, but that are starting to happen right now. I look forward to discussing this issue with you today and for not only today but continuing those conversations in the weeks and the months ahead. Secretary, i appreciate your attention. And the attention that the president has given to infrastructure last week, improving our nations infrastructure is an area where we can find Common Ground and make real improvements to the daily lives of the american people, not only in their ability to get around, but also, frankly, to help our economy. So i really, really look forward to working with you and my colleagues of the subcommittee to make Smart Investments to go after waste, cut red tape and protect the taxpayers. Again, first thank you for your service to the nation. Thank you for appearing before us today and with that, i would like to yield now to my Ranking Member, mr. Price. You are recognized, sir. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Welcome, madam secretary. Were glad to have you here this morning. I want to associate myself with the chairmans remarks about yesterdays tragedy and the concern we all have for our colleagues, steve scalise, of course, and in particular i want to acknowledge david bailey, one of the Police Officers who was injured and were very proud of him. Hes a North CarolinaCentral University graduate, and we have followed his progress over the years. We really have come together as we must come together, as an institution and as a country, i believe, in face of this and i hope some good will come of it. But in the meantime, we are dealing with real personal difficulties, tragedies that command our attention and our and our good wishes. Were here this morning to examine the 2018 budget request for the department of transportation. This system that were funding, facilitates the flow of commerce and impacts every american. We know that investing in transportation infrastructure keeps us safe. It improves our economy and creates jobs. Unfortunately we also know that were not were not doing so well, according to objective observers, such as the American Society of Civil Engineers whose 2017 report card gives americas infrastructure a grade of only d plus. The report concludes that we need to invest nearly 4. 5 trillion just to keep hur infrastructure from poor to good condition. We heard about the need to reduce red tape and encourage private investment in transportation projects. These are laudable goals. But they wont deliver the results we need without a core of robust federal funding. To maintain and modernize and improve our nations Transportation System. We must take bold steps to reduce backlog, move infrastructure back towards a state of good repair and make investments in new technologies to make transportation safer and more efficient. The challenge before us is clear, and it will only get worse without action on the part of congress and this administration. I have to say, i think this Budget Proposal falls short of that mark. The result largely adheres to the funding levels agreed upon in the fast act for programs that rely on trust fund dollars. But overall Budget Authority could be cut by 3. 1 billion or 16 . The brunt of these reductions falls upon discretionary accounts designed to advance public transit, rail and other multimodal projects critical to our nations Transportation Future. For example, the highly competitive Capital Investment grants program would be discontinued for all projects that currently lack full funded ground agreements, despite the fact that funding for this program was increased just two months ago in the bipartisan package. Ending the program would up end badly needed transit projects across the country, including two in my home district in North Carolina. In most cases existing funding commitments from state and local governments would no longer be enough to move forward with construction, dooming many projects to failure. We should be encouraging more state and local investment in transit, eliminating the federal matching dollars. Well have exactly the opposite effect. Equally concerning is the proposal of zero out tiger funding. Here, too, i could point to successful projects in my district and in my state that leveraged funds from other sources. This is a very successful Grant Program. Supports innovative projects, multijurisdictional projects of regional and national significance. They are difficult to fund through traditional federal programs. Tiger grants are awarded on a competitive basis and every member here knows how competitive that process is, how far the demand for funding exceeds the current supply. Congress providing 500 million for another round of tiger grants in the omnibus package. Its zeroed out in this budget. Passenger rail also fairs poorly. The Department Seeks to end amtraks National Routes by slashing investment in the National Network of amtrak by more than 50 . The request also proposes a 28 for the heavily traveled northeast corridor. Meanwhile, amtrak is breaking ridership records and more americans are looking to rail to meet their travel needs, support for the robust rail system has been reaffirmed by members of both parties, including the most recent longterm transportation reauthorization bill. And again, we have strong validation from North Carolina where traveling from charlotte to raleigh or the other way has become a model of pleasant transportation. Madam secretary, you stated on several occasions that safety must remain a top priority. Yet, it will cut funding in the operations and research account of the nitsa, the safety and operations account of the federal Railroad Administration, the Pipeline Safety account and aviation safety activities within the fa as operations accounts. Im puzzled by these cuts. I hope they dont represent a lack of commitment to key safety functions. We need to know how the Department Plans to maintain safety with fewer resources at its disposal. Quickly, briefly, i want to shift gears and address air Traffic Control. The administration has endorsed the outlines of chairman shoousers privatation proposals. I have grave concerns about this. I have said that repeatedly. This would sever air traffic components. The government sponsored Corporation Model envisioned by chairman shuser and President Trump will reduce trarns pansy and oversight. It would also represent an unprecedented giveaway of taxpayer assets to an untested private entity and it would threaten the progress were making, threaten the ongoing efforts to modernize efforts under next gen. That has delivered billions in savings to airlines and customers. So it assumes a quick transition to a private atc entity and also defers Capital Investments in fa as air Traffic Control inf infrastructure for the upcoming year. Of course, the other major transportation put forward by the administration is a much discussed infrastructure initiative. And this is something that has potential i believe for bipartisan support. But we dont have enough to work with. It is a sixpage document. Rather vague. Mentioning 200 billion in federal out lays that supposedly would leverage 800 billion in private and nonfederal investment. Of course we need more details about this to even begin to assess it. Before i close, we need to acknowledge that we still have no budget resolution, no top line spending number, no subcommittee allocations. There is talk of rushing to assemble a republican only omnibus package. I think thats a recipe for failure. Even if we reject the administration draconian cuts to nondefense discretionary funding, the appreciations process is at risk of completely breaking down if were forced to write our bills to these levels. We have seen this happen in past year when we lacked bipartisan budget agreements. The bipartisan budget agreements are required, given the requirements of the budget control act. If were going to have workable allocations so that we can cooperatively write transportation hudd and other appropriations bills. I know we want to work in this cooperative fashion, but we also know whats going to happen to enable us to do this. I look forward to your testimony today, working with you to ensure Vital Transportation funding are adequately funded. So thank you. Thank you, mr. Price. I am honored to welcome one of the busiest leaders in this entire process. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Its a pleasure to welcome back secretary chow to another stint. We look forward to your testimony. Let me add on to what dr. Price and many of us were shocked to the core yesterday. Obviously we pray for the quick recovery of those that are badly wounded and may i say and we have raised the profile of the Important Role of our Capital Police, but may i say a lot of what you do, secretary, is you have within your purview or just outside your purview the men and women who protect our harbors, our tunnels, our airports, our tran stations. Sometimes we pass by them and we acknowledge them, but sometimes dont expect that at some point they might have to put their lives on the line. Id just like to take this opportunity to recognize their role and raise their profile. Todays hearing is an important part of our oversight duties of the committee. After all, the power of the purse resides here on capitol hill. As secretary of transportation, you are responsible for maintaining and improving our nations infrastructure and protecting it as we pursue policies and programs to grow our economy, so too we must grow our infrastructure to support it. In that context, id like to bring up a critical project for our national economy. The gateway project and the hudson tunnel project. As you may know the northeast corridor regional economy even compassing over 50 Million People between the District Of Columbia and boston produces over 3 trillion in output equal to 20 of our Gross National product. Safely reliable Passenger Rail service is essential to that economic opportunity, whether it be the east coast, west coast or somewhere in between. For building the hudson tunnel is a vital importance to our region and certainly to my home state of new jersey. Given the clear benefits to this projects and disastrous consequences of inaction, i am concerned about the budget provision limiting funding for Capital Investment grants, what we commonly refer to on the committee as new starts. Im eager to hear either in this setting or outside this room how the Department Plans to support this vital infrastructure proposal for the new York New Jersey region. I have also taken note of the administrations proposal to spend 200 billion of targeted federal investments to private sector resources so that the ends result in at least a 1 trillion in total infrastructure spending. Id like to hear more about the specifics of this proposal and how it will improve our imfra structure planning for state and local governments, but above all, we welcome you, madam secretary and frank you, mr. Chairman for the time. Thank you, mr. Chairman and madam secretary. Obviously, your written testimony will be submitted in the record. You are recognized for five minutes now. Thank you so much. Discuss the president s 2018 budget request for transportation. My colleagues and i share your thoughts and prayers for those injured in yesterdays incidences and we are so grateful that the Capital Police were there. On transportation, we all share the same goal, to ensure that our countrys Transportation Systems are safe, dependable and ready to adapt to transformation on new technologies. The president s 2018 budget represents a bold vision for our transportation infrastructure. The administration has carefully studied our current spending patterns and taken a closer look at programs that may not be meeting their intended purposes, have outlasted their usefulness or could be replaced with new initiatives that will better address future transportation needs. The president is requesting 76 billion for transportation.