Minimal Mention of Transportation in Obama’s Final State of the Union
President Obama’s much-anticipated State of the Union Address on Jan. 12 focused little on infrastructure and freight transportation concerns, surprising stakeholders still praising last month’s enactment of a five-year highway law that had been six years in the making.
The president’s only true remark about the nation’s transportation system came early in the speech when he called for shifting the way governments and industry manage fossil fuels.
“We’ve got to accelerate the transition away from dirty energy. Rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the future ?— ?especially in communities that rely on fossil fuels,” Obama told the nation in his final State of the Union address before Congress. “That’s why I’m going to push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources, so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet. That way, we put money back into those communities and put tens of thousands of Americans to work building a 21st-century transportation system.”
In his speech, that also touched on the need to reach consensus on Capitol Hill over the cause of climate change, he praised domestic automakers for a recent streak of success and touted job growth.
“Our auto industry just had its best year ever. Manufacturing has created nearly 900,000 new jobs in the past six years. And we’ve done all this while cutting our deficits by almost three-quarters,” Obama said.
But the scant mention of transportation policy and proposed freight regulations is surprising given what is on the docket for the trucking industry this year. For instance, this summer the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plan to announce a final proposal on a landmark plan to tighten greenhouse-gas emissions for trucks.
The government’s current GHG standard called for an initial reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and improvement in mileage standards by 3%, from a 2010 baseline, by January 2014. Another part to the standard moves that another 3%, effective January 2017.
The federal government has issued its proposal for Phase 2, which calls for more stringent standards for new trucks in 2021, 2024 and 2027 — targets that would be achieved through incremental improvements in fuel economy, and for the first time regulate trailer efficiency. The initial trailer regulation would kick in January 2018 and then tighten along with the truck rule.
American Trucking Associations and other industry leaders opted not to comment on the president’s address.
In past years, Obama devoted several minutes in the annual address to advocate for new roads and bridges, boosting freight connectivity, and modernizing freight and passenger rail. On Dec. 4, he signed into law a five-year, $305 billion highway reauthorization legislation that requires trucking regulators to fix a controversial safety-performance scoring program for motor carriers that has long been criticized by industry leaders. The bill also paves the way for employers to use hair testing as an alternative for screening prospective truckers.
Building off the president’s speech, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx affirmed on the agency’s Jan. 13 blog that transportation would remain a priority for the administration this year.
“Last night, in declining to talking about specific proposals for the year ahead, President Obama said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ve got plenty.’” Foxx wrote, adding that there is a role for transportation in those upcoming proposals.
