Developing Infrastructure Will Be a Priority, DOT Nominee Foxx Tells Senate Committee

This story appears in the May 27 print edition of Transport Topics.

WASHINGTON — Anthony Foxx, President Obama’s choice as the nation’s next transportation secretary, told senators at his confirmation hearing that he would focus on safety, increasing productivity and developing infrastructure if they approve his selection.

Foxx, currently the mayor of Charlotte, N.C., also told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on May 22 that he wants to “be an active participant in the ongoing discussions about MAP-21,” the current transportation funding law that expires Sept. 30, 2014.

“Ensuring that our transportation system is the safest in the world will be my top priority,” Foxx said in prepared remarks before the committee.

He added that he would continue the campaign against distracted driving that has been the “legacy” of outgoing Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Foxx said LaHood had “baked that [issue] into the DNA of the Department of Transportation” and that he would continue those efforts.

President Obama nominated Foxx on April 29 to replace LaHood. LaHood, a former congressman who represented Peoria, Ill., is the lone Republican in the Cabinet. He has remained on the job since announcing Jan. 29 his decision to step down.

Foxx hailed LaHood as “effective” in the DOT post because of a bipartisan approach and said it is a model that he would follow.

“The private sector cannot do this alone, and the federal government has a responsibility to help ensure our global competitiveness, by investing in a robust, multimodal transportation system, a stronger national freight network, and . . . advanced roadway and rail technology,” he told the panel.

In response to questions from the committee, led by Sen. John D. “Jay” Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Foxx discussed issues ranging from an infrastructure bank to budget woes in the midst of sequestration to tolling.

Foxx, 42, said the nation cannot rely on tolling new highways to pay for its transportation system, calling it “tool” that can be used in some instances, for example, to add capacity.

“We are not going to toll our way into prosperity,” Foxx said. “I don’t think it is a complete solution to how we deal with our surface transportation issues.”

A native of Charlotte, who talked about taking a bus to his first job when he was 12 years old, Foxx linked transportation infrastructure to economic vitality.

“The No. 6 connected me to a larger world of opportunity, and I truly believe, whether it is a bus route, a road, a train, a plane or a ship, our transportation system, at its best, connects our people to jobs and a better quality of life,” he said.

Foxx said he looks forward to working on the first strategic national freight plan, a project currently being mapped out at DOT.

He also said that a dedicated source of funding for national and regional freight mobility projects is “something that should be looked at.”

Committee members repeatedly warned Foxx during the relatively smooth hearing that the nation must find a stable, long-term way to generate revenue to support transportation.

Committee members did not ask, however, and Foxx did not offer his opinions on raising fuel taxes or on taxing vehicle miles traveled — two of the most lucrative, if controversial, avenues for generating transportation revenue.

The nominee said he favored a national infrastructure bank, that it was a good idea but also limited as a funding option.

“It’s not a complete solution to every problem we have, but it is another way that we can get progress made on infrastructure,” Foxx said. He also expressed support for public-private partnerships as an innovative way to pay for transportation projects.

Kevin McAllister, spokesman for Rockefeller, said the Commerce Committee would not vote to send Foxx’s nomination to the full Senate until well into June.

Despite the lack of controversy around Foxx as secretary, he will face daunting funding shortfalls and a Congress divided by strong ideological differences on transportation. Rockefeller called the funding issues “massive” and pleaded with Foxx, if confirmed, to “goad” members of Congress into finding funding solutions.

DOT “is enduring a tumultuous time of constrained resources.  Despite this, the department is tasked with implementing a large number of new safety mandates and, simultaneously, presiding over a transportation infrastructure network in need of significant and immediate investment,” Rockefeller said.

The Congressional Budget Office has said the highway and transit trust funds will be insolvent by fiscal 2015. Foxx said that a new spending reauthorization bill would be one of the first things he wants to work on with Congress.

“As a mayor who has delivered projects to my constituents,” Foxx told the committee, “I know too well that future uncertainty at the federal level makes it difficult to do smart, cost-effective long-term planning and project development.”

The senators did not quiz Foxx on issues directly related to trucking, such as upcoming changes in the hours-of-service rule, the mandate for electronic logging devices on trucks or on Compliance, Safety, Accountability, known as CSA, the federal government’s comprehensive effort to promote safety in the trucking industry.