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By Cecile Entleitner, Associate, Blakey & Agnew
For those who may have been hoping for a calmer and less eventful new year, the first days of 2021 certainly have presented quite the opposite. However, amidst the chaos we also have seen some much-needed certainty emerge regarding the composition of the 117th Congress and the incoming Biden Administration—setting the stage for new legislative and regulatory policy priorities in the coming months.
On January 7, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao announced her resignation following the riots at the Capitol one day earlier, becoming the first cabinet member to do so along with several other high-ranking government officials. In a letter addressed to her USDOT colleagues she stated, "I am tremendously proud of the many accomplishments we were able to achieve together for our country and I will never forget the commitment you have for this Department and the United States of America." Secretary Chao also noted her intent to assist in the transition of Secretary-designate Pete Buttigieg. President-elect Biden nominated the former 2020 presidential candidate and Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, to lead the Department of Transportation in mid-December.
Following the 2020 elections, Democrats maintained a slim majority within the House of Representatives. Two run-off elections in Georgia earlier this month decided the final party balance of the U.S Senate, which will now be an even 50-50 split, meaning Vice President-elect Harris will act as the tie-breaker and give Democrats majority control. This marks the first evenly tied Senate since the 107th Congress in 2001, which coincidentally was also a Congress tasked with overcoming bipartisan differences and enacting economic recovery legislation in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. While House leadership and committee chairs will remain largely the same as in the previous Congress, many changes will occur in the Senate. Senator Schumer (D-NY) will become Majority Leader and Senator Cantwell (D-WA) and Senator Carper (D-DE) are expected to assume chairmanship of two important committees with jurisdiction over transportation policy: the Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee and the Environment & Public Works Committee, respectively.
The Biden transition team already announced plans to issue a memo, effective Inauguration Day, to freeze or delay recent regulatory actions by the outgoing administration. This practice has become fairly standard to allow the incoming presidential administration time to review rulemakings and guidance documents before they take effect. Among the regulations singled out for review is the Department of Labor's new final rule, issued on January 7, which would revise the interpretation of "independent contractors" under federal law. The worker classification issue has been controversial and the subject of several lawsuits within the trucking industry since many drivers operate as independent contractors. However, considering the
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final rule is scheduled to take effect on March 8, it may not provide the regulatory relief and clarity proponents of the independent contractor model had hoped for. Other transportation-related regulations reportedly up for review include two recently proposed pilot programs by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to assess the safety impacts of allowing drivers under the age of 21 to operate commercial motor vehicles interstate and test the use of a new break option under its hours-of-service rules.
Although Democrats will maintain control of the White House as well as both legislative chambers until at least November 2022, when the next midterm elections take place, the margins are razor thin. This means bipartisan support will be critical to developing and passing any major legislation, including a transportation package. In 2019, the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee unanimously approved a surface transportation reauthorization proposal. While the legislation ultimately did not advance to the Senate floor, it received broad bipartisan congressional and industry support. By comparison, a wide-ranging 2020 House reauthorization bill passed the lower chamber along party lines and was largely viewed as a Democratic "wish list" due to its heavy emphasis on environmental provisions. Now more than ever, Congress will need a bipartisan consensus to finalize new reauthorization legislation before the September 2021 deadline.
Many will also be looking to the new Congress to provide additional COVID-19 relief measures. In December, Congress passed a large end-of-year package that incorporated $45 billion in transportation aid, including funding for airlines, mass transit providers, and state Departments of Transportation. The bipartisan compromise did not include any new general-purpose economic relief funding for state and local governments, which thus far had been a top priority for Democrats.
The coming weeks will offer much insight into the Biden Administration's goals and priorities, as well as its strategies to mobilize its new congressional majority toward implementing President-Elect Biden's policy agenda. As new Members of Congress and Administration officials take office, many challenges remain the same to resolve partisan differences and enact meaningful legislative and regulatory changes.
Blakey & Agnew, LLC is a public affairs and
communications consulting firm based in
Washington, DC.
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