WASHINGTON—The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure approved and ordered reported favorably to the full House 15 bills and resolutions at a full Committee mark-up session today. The legislation includes bills to reauthorize many disaster response and mitigation programs of the Federal Emergency Management Administration, address industrial pollution in the Great Lakes, terminate a controversial cross-border trucking pilot program, and continue to prohibit cell phone use on airplanes.
H.R. 6658, the "Disaster Response, Recovery, and Mitigation Enhancement Act of 2008," authorizes several core FEMA programs and activities, including the Pre-Disaster Mitigation program. It codifies programs that FEMA is currently administering under the authority of the Stafford Act but which are not expressly authorized in statute, such as the National Urban Search and Rescue System and Citizen Corps. It restores the Mortgage and Rental Assistance program, which was cut in 2000, and it amends eligibility under certain FEMA programs, including the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.
"H.R. 6658 is a consolidation of many issues brought to this Committee’s attention during this Congress and contains a series of proposals to enable FEMA to carry out its programs and preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation activities more effectively," said Rep. James L. Oberstar, Chairman of the full Committee.
H.R. 6460, the "Great Lakes Legacy Reauthorization Act of 2008," authorizes funds to address the clean-up of industrial waste in Areas of Concern in the U.S. waters of the Great Lakes.
"During a hearing on the reauthorization of the Great Lakes Legacy Act before the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment in May, several Members of Congress expressed concern with the pace of cleanup of the Areas of Concern – with only one U.S. Area of Concern being delisted since the initial 43 international sites were listed more than 20 years ago, in 1987," Oberstar said. "This legislation, the Great Lakes Legacy Reauthorization Act of 2008, will help move progress forward, and if fully implemented, could be instrumental in addressing all of the remaining contaminated U.S. Areas of Concern within the next decade."
H.R. 6630 is a bill to prohibit the Department of Transportation from conducting a pilot program involving cross-border trucking with Mexico for more than one year. Despite Congressional concerns and objections, DOT implemented the pilot program in September 2007. The bill sunsets the one-year pilot program.
"DOT sold its proposal as a one-year trial, after which a thorough evaluation would be conducted of the program before any further action is taken," said Oberstar. "Contrary to this promise, DOT has issued provisional operating authority to pilot program participants for 18 months. I have no reason to believe that the Administration has any plans to terminate the pilot program and revoke the authority of participating carriers – unless Congress compels it to do so."
H.R. 5788, the "Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace (HANG UP) Act," continues the existing prohibition on the use of cell phones on commercial flights. The ban is being lifted in Europe and there is movement toward lifting it in the United States. The bill only applies to voice communications and does not require airlines to continue to prohibit Internet access, e-mail, or text messaging in flight.
"As U.S. airlines begin offering broadband access aboard aircraft, concerns have been raised that such access would provide passengers with an avenue to use capabilities such as voice-over-Internet protocol to make telephone calls during flight. This could create a severe distraction to airline passengers and crew alike," Oberstar said. "H.R. 5788 provides a simple way to ensure a peaceful environment for the flying public."
Below is a list of the other bills and resolutions approved and ordered reported by the Committee today:
- H. Res. 1382, honoring the heritage of the United States Coast Guard,
- H. Res. 1224, commending the Tennessee Valley Authority on its 75th anniversary,
- H. Res. 1376, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Okeechobee Hurricane of September 1928 and its associated tragic loss of life,
- S. 2837, to designate the United States courthouse located at 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, New York, as the "Theodore Roosevelt United States Courthouse",
- S. 3009, to designate the Federal Bureau of Investigation building under construction in Omaha, Nebraska, as the "J. James Exon Federal Bureau of Investigation Building",
- S. 2403, to designate the new Federal Courthouse, located in the 700 block of East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, as the "Spottswood W. Robinson III and Robert R. Merhige, Jr. Federal Courthouse",
- H.R. 4131, to designate a portion of California State Route 91 located in Los Angeles County, California, as the "Juanita Millender-McDonald Highway",
- H.R. 6370, the "Oregon Surplus Federal Land Act of 2008",
- H.R. 6524, to authorize the Administrator of General Services to take certain actions with respect to parcels of real property located in Eastlake, Ohio, and Koochiching County, Minnesota, and for other purposes,
- S. J. Res. 35, to amend Public Law 108-331 to provide for the construction and related activities in support of the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) project in Arizona, and
- H.R. 6627, the "Smithsonian Institution Facilities Authorization Act of 2008."
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