Senate THUD Fails Cloture Test

Yesterday the Senate failed to close debate on S 1243, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014. The cloture vote failed by a partisan vote of 54 – 43. At the same time the House leadership pulled HR 2610, the House version of the bill, from consideration on the floor of the House. These two bills are shaping up to be a major focus of the budget conflict between the conservative wing of the Republican Party and the Democrats.

No more action will be taken on either bill until after the Congress returns on September 9^th.

THUD Amendments – 7-25-13

During floor action in the Senate yesterday on S 1243, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014 (THUD), two new amendments were introduced that might be of interest to the chemical transportation safety and cybersecurity communities; one of which was passed by unanimous consent.

Cybersecurity Amendment Adopted

The Senate adopted a cybersecurity amendment as part of an en bloc adoption of three amendments without debate. SA 1803 (Cong Rec 7-25-13 Pg S5975) was introduced by Sen. McCain (R,AZ) and it was almost identical to SA 1780 that he introduced yesterday. The same withholding of cybersecurity funds pending the same report is being required by the new amendment. The only difference is that it does not list which congressional committees should be the recipients of the report; instead is specifies that it should be submitted “to the appropriate committees of Congress”.

HAZMAT Transportation Amendment

Sen. Menendez (D,NJ) introduced SA 1812 (Cong Rec 7-25-13, Pg S 5977) that would require the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on the safety of transporting hazardous materials over movable railroad bridges. The study would be specifically required to address {§155(b)}:

• The adequacy of span locking and its relation to the practice of trains passing over bridges displaying a stop signal; and

• The adequacy of training received by train crews to inspect their route before passing over a bridge displaying a stop signal.

This amendment is almost certainly related to the Paulsboro, NJ train derailment in November of last year that involved a movable bridge. According to news reports there were a number of previously reported problems with track alignment and signals on that bridge before the accident. Earlier this month an NTSB public hearing also addressed this issue.

Interestingly, the completed report is not required to be submitted to Congress, but to be placed on the FRA web site. Not that I’m a big fan of reports to Congress, but a report placed on a web site (while probably more available to the public) will be easier for Congress to ignore in consideration of any revisions to hazmat transportation safety laws. 

This is another amendment that will probably be approved without discussion or vote.

Moving Forward

The Senate will resume consideration of S 1243 on Monday afternoon.

Congressional Hearings – Week of 6-23-13

Three spending bills are on the hearing agenda this week as we get ever closer to the ‘Summer Recess’ in August. Railroad policy and the West Fertilizer Explosion also make the list of hearings that might be of interest to the chemical safety/security and the cybersecurity communities this coming week.

Spending Bills

The House Rules Committee will hold a hearing to look at rules for three separate bills on Tuesday evening. One of the bills will be HR 2410, the Agriculture and related agencies spending bill. The draft of this bill was released last week and I did not see any specific chemical safety or chemical transportation issues addressed. After the failure of HR 1947 last week, I expect that we might see the Ag chemical security amendment being offered for this bill.

Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees will be dealing with the final markup of their separate versions of the Transportation spending bill. The House full Committee hearing will be on Wednesday and the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee will hold their markup on Tuesday and the Senate full Committee hearing will be on Thursday. As I reported last week the House subcommittee draft did not contain chemical safety or security measures. I haven’t seen a draft of the Senate bill yet.

Rail Policy

On Thursday the Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a hearing on “National Rail Policy: Examining Goals, Objectives, and Responsibilities”. There is a possibility that chemical transportation issues might be addressed particularly toxic inhalation hazard (TIH) chemicals.

The witness list includes:

• Joseph Szabo, Federal Railroad Administration:

• Michael P. Melaniphy, American Public Transportation Association

• Edward Hamberger, Association of American Railroads

• Mike Lewis, American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials

• John P. Tolman, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen

West Fertilizer Explosion

On Thursday the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold the long promised hearing on the West Fertilizer Explosion. The purpose of the hearing will be muddied somewhat since the hearing will actually look at the “Events Up to the Explosions in West, TX and Geismar, LA”. It is disappointing that the Geismar explosion, at a regulated facility, is going to be combined with the explosion at West, at an unregulated (or at the very least under-regulated) facility.

No witness list is yet available, but I suspect that the major focus of this hearing will now be inherently safer technology (IST). That is unfortunate because it doesn’t appear that either facility would have been affected by such a measure.

Update for Tomorrow’s FY 2014 Transportation Spending Bill Markup

The Subcommittee on Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies of the House Appropriations Committee updated the web site for tomorrow’s markup hearing for the Transportation and HUD FY 2014 spending bill. They have provided a link to the subcommittee draft of the bill that will be marked up.

A quick review of the document does not reveal any specific chemical transportation language. The only cybersecurity language in the bill concerns funding for information security programs within the Department to protect Department networks. 

Congressional Hearings – Week of 6-16-13

The summer recess gets one week closer and only two spending bills have been passed in the House and none have been reported in the Senate. Of the four hearings this week of potential interest to the chemical safety/security or cybersecurity communities, only one deals with a spending bill. The other three deal with TWIC, rail safety, and the security clearance approval process.

Transportation Spending

The Subcommittee on Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies of the House Appropriations Committee will be holding a markup hearing Wednesday on the FY 2014 Transportation – HUD spending bill. We might expect to see transportation security and or safety measures included in this bill. There is no draft yet available for review on this bill.

TWIC

The Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security of the House Homeland Security Committee will be holding a hearing on Tuesday looking at “Threat, Risk and Vulnerability: The Future of the TWIC Program.” It looks like it will include a new GAO report on the TWIC program. The current witness list includes:

• Mr. Stephen M. Lord, U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO);

• Mr. Steve Sadler, Transportation Security Administration;

• Rear Admiral Joseph A. ServidioU.S. Coast Guard; and

• Mr. Marcus, Port of Houston Authority

Security Clearances

Two subcommittees of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will be holding a hearing on Thursday looking at “Safeguarding our Nation's Secrets: Examining the Security Clearance Process”. This will be looking at the security clearance process for government employees and contractors, but the problems with that process have to be corrected before there is can be any efficiency increases in the process for approving security clearances for critical infrastructure organizations.

The witness list has not yet been finalized, but invitations have been sent to:

• Merton W. Miller, Office of Personnel Management;

• Patrick E. McFarland, IG Office of Personnel Management;

• Gene L. Dodaro, US GAO; and

• Stanley L. Sims, Defense Security Service

Rail Transportation Safety

The Subcommittee on Competitiveness, Innovation, and Export Promotion of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will be holding a hearing on Wednesday looking at “Staying on Track: Next Steps in Improving Passenger and Freight Rail Safety”. The hearing will address recent high-profile rail accidents. No witness list is currently available

Missing Hearings

We are still waiting for the expected hearings on the West Fertilizer explosion and the related investigation conflicts between the ATF and the CSB. I am also expecting someone in Congress to take up the continuing issues between industry and ISCD concerning the CFATS personnel surety program.