Capitol Hill Transportation News
Senators demand proof that U.S. DOT can ensure school and city bus safety: Two leading Democrats on
the U.S. Senate committee that oversees transportation safety pressed the nation’s bus regulator to
provide proof it can detect troubled private companies that provide services to schools and
municipalities.
Federal transit funding process would get revamp under newly introduced measure: Bipartisan,
bicameral legislation introduced recently on Capitol Hill would modernize how the federal government
evaluates transit projects seeking funding through the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital
Investment Grants (CIG) program.
APTA responds to USDOT’s proposals for surface transportation reauthorization bill: The department’s
recommendations include eliminating the Highway Trust Fund’s Mass Transit Account, consolidating
grant programs and expanding AV policies.
Federal Transportation News
LIFTOFF: Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Announces Major Move to Streamline
Commercial Space Licensing: U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced that the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) is launching a new initiative to streamline commercial space licensing,
making it faster and easier for innovators to secure approvals to launch rockets, reenter spacecraft, and
operate launch and reentry sites.
The World Cup put America’s transit systems to the test: At the 2026 FIFA World Cup, sold-out stadiums
full of incredible crowds obscured just how expensive, slow, and inefficient it was for them to reach many
of those games. In many of the U.S. host cities, the tens of thousands of people attending each game
reached their destinations despite our regressive transit options, not because of them
U.S. Port News
Stauber announces $5 million federal funding to upgrade Duluth Seaway Port Authority cranes: The
money, secured through Community Project Funding, will refurbish twin 90-ton electric rail-mounted
gantry cranes and upgrade the associated rail infrastructure.
Larsen tours Port of Everett’s pier 3: Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., toured the Port of Everett’s Pier 3
modernization project, receiving an update from port staff on infrastructure improvements funded
through the federal Port Infrastructure Development Program.
Long Beach is first port to partner with MARAD on maritime reactors: The Department of
Transportation’s Maritime Administration has signed a first-of-a-kind memorandum of cooperation
(MOC) with the Port of Long Beach, in southern California, to advance the development of small
modular reactors for powering commercial vessels, ports, and other maritime assets
