Over the past month or two, I couldn’t help noticing that Rep. John Mica, chair of the Transportation Committee in the House, seemed completely consumed with fingerpointing at federal agencies. While the country’s transportation programs neared a crisis point -- and indeed, there is no other way to describe the current deadlock over a transpo bill -- the top dog in the House was barking up a whole other tree.
Why isn't Chairman Mica making the rounds of news shows to talk about the transportation bill?
The House and Senate are locked in a battle royale over funding levels, pipeline approvals, environmental reviews, transit operations, street safety programs, and timelines. If they don’t figure it all out within the next 18 days – only six legislative work days for the House – transportation programs will expire, and reimbursements to states will halt. An estimated three million jobs hang in the balance.
That’s a pretty big responsibility for the transportation chairman. He must be staying up nights trying to craft a solution, right?
Mica’s committee office may not be talking much about the $109 billion surface transportation bill, but it sure is focused like a laser on this EPA “power grab.” This is the third press release this week on that issue.
Of course, there should be oversight of the TSA, the EPA, and GSA. But is it just me, or does this flurry of press attacks look a little more partisan than policy? Where is Mica's urgent call to get a bill done?
Given the House GOP's obstinate insistence on attacking the worthier parts of the Senate transpo bill, it might be something of a blessing that Mica has been quiet during conference negotiations. Even so, it's a curious silence.
Insiders say his vigilance regarding oversight of Obama administration agencies may be more than just your ordinary partisan posturing. Mica is term-limited at the helm of T&I after this year, and given the quagmire the reauthorization process has become, some doubt that leadership will grant him the waiver he’s requested so he can continue as chair. Rumors have been circulating for a while that House leaders might be looking for new blood to run T&I.
So, word has it that Mica has his eye on the chairmanship of the House Oversight Committee -- the only other committee he serves on. Maybe he’s just trying to prove he’s got the stuff to follow in Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)’s footsteps, sniffing after everything the Obama White House does in a search for some wrongdoing to exploit.
Tanya became Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor in September 2010 after covering Congress for Pacifica Radios Washington bureau and for public radio stations around the country. She lives car-free in a transit-oriented and bike-friendly neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Here's just a few of the horror stories we heard from readers who are struggling with the inter-city bus industry's latest push for "curbside" loading.
The new legislation follows a seven-month Streetsblog investigation that found widespread fraud involving temp tags, with car dealers abusing weak state regulations and selling paper plates illegally to drivers using them to evade accountability on the road.