In The News
Pace of rulemaking process likely to slow in wake of GOP victory
An Analysis
WASHINGTON — If you're in virtually any mode of the transportation business and you're waiting to hear about a rulemaking now under review by the Office of the Secretary of Transportation (OST) or the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), you'd better find a parking place.
You're probably going to have to wait a couple of months, or even longer, as the dynamics of a shift of power from a Democratic administration to a Republican administration is quite different than when the outgoing and incoming administrations are of the same political party.
A little background, if you will.
Federal Cabinet and administrative departments — such as the Office of the Secretary of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which is under the OST — are made up of political appointees and career employees.
Political appointees work at the will of the president and are generally loyal to the party in power.
Career employees, on the other hand, to protect their jobs work for the betterment of their agency regardless of the party in power.
Political appointees are often given federal jobs as a political favor for supporting the president in office before or after he was elected, and may or may not have expertise in the area in which they are asked to lead.
Current Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx was mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, when President Barack Obama nominated him to be transportation secretary.
"Since Anthony took office, they've broken ground on a new streetcar project that's going to bring modern electric tram service to the downtown area," Obama said in speaking to Foxx's credentials for the position. "They've expanded the international airport. And they're extending the city's light rail system. All of that has not only helped create new jobs, it's helped Charlotte become more attractive to business."
Since the political appointees are beholden to the Democratic Party, they are not as anxious to push work forward as they would be if Hillary Clinton were coming into office.
Among other things, long-planned trips to discuss business have been canceled, we have learned.
Even though most political appointees leave their jobs when a new administration takes over, when the outgoing and incoming administrations are of the same party, there's an effort to smooth the transition.
Not so when the administration leaving and the administration coming are from different political parties (the last time the administration didn't change was when George H.W. Bush followed Ronald Reagan in 1989.
The slowdown may well extend to the Office of Management and Budget, where Obama appointee Shaun Donovan is director.
It's very unlikely that rulemakings now under review at OMB will be cleared before the current administration leaves office at noon January 20, 2017.
There are currently 14 Department of Transportation rulemakings at OMB, including two important rulemakings at the FMCSA — the Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and the Entry Level Driver Training final rule.
Eight rulemakings are still under study at the OST.
None of those are FMCSA rulemakings.
There are 88 DOT rulemakings in some stage of process today, according to the department's October report on significant rulemakings.
Also of interest is who will run the FMCSA when the Trump administration takes over.
It was some 10 months after Obama took office before Anne Ferro took over as FMCSA administrator.
Both Bill Bronrott, who was deputy administrator when Ferro resigned, and Rose McMurray, the agency's chief safety officer at the time, served as acting administrators between January 20, 2009, and November 13 when Ferro was confirmed.
How long it will take this time is anyone's guess.
In the meantime, the agency will likely be in the hands of two capable career employees — Deputy Administrator Daphne Y. Jefferson and Chief Safety Officer and Assistant Administrator Jack Van Steenberg.
It should be an interesting — and perhaps slow — time at the Department of Transportation over the next two months.