David Joyce Presses DOT Secretary Sean Duffy About Ensuring Ports Can Operate At Full Capacity

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During Wednesday’s House Appropriations Committee hearing, Rep. David Joyce (R-OH) questioned Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy about port modernization.

Transcript

00:00to fulfill. Hearing no objection, Mr. Joyce, you're recognized for five minutes.

00:04Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and welcome Secretary Duffy. Mr. Joyce. Mr. Secretary,

00:09in FY19, the Department of Transportation launched a port infrastructure development program

00:14to increase port capacity and resiliency while modernizing an aging port infrastructure. Since

00:19then, the department has distributed more than $2 billion to port authorities, tribal, state,

00:24and local governments and private companies. While 70% of these funds went to the West Coast

00:28and East Coast ports last year, only 2% of these funds were awarded to the Great Lakes

00:32ports. I'm concerned that under the previous administration, these funds were not being

00:36distributed fairly across all regions. In your testimony, you mentioned your budget request

00:41provides the Maritime Administration with $596 million more than FY25 enacted less. How will

00:48your request help ensure ports in all regions of the country have access to needed funding

00:53so that they are able to operate at full capacity? So I thought you might ask me that question. So I

00:59asked Marad, is there a disparity in the money that goes to the Great Lakes? And they're telling me

01:04no, but I'm going to investigate that a little bit further. As you know, I'm from northern Wisconsin,

01:08and we care about Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, and equal access to resources is important. It's a driving

01:16force in the economy in our region. So I understand that. I will, I'll continue to have this discussion

01:22with Marad, and I would look forward to getting back to you and getting, getting you the information

01:27that I find. Thank you. I've been open about going up for all the Great Lakes. I haven't just pushed

01:32Lake Erie. But can you describe any plans your department has to ensure and improve that regional

01:36distribution of federal assistance under the Port Infrastructure Grant? Or is that something that you

01:41need to? Well, we're working through our plans right now, and would be happy to partner with you

01:45as, as we review that and look at it. Many aviation stakeholders are still concerned about the

01:51challenges the FAA faces in reviewing medical certificate applications, as well as the steps

01:56it's proposing to streamline that process. According to stakeholders, two of the main issues causing

02:01delays in the FAA medical certification process are first, the outdated paper-based system used to

02:06submit and process medical records, and second, the limited availability of specialist review panels

02:11which only meet every couple of months, and can only review a small number of cases at a time.

02:15These challenges create long wait times before a physician can even begin reviewing a case,

02:19leaving both the pilots and the aviation medical examiner stuck in a stressful and often frustrating

02:25holding pattern. Would you, Secretary, would you describe any actions your department has taken

02:30or plans to take to streamline this process, reduce costs to taxpayers, ensure pilots can safely return

02:35to the air in a timely manner? So this is an issue that I too have heard a lot about. A lot of,

02:41pilots have reached out. It is too slow, it's too laborious, complicated. And so I've had conversations

02:48with the FAA on how we can improve this process. And I'd be happy to, again, circle back with you and

02:54talk about how we're going to navigate making this process more responsive and quicker.

03:00And I understand and fully appreciate the fact that you've inherited a lot of problems in a small period of time.

03:07And I've known, seen you work, that you'll be able to work through this process. I'll throw out one last thing,

03:11is I had an opportunity under former Chairman Schuster and Secretary Chao to go to Canada to see the system

03:18that they have in place up there for the aviation control. And I know that there's some issues with it,

03:26but there's better systems that exist than what we have in place. And then in the towers to watch the people

03:31have to transfer paper. I can't believe that in this day and age, this is the American system.

03:35But I know under your leadership, we'll get that problem fixed. Thank you, sir. I yield back.

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