News and Media

WASHINGTON — Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued this statement after the Senate voted, 98-0, to confirm Michael Whitaker to be Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): “We applaud today’s Senate floor vote to confirm Michael Whitaker as the next FAA Administrator. As the […]

WASHINGTON, DC – Pennsylvania U.S. Senator John Fetterman, along with fourteen Senate colleagues, today introduced the Transit Emergency Relief Act, a new bill to improve the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Emergency Response (ER) Program. The bill would bring the FTA ER program into parity with the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) program that serves the same purpose for America’s […]

WASHINGTON — Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued this statement ahead of today’s scheduled Senate hearing to consider several nominations, including Michael Whitaker to be Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): “We urge the Senate to confirm Michael Whitaker to lead the FAA. As […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — This week, Rep. Emilia Sykes (OH-13) led a letter with Reps. Seth Moulton (MA-06), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), Don Bacon (NE-02), and 74 additional House members to House and Senate leadership calling for any upcoming government funding package to include robust funding for Amtrak and its passenger rail services. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA, […]

WASHINGTON — Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the AFL-CIO, issued this statement following Congress’ action to pass a Continuing Resolution to avert a government shutdown until mid-November and authorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) through December 31: “Tonight, hundreds of thousands of working Americans breathed […]

Reported by Dan Zukowski for SmartCitiesDive.

As Congress stumbles toward a likely government shutdown at midnight on Oct. 1, state and local officials, including those responsible for law enforcement and transportation, are assessing how a shutdown would affect their operations. Depending on the length of any shutdown and the specific federal personnel and agencies it would affect, some impacts could be minimal but others may have serious consequences.

If Congress does not enact fiscal year 2024 appropriations or a continuing resolution to fund government activities at current levels before the midnight deadline, the federal government activities that depend on annual appropriations will come to a halt once their funding runs out. Only 10 times since 1977 has the federal government lacked legal authority to spend money; it went into shutdown mode nine of those times. The most recent and longest shutdown began Dec. 21, 2018, during the Trump administration and lasted 34 days.

Reported by Irving Mejia-Hilario for the Dallas Morning News.

Over 7,000 union workers in Illinois and Michigan joined other striking auto workers Friday as the United Auto Workers widened its work stoppage to win higher wages and benefits from Detroit’s Big Three automakers.

UAW President Shawn Fain called on workers at a Ford assembly plant in Chicago and a General Motors plant outside Lansing, Mich., to join about 18,000 other strikers across the country.

Reported by Joanna Marsh for Freightwaves.

On the surface, a government shutdown — which can occur if Congress can’t agree on how to handle the appropriations budgets — would have a limited impact on freight rail operations.

Freight railroads will keep running, transporting parts, materials and goods within North America and to and from the coastal ports. Ensuring safe operations will also be paramount, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

September 27, 2023 Dear Representative: On behalf of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the AFL-CIO, and the millions of transportation workers that we represent, we urge you to pass the Senate-proposed bipartisan continuing resolution, H.R. 3935, and avert a government shutdown. As America’s largest transportation labor federation, we implore Congress to prioritize the safety […]

WASHINGTON – Amtrak and partners have been awarded nearly $200 million from the Federal Railroad Administration’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) competitive grant program. “The CRISI grants announced today will help launch new and expanded service, advance critical safety and reliability improvements, and provide opportunities for the workforce, marking another big milestone as […]