Senate Ports Performance Act Advances Along Party Lines

The bill, an effort to avoid a repeat of the crippling congestion that plagued West Coast ports earlier this year, sparked a partisan debate in the Senate Commerce Committee. Now, it will likely face a similar confrontation in Congress’ upper chamber.  In a 13-11 vote along party lines, committee senators gave their stamp of approval to the Port Transparency Act, part of the Comprehensive Transportation and Consumer Protection Act. That broader legislation includes a number of port, rail, and auto measures that the Senate will consider for inclusion in a future six-year transportation funding bill.  The Port Transparency Act, in particular, faced a number of challenges in committee and, late last month, survived a Democrat-led attempt to strip the legislation of much of its key language. 

According to the legislation’s co-sponsor Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the bill requires the Bureau of Transportation Statistics to create a port performance statistics program and update Congress annually on the capacity and performance of key ports.  In an effort to determine whether labor negotiations have an impact on port productivity, the legislation would also require the Department of Transportation to report on the state of port performance before and after the expiration of labor contracts. The DOT reports — done in consultation with the Commerce and Labor departments — would give legislators estimates on the economic impact and how long it will take for port productivity to be restored.  Shippers’ groups, who have voiced wide support for the legislation, have likened the process to the periodic highway “Condition and Performance” reports issued by the Federal Highway Administration. 

Among the opposition, labor unions, port authorities, and Democrats have found issue with the Ports Performance Act.  In a letter to lawmakers last week, the American Association of Port Authorities said that while it supports the spirit of the bill, “AAPA believes collecting micro, inside-the-gate performance metrics is not the right approach.”  And the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, one of the principal parties in the West Coast labor dispute, called the bill an “unprecedented, expensive and a risky expansion of government data collection.”  Alongside the labor federation’s Transportation Trades Department, ILWU leaders have argued the bill would significantly infringe on unions’ collective bargaining rights and labor-management dialogues. 

In an effort led by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL). late last June, Democrats on the Commerce Committee attempted to dismantle language in the bill that would compel ports to report what Nelson called “proprietary information.”  Much like the final vote, however, the GOP-dominated committee defeated Nelson’s motion in a 13-11 vote and wasn’t the only Democratic initiative Republicans defeated. Republicans also rejected the Democratic motions to eliminate language that would allow trucking companies to begin using drivers as young as 18 on American interstates, repeal a new oil train safety regulation and extend the current end-of-year deadline for railroads to adopt new safety equipment known as positive train control.  All of those votes, as well as Wednesday’s final committee vote, have underscored the intense partisanship that will make it difficult for the Senate to muster the votes necessary to pass the Comprehensive Transportation and Consumer Protection Act.