[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                PROTECTING TRANSPORTATION WORKERS AND 
                PASSENGERS FROM COVID: GAPS IN SAFETY, 
                LESSONS LEARNED, AND NEXT STEPS

=======================================================================

                                (117-1)

                             REMOTE HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                              COMMITTEE ON
                   TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                            FEBRUARY 4, 2021

                               __________

                       Printed for the use of the
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
             
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     Available online at: https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-
     transportation?path=/browsecommittee/chamber/house/committee/
                             transportation                            
                             
                                 __________

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
46-928 PDF                 WASHINGTON : 2022                     
          
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             COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE

  PETER A. DeFAZIO, Oregon, Chair
SAM GRAVES, Missouri                 ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON,
DON YOUNG, Alaska                      District of Columbia
ERIC A. ``RICK'' CRAWFORD, Arkansas  EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas
BOB GIBBS, Ohio                      RICK LARSEN, Washington
DANIEL WEBSTER, Florida              GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California
THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky              STEVE COHEN, Tennessee
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania            ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
RODNEY DAVIS, Illinois               JOHN GARAMENDI, California
JOHN KATKO, New York                 HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr., 
BRIAN BABIN, Texas                   Georgia
GARRET GRAVES, Louisiana             ANDRE CARSON, Indiana
DAVID ROUZER, North Carolina         DINA TITUS, Nevada
MIKE BOST, Illinois                  SEAN PATRICK MALONEY, New York
RANDY K. WEBER, Sr., Texas           JARED HUFFMAN, California
DOUG LaMALFA, California             JULIA BROWNLEY, California
BRUCE WESTERMAN, Arkansas            FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida
BRIAN J. MAST, Florida               DONALD M. PAYNE, Jr., New Jersey
MIKE GALLAGHER, Wisconsin            ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California
BRIAN K. FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania   MARK DeSAULNIER, California
JENNIFFER GONZALEZ-COLON,            STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts
  Puerto Rico                        SALUD O. CARBAJAL, California
TROY BALDERSON, Ohio                 ANTHONY G. BROWN, Maryland
PETE STAUBER, Minnesota              TOM MALINOWSKI, New Jersey
TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee              GREG STANTON, Arizona
DUSTY JOHNSON, South Dakota          COLIN Z. ALLRED, Texas
JEFFERSON VAN DREW, New Jersey       SHARICE DAVIDS, Kansas, Vice Chair
MICHAEL GUEST, Mississippi           JESUS G. ``CHUY'' GARCIA, Illinois
TROY E. NEHLS, Texas                 ANTONIO DELGADO, New York
NANCY MACE, South Carolina           CHRIS PAPPAS, New Hampshire
NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS, New York         CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania
BETH VAN DUYNE, Texas                SETH MOULTON, Massachusetts
CARLOS A. GIMENEZ, Florida           JAKE AUCHINCLOSS, Massachusetts
MICHELLE STEEL, California           CAROLYN BOURDEAUX, Georgia
                                     KAIALI`I KAHELE, Hawaii
                                     MARILYN STRICKLAND, Washington
                                     NIKEMA WILLIAMS, Georgia
                                     MARIE NEWMAN, Illinois
                                     Vacancy

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page

Summary of Subject Matter........................................     v

                 STATEMENTS OF MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE

Hon. Peter A. DeFazio, a Representative in Congress from the 
  State of Oregon, and Chair, Committee on Transportation and 
  Infrastructure:

    Opening statement............................................     1
    Prepared statement...........................................     3
Hon. Sam Graves, a Representative in Congress from the State of 
  Missouri, and Ranking Member, Committee on Transportation and 
  Infrastructure:

    Opening statement............................................     5
    Prepared statement...........................................     6

                               WITNESSES

Professor David Michaels, Ph.D., MPH, Department of Environmental 
  and Occupational Health, Milken Institute School of Public 
  Health, The George Washington University:

    Oral statement...............................................     7
    Prepared statement...........................................     8
Sara Nelson, International President, Association of Flight 
  Attendants--CWA, AFL-CIO:

    Oral statement...............................................    13
    Prepared statement...........................................    15
Lewie Pugh, Executive Vice President, Owner-Operator Independent 
  Drivers Association:

    Oral statement...............................................    21
    Prepared statement...........................................    22
Ismael Rivera, Bus Operator, Lynx, and Member, Amalgamated 
  Transit Union Local 1596, Orlando, Florida:

    Oral statement...............................................    29
    Prepared statement...........................................    30
William P. Bahnfleth, Ph.D., P.E., FASHRAE, FASME, FISIAQ, 
  Professor of Architectural Engineering, The Pennsylvania State 
  University, testifying on behalf of his role as Chair, ASHRAE 
  Epidemic Task Force:

    Oral statement...............................................    34
    Prepared statement...........................................    36
Hon. Joe Buscaino, President Pro Tempore, Los Angeles City 
  Council, testifying on behalf of the National League of Cities:

    Oral statement...............................................    40
    Prepared statement...........................................    42

                       SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD

Statement of the National Safety Council, Submitted for the 
  Record by Hon. Peter A. DeFazio................................    48
Submissions for the Record by Hon. Garret Graves of Louisiana:

    Letter of January 29, 2021, from Airlines for America et al..    63
    Letter from Mike Edwards, Director of Aviation, Baton Rouge 
      Metropolitan Airport.......................................    65
Letter of February 2, 2021, from David F. Adam, Chairman and CEO, 
  United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. et al., Submitted for the 
  Record by Hon. Alan S. Lowenthal...............................    80

                                APPENDIX

Questions to Sara Nelson, International President, Association of 
  Flight Attendants--CWA, AFL-CIO, from:

    Hon. Salud O. Carbajal.......................................   103
    Hon. Seth Moulton............................................   104
Questions from Hon. Seth Moulton to Ismael Rivera, Bus Operator, 
  Lynx, and Member, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1596, 
  Orlando, Florida...............................................   105
Question from Hon. Salud O. Carbajal to Hon. Joe Buscaino, 
  President Pro Tempore, Los Angeles City Council, testifying on 
  behalf of the National League of Cities........................   106

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                            February 4, 2021

    SUMMARY OF SUBJECT MATTER

    TO:      LMembers, Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure
    FROM:  LStaff, Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure
    RE:      LFull Committee Hearing on ``Protecting 
Transportation Workers and Passengers from COVID: Gaps in 
Safety, Lessons Learned and Next Steps''
_______________________________________________________________________


                                PURPOSE

    The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
(Committee or T&I) will meet in 2167 Rayburn House Office 
Building and via videoconferencing through a virtual platform 
on Thursday, February 4, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. EST to further 
examine the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on transportation 
workers and related issues within the Committee's jurisdiction. 
At the hearing, Members will hear about how the COVID-19 
pandemic continues to impact the health, safety, and working 
conditions of transportation industry workers, about ongoing 
gaps in safety, lessons learned, and next steps to protect 
transportation workers and passengers from COVID-19. Testimony 
will be provided by a public health expert, an air quality 
expert, a city councilmember, the Association of Flight 
Attendants--CWA, the Amalgamated Transit Union, and the Owner-
Operator Independent Drivers Association.

                               BACKGROUND

    The COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge around the globe 
and across our Nation, disrupting travel, affecting the 
economy, and ravaging communities. Prior to the Committee's 
hearing on this topic last Congress on June 9, 2020, COVID-19 
had killed more than 90,000 Americans.\1\ As of early February, 
this number stood at more than 400,000.\2\ Millions of front-
line transportation workers drive buses, operate ports, load 
cargo on airplanes, and carry out a myriad of other tasks 
necessary to ensuring the Nation's economy continues to 
function.\3\ The federal government has made recommendations 
for keeping these and other essential workers safe during the 
pandemic, and employers have instituted some protections.\4\ 
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) characterizes 
transportation workers in the high-risk category of potential 
infection and suggests they should be prioritized for expanded 
testing to help prevent the ``silent spread'' of COVID-19 from 
asymptomatic individuals.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ CDC, Daily Updates of Totals by Week and State (last accessed 
January 13, 2021), available at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/
COVID19/index.htm. (Note: T&I staff calculated this number by adding 
the deaths reported on a weekly basis through May 30, 2020).
    \2\ Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center 
(last accessed January 25, 2021) available at https://
coronavirus.jhu.edu/.
    \3\ Bureau of Transportation Statistics, ``Employment in 
Transportation and Transportation-Related Occupations'' (last accessed 
January 21, 2021) available at https://www.bts.gov/content/employment-
transportation-and-transportation-related-occupations. For example, 
according to BTS data, 2019 employment in the following categories 
totaled 5.02 million: air traffic controllers; bus drivers, transit and 
intercity; passenger vehicle drivers, except bus drivers, transit and 
intercity; subway and street car operators; flight attendants; 
shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks; tank car, truck, and ship 
loaders; first-line supervisors of transportation and material moving 
workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors; rail yard 
engineers, dinkey operators, and hostlers; captains, mates, and pilots 
of water vessels; truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer; and truck 
drivers, light or delivery services.
    \4\ CDC, For Specific Industries and Occupations: Transportation 
and Delivery (last accessed January 18, 2021), available at https://
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/workplaces-businesses/
specific-industries.html#transportation-delivery.
    \5\ ``CDC Guidance for Expanded Screening Testing to Reduce Silent 
Spread of SARS-CoV-2,'' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC), Updated January 21, 2021, accessed here: https://www.cdc.gov/
coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/open-america/expanded-screening-testing.html.
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COVID-19 IMPACTS ON TRANSPORTATION SECTORS

    The impact of COVID-19 on transportation workers and 
passengers has been significant. Most transportation systems 
were developed to move large numbers of people in relatively 
small spaces, making some recommended protective measures such 
as social distancing difficult.

AIRLINES/AIRPORTS

    A recent study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University 
correlated the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths to the 
proximity of the infected individual to the nearest airport or 
train station.\6\ The CDC have also shown the ability of the 
virus to spread on commercial flights.\7\ One CDC analysis in 
September 2020 found, for example, that a woman travelling from 
London to Vietnam in March 2020 infected 15 other passengers on 
the flight.\8\ The CDC pointed out that there were 16 crew 
members and 201 passengers on this 10-hour flight.\9\ Other 
studies have shown the potential for the spread of the COVID-19 
virus during long duration plane flights as well.\10\
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    \6\ Darrell J. Gaskin, et. al., ``Geographic Disparities in COVID-
19 Infections and Deaths: The Role of Transportation,'' Transport 
Policy, [Received date: July 27, 2020; Accepted date: December 1, 
2020], accessed here: https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/
S0967070X20309380?token=
77C31809717417AECF7EB996C471F8AA40E04F95468FA9CD5D7E78E6C420
FC7891DA99300D83A6B690677D1759F138E7.
    \7\ Nathaniel Weixel, ``New study shows dangers of in-flight COVID-
19 transmission,'' The Hill, September 18, 2020, available at https://
thehill.com/policy/healthcare/517146-new-study-shows-dangers-of-in-
flight-covid-transmission.
    \8\ Ibid.
    \9\ CDC's Emerging Infectious Disease Journal, Volume 26, Number 
11, ``Transmission of SARS-CoV 2 During Long-Haul Flight'' (November 
2020). See: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/11/20-3299_article.
    \10\ Benedict Carey, ``One 18-Hour Flight, Four Coronavirus 
Infections,'' New York Times, January 7, 2021, available at https://
www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/health/coronavirus-airline-passengers-
outbreak.html.
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    In addition, air traffic controllers have been impacted by 
COVID-19. Some air traffic control towers have been temporarily 
shut down for cleaning, some multiple times, due to COVID-19 
infections. For example, on January 10, 2021, the Washington 
Air Route Traffic Control Center in Leesburg, Virginia, which 
serves airspace in Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas, 
closed for two hours after an employee there reported a 
positive test for COVID-19.\11\ According to the Washington 
Post, employees at the center have tested positive 13 times 
since the start of the pandemic.\12\ Last month, Roll Call 
reported that nearly 300 air traffic control centers nationwide 
have been impacted by COVID-19 infections since the epidemic 
began.\13\
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    \11\ Ian Shapira, ``Air traffic control center in Leesburg closes 
for two hours because of coronavirus,'' Washington Post (January 10, 
2021) available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/leesburg-faa-
air-traffic-coronavirus/2021/01/10/f3394df8-536f-11eb-a08b-
f1381ef3d207_
story.html.
    \12\ Id.
    \13\ Jessica Wehrman, ``Flights delayed as FAA controllers test 
positive for COVID-19,'' Roll Call, January 7, 2021, accessed here: 
https://www.rollcall.com/2021/01/07/flights-delayed-as-faa-controllers-
test-positive-for-covid-19/.
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TRANSIT SYSTEMS

    COVID-19 also poses challenges for the Nation's public 
transportation agencies. The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), 
which represents transportation workers including bus 
operators, has lost more than 100 members due to COVID-19 since 
the start of the pandemic.\14\ One study that investigated a 
case of COVID-19 transmission on two buses in China early on in 
the pandemic concluded, ``This outbreak on public 
transportation vehicles highlighted the efficient transmission 
of [COVID-19] in crowded and closed settings. . . . The closed 
windows with running ventilation on the buses could have 
created an ideal environment for aerosol transmission.'' \15\ 
The study recommended an ``open windows'' policy on public 
transportation vehicles whenever possible and a reminder of the 
importance to wear face masks.\16\ As discussed in more detail 
below, transit agencies have taken a number of steps to reduce 
crowding, improve ventilation, and ensure access to clean 
vehicles and surfaces for passengers and workers.\17\
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    \14\ ATU, ``Remember Our Fallen,'' (last accessed January 18, 
2021), available at https://www.atu.org/remember-our-fallen
    \15\ Kaiwei Luo, et. al., ``Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Public 
Transportation Vehicles: A Case Study in Hunan Province, China,'' Open 
Forum Infectious Diseases (Infectious Diseases Society of America), 
published online September 13, 2020, accessed here: https://
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7543623/.
    \16\ Kaiwei Luo, et. al., ``Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Public 
Transportation Vehicles: A Case Study in Hunan Province, China,'' Open 
Forum Infectious Diseases (Infectious Diseases Society of America), 
published online September 13, 2020, accessed here: https://
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7543623/.
    \17\ See for instance, ``Mandatory Directive: Public Transit,'' 
Santa Clara County, California, Public Health Department, Issued July 
20, 2020, accessed here: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/covid19/
Documents/Mandatory-Directives-Public-Transit.pdf.
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MARITIME TRANSPORTATION

    Cruise ships present a particularly difficult environment 
to control the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious 
diseases.\18\ In early 2020, hundreds of passengers and crews 
on multiple cruise ships were infected with COVID-19.\19\ On 
March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared 
COVID-19 a pandemic.\20\ An outbreak on the aircraft carrier 
USS Theodore Roosevelt in March 2020 infected 1,271 sailors, 27 
percent of the crew.\21\ The maritime industry has also 
experienced COVID-19 infections, including recent outbreaks 
among workers at the Ports of Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and 
Charleston.\22\
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    \18\ Hirohito Ito, et. al., ``The cruise industry and the COVID-19 
outbreak,'' Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, May 
5, 2020, accessed here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/
PMC7254010/.
    \19\ ``Public Health Responses to COVID-19 Outbreaks on Cruise 
Ships--Worldwide, February-March 2020,'' Morbidity and Mortality Weekly 
Report (MMWR), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), March 
27, 2020, accessed here: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/
mm6912e3.htm.
    \20\ ``WHO characterizes COVID-19 as a pandemic,'' World Health 
Organization (WHO), March 11, 2020, accessed here: https://www.who.int/
emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/events-as-they-happen.
    \21\ Matthew R. Kasper, et. al., ``An Outbreak of Covid-19 on an 
Aircraft Carrier,'' New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), December 
17, 2020, accessed here: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/
NEJMoa2019375?query=featured_home.
    \22\ Pranshu Verma, `` `Very High Risk': Longshoremen Want 
Protection From the Virus So They Can Stay on the Job,'' New York 
Times, December 12, 2020, accessed here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/
12/12/us/politics/coronavirus-longshoremen-ports.html.
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    Following several high profile COVID-19 outbreaks on cruise 
ships, including the Diamond Princess and Grand Princess, which 
alone combined for more than 800 total COVID-19 cases, 
including 10 deaths,\23\ the CDC issued a No Sail Order (NSO) 
on March 14, 2020.\24\ The CDC subsequently modified and 
extended the NSO through October 31, 2020. According to the New 
York Times, however, the Trump Administration blocked an 
extension through mid-February 2021 of CDC's NSO for cruise 
ships, allowing ships to sail under certain conditions after 
October 31, 2020. The cruise industry had already voluntarily 
agreed not to sail prior to October 31, 2020, however.\25\ On 
October 30, 2020, the CDC issued a detailed Framework for 
Conditional Sailing order setting forth specific requirements 
that cruises must meet in order to sail.\26\ Despite this, CDC 
still officially ``recommends that all people avoid travel on 
cruise ships, including river cruises, worldwide, because the 
risk of COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high.'' \27\ Major 
cruise lines operating out of U.S. waters have voluntarily 
extended their no sail period through March 2021 and some, 
including Carnival Cruise Lines, will not sail until at least 
May 2021.\28\
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    \23\ CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (March 23, 2020) 
available at https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6912e3.htm.
    \24\ CDC, No Sail Order (March 14, 2020) available at https://
www.cdc.gov/quarantine/pdf/signed-manifest-order_031520.pdf.
    \25\ Sheila Kaplan, ``White House Blocked C.D.C. Order to Keep 
Cruise Ships Docked,'' New York Times (September 30, 2020), available 
at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/health/covid-cruise-ships.html; 
see also Jonathan Swan, ``Scoop: CDC Director overruled on cruise ship 
ban,'' Axios (September 29, 2020), available at https://www.axios.com/
scoop-white-house-overruled-cdc-
cruise-ships-florida-91442136-1b8e-442e-a2a1-0b24e9a39fb6.html.
    \26\ CDC, ``Quarantine and Isolation: Cruise Ship Guidance'' (last 
updated October 30, 2020) available at https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/
cruise/index.html.
    \27\ CDC, ``Traveler's Health: COVID-19 and Cruise Ship Travel'' 
(last viewed January 19, 2021) available at https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/
travel/notices/covid-4/coronavirus-cruise-ship.
    \28\ Brittany Chang, ``Several cruise trips have already been 
cancelled this year. See when major cruise lines plan on operating 
again,'' Business Insider, January 22, 2021, accessed here: https://
www.businessinsider.com/cruise-lines-2021-sailing-plans.
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TESTING

    The CDC recommends increased testing, including for 
individuals with a higher risk of exposure based on their 
occupation, such as transportation workers who come into face-
to-face contact with the public.\29\ One of the considerations 
for testing, according to the CDC, is: ``People who have taken 
part in activities that put them at higher risk for COVID-19 
because they cannot socially distance as needed, such as 
travel, attending large social or mass gatherings, or being in 
crowded indoor settings.'' \30\ Most transportation workers, 
including bus operators and flight attendants, fall into this 
category of workers who come into face-to-face contact with the 
public.\31\ Despite the importance of testing, some localities 
are continuing to experience challenges ensuring sufficient 
testing capacity, marked by high demand, hard-to-come-by 
appointments, and a lack of supplies and personnel.\32\ From 
the start of the pandemic the Federal Government has followed a 
policy that permitted state and local authorities to take the 
lead on testing.\33\
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    \29\ CDC, Summary of Guidance for Public Health Strategies to 
Address High Levels of Community Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and Related 
Deaths (December 2020) available at https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/
69/wr/mm6949e2.htm.
    \30\ ``COVID-19 Testing Overview: Considerations for who should get 
tested,'' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), accessed 
here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/
testing.html.
    \31\ CDC, Testing Strategy for Coronavirus (COVID-19) in High-
Density Critical Infrastructure Workplaces after a COVID-19 Case Is 
Identified (last accessed January 13, 2021) available at https://
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/worker-safety-support/hd-
testing.html. Note that this guidance refers to essential workers being 
in close contact with other workers, but it seems like it would apply 
to workers in contact with others, i.e. passengers.
    \32\ See for example The Boston Globe, COVID-19 Testing Remains a 
Challenge; It Could Get Worse as Health Care Providers Juggle Vaccine 
Rollout (January 7, 2021); Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Allegheny County 
Attributes Low Number of New COVID Cases to Limited Testing (December 
28, 2020); Bangor Daily News, COVID Testing Challenges Loom with Winter 
Weather and End of Federal Support (December 10, 2020).
    \33\ Mike Stobbe and Matthew Perrone, ``Will the US ever have a 
national COVID-19 testing strategy,'' Associated Press (AP), December 
6, 2020, accessed here: https://apnews.com/article/will-us-national-
virus-testing-strategy-ceeda0ed971631f47666882eaef89a8e.
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CASE REPORTING

    Case reporting and contact tracing have been touted as core 
public health strategies for controlling and preventing the 
spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19.\34\ The 
Collegium Ramazzini has emphasized the role of national 
governments to protect high-risk workers from the COVID-19 
epidemic.\35\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \34\ Elizabeth Ruebush, MPH, et. al., ``COVID-19 Case Investigation 
and Contact Tracing: Early Lessons Learned and Future Opportunities,'' 
Journal of Public Health Management & Practice, January/February 2021, 
Volume 27, Number 1 Supplemental, accessed here: https://
journals.lww.com/jphmp/Fulltext/2021/01001/
COVID_19_Case_Investigation_and_
Contact_Tracing_.15.aspx.
    \35\ The Collegium Ramazzini is an independent, international 
society comprised of 180 physicians and scientists from 35 countries 
whose mission is to increase scientific knowledge of the environmental 
and occupational causes of disease with the goal of transmitting this 
knowledge to decisions-makers and the global public to prevent disease, 
promote health and save lives. ``24th Collegium Ramazzini statement. 
Prevention of work-related infection in the COVID-19 pandemic,'' 
International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental 
Health, Online publication date May 19, 2020, accessed here: http://
ijomeh.eu/24th-Collegium-Ramazzini-statement-Prevention-of-work-
related-infection-in-the-COVID,122172,0,2.html.
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    A scientific journal article published online in mid-
November 2020 by the American Journal of Industrial Medicine 
highlighted the benefits of testing. The study examined 10,850 
cases of COVID-19 in Washington State and found that those 
employed in the transportation and infrastructure sectors were 
among those workers highest at risk of COVID-19 infections.\36\ 
The study found that [n]onhealthcare occupations at the highest 
risk of COVID-19 infection are dominated by workers who are 
either in close direct contact with others, such as flight 
attendants . . . or may be directly exposed to [COVID-19].'' 
\37\ The study noted that the CDC is now recommending the 
collection of data on occupation and workplace during COVID-19 
case interviews.\38\ Ultimately, the study concluded: ``More 
comprehensive data is needed on the individual occupation 
level, preferably across the entire United States, to fully 
assess worker risk and direct protective measures tailored to 
individual occupations.'' \39\
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    \36\ Michael Zhang, MD, (University of Nevada, Las Vegas), 
``Estimation of differential occupational risk of COVID-19 by comparing 
risk factors with case data by occupational group,'' America Journal of 
Industrial Medicine, published online November 18, 2020, accessed here: 
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajim.23199.
    \37\ Id.
    \38\ Id.
    \39\ Id.
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    Last May, the President of the American College of 
Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) that represents 
4,000 occupational medicine physicians and related health care 
professions wrote to the CDC Director imploring him to improve 
the CDC's efforts to gather workplace specific COVID-19 
infection data which was largely limited to the healthcare 
workforce.\40\ ``We urge you to take all feasible steps to 
better understand the connection between COVID-19 and 
occupational factors by gathering codable data on industry and 
occupation in reported [COVID-19] cases.'' \41\ The ACOEM 
president specifically cited ``public transportation'' workers 
as one of those high-risk groups that were prone to 
``occupational risks'' from COVID-19 infections.\42\
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    \40\ Letter from Beth A. Baker, MD, President, American College of 
Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) to Dr. Robert R. 
Redfield, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 
``SUBJECT: Inclusion of occupational data fields in COVID-19 case 
reporting,'' May 20, 2020, accessed here: https://acoem.org/acoem/
media/PDF-Library/May-2020-letter-to-CDC.pdf.
    \41\ Id.
    \42\ Id.
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CONTACT TRACING

    Contact tracing is a resource intensive exercise dependent 
upon individuals with the right public health skills and access 
to laboratory testing facilities.\43\ However, it has been 
shown to be an effective measure to control the spread of 
infectious diseases, including COVID-19.\44\ A study by 
researchers at Harvard and Stanford Universities, using a 
mathematical model, found that the most effective contact 
tracing programs could reduce the overall transmissions of 
COVID-19 infections by almost half.\45\ Yet, while the United 
States has suffered nearly twice as many deaths as Brazil,\46\ 
with the second highest number of deaths in the world, and has 
more than twice as many COVID-19 infections as India with the 
second highest number of worldwide cases, during the last ten 
months the United States did not have a cohesive federal 
contact tracing program or plan.\47\ Instead, the Federal 
Government has largely left COVID-19 contact tracing efforts up 
to state and local officials.\48\ The CDC's own guidance says, 
``State and local public health officials will decide how to 
implement these activities and how to advise specific people, 
or groups of people, to be tested.'' \49\
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    \43\ ``COVID-19: Laboratory Capacity,'' Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention (CDC), accessed here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/
2019-ncov/php/open-america/laboratory.html
    \44\ Matt J. Keeling, T. Deirdre Hollingsworth and Jonathan M. 
Read, ``Efficacy of contact tracing for the containment of the 2019 
novel coronavirus (COVID-19),'' Journal of Epidemiology and Community 
Health, October 2020, accessed here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/
articles/
PMC7307459/
#::text=In%20general%2C%20contact%20tracing%20is,transmission%20from
%20the%20secondary%20cases.
    \45\ Alyssa Bilinski, MS, Farzad Mostashari, MD and Joshua A. 
Salomon, PhD, ``Modeling Contact Tracing Strategies for COVID-19 in the 
Context of Relaxed Physical Distancing,'' JAMA Network Open (Research 
Letter/Public Health), August 21, 2020, accessed here: https://
jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2769618.
    \46\ On January 17, 2021, the United States had 397,561 recorded 
deaths from COVID-19 while Brazil had 209,847 recorded COVID-19 deaths 
and the United States had 23,932,306 recorded COVID-19 cases followed 
by India with 10,557,985 recorded COVID-19 cases. See, Johns Hopkins 
University's ``COVID-19 Dashboard'' created by the Center for Systems 
Science and Engineering (CSSE), accessed here: https://
coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html.
    \47\ Beth Duff-Brown, ``Model shows potential contact tracing 
impact against COVID-19,'' News Center, Stanford University's School of 
Medicine, August 24, 2020, accessed here: http://med.stanford.edu/news/
all-news/2020/08/model-shows-potential-contact-tracing-impact-against-
covid-19.html.
    \48\ ``Contact Tracing for COVID-19,'' Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention (CDC), Updated December 16, 2020, accessed here: https:/
/www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/contact-
tracing/contact-tracing-plan/contact-tracing.html
    \49\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

QUARANTINE

    Forcing those infected with COVID-19 to quarantine or self-
isolate has proven difficult. In December, for example, a 
passenger on a United Airlines flight died of an apparent heart 
attack.\50\ However, the man's wife apparently told emergency 
medical personnel that he had COVID-19 symptoms, including loss 
of taste.\51\ The coroner later confirmed he died of acute 
respiratory failure and COVID-19.\52\ With those symptoms he 
should have been in self-quarantine.\53\ In addition, 
transportation and other workers may feel compelled to go to 
work so that they don't miss a paycheck, particularly if they 
are asymptomatic.\54\ In December, the CDC shortened its 
recommended time for quarantine from 14 days to 10 days or 
potentially 7 days, depending on the specific test results and 
an individual's symptoms.\55\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \50\ Melissa Alonso, Kelly Murray and Hollie Silverman, ``United 
passenger died of Covid-19 and acute respiratory failure, coroner 
says,'' CNN, December 222, 2020, accessed here: https://www.cnn.com/
2020/12/19/us/united-passenger-died-covid-symptoms/index.html.
    \51\ Id.
    \52\ Id.
    \53\ ``Isolate If You Are Sick: Separate yourself from others if 
you have COVID-19,'' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 
accessed here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-
sick/isolation.html.
    \54\ ``Report Shows Transportation Workers Lack Support and 
Flexibility on the Job: Many workers come to work sick, worrying losing 
pay or their job,'' Roads & Bridges, June 5, 2020, accessed here: 
https://www.roadsbridges.com/report-shows-transportation-workers-lack-
support-and-flexibility-job.
    \55\ Colin Dwyer, ``CDC Shortens Its COVID-19 Quarantine 
Recommendations,'' National Public Radio (NPR), December 2, 2020, 
accessed here: https://www.npr.org/2020/12/02/941355347/cdc-shortens-
its-covid-19-quarantine-recommendations.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

VACCINATIONS

    Immunization with a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine is 
a critical component of the United States' strategy to reduce 
COVID-19-related illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths, and 
to help restore more normal social functioning and economic 
activity.\56\ The Department of Homeland Security considers 
transportation workers to be part of the essential critical 
infrastructure workforce and has noted that a degradation of 
infrastructure operations and resilience will make stopping the 
spread of the virus more difficult.\57\ Essential workers, such 
as those employed in a range of transportation occupations, are 
among the populations being considered for initial phased 
allocation of limited vaccine doses.\58\ But states and 
localities vary in how they intend to prioritize essential 
workers, including those in the transportation sector, to 
receive vaccinations.\59\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \56\ CDC, COVID-19 Vaccination Program Interim Playbook For 
Jurisdiction Operations (October 29, 2020) available at https://
www.cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-managers/downloads/COVID-19-Vaccination-
Program-Interim_Playbook.pdf.
    \57\ U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Cybersecurity & 
Infrastructure Security Agency, Guidance on the Essential Critical 
Infrastructure Workforce: Ensuring Community and National Resilience in 
COVID-19 Response (August 18, 2020).
    \58\ CDC, Summary of Guidance for Public Health Strategies to 
Address High Levels of Community Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and Related 
Deaths (December 2020) available at https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/
69/wr/mm6949e2.htm.
    \59\ NBC Nightly News, Who's Next for the COVID Vaccine, a Look at 
What Some States Are Deciding (December 13, 2020).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE)

MASKS

    The CDC strongly recommends all passengers and operators 
wear masks on public transportation, including airplanes, 
ships, ferries, trains, subways, buses, taxis, and ride-
shares.\60\ CDC also strongly recommends mask use at 
transportation hubs and in boarding areas.\61\ CDC further 
recommends that operators refuse to board anyone not wearing a 
mask, and require all people on board to wear masks for the 
duration of the trip with a few exceptions, such as for brief 
periods to eat, drink, or take medicine.\62\ During the Trump 
administration, however, the CDC did not issue a mandatory mask 
requirement.\63\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \60\ CDC, ``Wear Face Masks on Public Transportation Conveyances 
and at Transportation Hubs,'' (Updated November 20, 2020, available at 
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/face-masks-public-
transportation.html; See also CDC, ``Interim Guidance: Wearing of face 
masks while on public conveyances at stations, ports and similar 
transportation hubs,'' October 20, 2020, available at https://
www.cdc.gov/quarantine/masks/mask-travel-guidance.html.
    \61\ Id.
    \62\ Id.
    \63\ Erika Edwards, ``CDC says mask mandates can slow COVID-19,'' 
NBC News, November 20, 2020, accessed here: https://www.nbcnews.com/
health/health-news/cdc-says-mask-mandates-can-slow-covid-19-spread-
n1248417.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    According to the New York Times, the CDC drafted an order 
in September 2020 under its quarantine powers that would have 
required all passengers and employees to wear masks on all 
forms of public and commercial transportation in the United 
States.\64\ However, these CDC plans were blocked by the White 
House and never issued, according to these reports.\65\ On 
October 2, 2020, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) 
denied a petition from the Transportation Trades Department, 
AFL-CIO asking DOT to require passengers to wear masks on 
airplanes, trains, buses, and passenger vessels as well as in 
boarding areas and associated facilities such as airports and 
stations.\66\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \64\ Sheila Kaplan, ``White House Blocked C.D.C. From Requiring 
Masks on Public Transportation,'' New York Times (October 9, 2020), 
available at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/09/health/coronavirus-
covid-masks-cdc.html.
    \65\ Sheila Kaplan, ``White House Blocked C.D.C. From Requiring 
Masks on Public Transportation,'' New York Times (October 9, 2020), 
available at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/09/health/coronavirus-
covid-masks-cdc.html.
    \66\ Andy Kroll, ``Trump Administration Rejected a Mask Mandate on 
the Day Trump Was Hospitalized for Covid-19,'' Rolling Stone (October 
3, 2020) available at https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-
news/trump-covid-positive-test-hospital-plane-train-
mask-mandate-transportation-1070629/; See also Ian Duncan, ``Labor 
Unions Petition Transportation Department for a mandatory mask rule,'' 
Washington Post (July 28, 2020) available at https://
www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/labor-unions-petition-
transportation-
department-for-a-mandatory-mask-rule/2020/07/28/0cc36306-d0f0-11ea-
9038-af089b63ac21_
story.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    On January 21, 2021, President Biden signed an executive 
order requiring, to the extent consistent with applicable law, 
that masks be worn in compliance with CDC guidelines in 
airports, on commercial aircraft, trains, public maritime 
vessels including ferries, intercity buses and public 
transportation.\67\ The order also requires, to the extent 
feasible, that travelers entering the United States from a 
foreign country produce proof of a negative COVID-19 test prior 
to entry and travelers, ``comply with other applicable CDC 
guidelines concerning international travel, including 
recommended periods of self-quarantine or self-isolation after 
entry into the United States.'' \68\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \67\ Executive Order on Promoting COVID-19 Safety in Domestic and 
International Travel, Section 2 available at https://
www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/21/
executive-order-promoting-covid-19-safety-in-domestic-and-
international-travel/.
    \68\ Executive Order on Promoting COVID-19 Safety in Domestic and 
International Travel, Section 5 available at https://
www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/21/
executive-order-promoting-covid-19-safety-in-domestic-and-
international-travel/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Every domestic commercial airline requires, as a matter of 
company policy, that passengers and crew wear face coverings on 
flights, as well as during check-in and boarding.\69\ Most 
major transit systems, and a lot of smaller ones, require 
masks.\70\ Uber \71\ and Lyft \72\ require masks for both 
drivers and passengers, and Amtrak requires masks for customers 
and front-line employees and is also limiting bookings on 
reserved trains to allow for more social distancing.\73\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \69\ Becky Pokora and Caroline Lupini, ``Master List of U.S. 
Airline Seating and Mask COVID-19 Policies,'' Forbes (December 7, 2020) 
available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/advisor/2020/12/07/master-
list-of-us-airline-seating-and-mask-covid-19-policies/?sh=34c9d2fb1bb4.
    \70\ APTA Health & Safety Commitments Program, Participating 
Agencies, available at https://apta.com/wp-content/uploads/
Participating_Agencies_12-23-2020.pdf.
    \71\ Dalvin Brown, `` `No mask. No ride.': Uber will require 
drivers and passengers to wear face masks indefinitely,'' USA Today 
(July 1, 2020) available at https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/
07/01/uber-require-face-masks-drivers-and-passengers-indefinitely/
5354164002/.
    \72\ Andrew J. Hawkins, ``Lyft will require drivers and Passengers 
to wear face masks,'' The Verge (May 7, 2020) available at https://
www.theverge.com/2020/5/7/21250999/lyft-face-mask-require-driver-
passenger-coronavirus.
    \73\ Amtrak, ``Amtrak Requires Facial Coverings As Added Measure of 
Protection,'' (May 7, 2020) available at https://media.amtrak.com/2020/
05/amtrak-requires-facial-coverings-as-added-measure-of-protection/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Passenger access to PPE, including masks, varies by transit 
agency. In New York City, the Metropolitan Transportation 
Authority (MTA) has created a ``Mask Force'' comprised of 
hundreds of volunteers who distribute free masks on subways and 
buses two days each month.\74\ The Chicago Transit Authority 
(CTA) recently announced a pilot program to provide free, 
disposable masks on 200 buses serving 20 bus routes,\75\ 
following the installation of personal protective equipment 
vending machines at six of CTA's rail stations which offer 
riders access to items like masks and hand sanitizer for prices 
ranging from $3.75 to $10.\76\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \74\ https://new.mta.info/maskforce.
    \75\ Chicago Transit Authority, ``CTA Announces Free Face Mask 
Pilot Program,'' (December 29, 2020) available at https://
www.transitchicago.com/cta-announces-free-face-mask-pilot-program/.
    \76\ Chicago Transit Authority, ``CTA Announces New PPE Vending 
Machines for Customers at Rail Stations,'' (October 21, 2020) available 
at https://www.transitchicago.com/cta-announces-new-ppe-vending-
machines-for-customers-at-rail-stations/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    However, enforcement of mask policies has been a challenge. 
For example, bus drivers have been assaulted while trying to 
enforce mask mandates, including a 62-year-old public bus 
driver in New York City who was hit after reminding a passenger 
that masks were required, and a bus driver in San Francisco who 
was beaten by three men who had been ordered off for refusing 
to put on a mask.\77\ There have also been numerous reports of 
airline passengers verbally abusing flight attendants as they 
have tried to enforce airline mask requirements and of 
passengers exploiting food and drink mask exceptions for 
prolonged periods to avoid mask wearing.\78\ Moreover, these 
disturbances have safety implications beyond even spreading the 
virus, with at least one report of an airline captain being so 
distracted by a mask-related problem with a passenger that the 
captain mistakenly descended to the wrong altitude.\79\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \77\ Christine Goldbaum, ``When a Bus Driver Told a Rider to Wear a 
Mask, `He Knocked Me Out Cold,'' New York Times (September 18, 2020) 
available at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/nyregion/mta-bus-mask-
covid.html
    \78\ Michael Laris, ``Sneezed on, cussed at, ignored: Airline 
workers battle mask resistance with scant governmental backup,'' 
Washington Post (January 1, 2021) available at https://
www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/coronavirus-mask-
airplanes/2020/12/31/
09c12d52-4565-11eb-975c-d17b8815a66d_story.html; Maria Cramer, ``Mask 
Fights and a `Mob Mentality': What Flight Attendants Faced Over the 
Last Year,'' New York Times (January 26, 2021), available at https://
www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/business/airlines-capitol-violence.html?
action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage.
    \79\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

HEALTHY FLIGHTS ACT

    On July 30, 2020, Chair DeFazio, Chair Larsen, and more 
than a dozen members of Congress introduced the Healthy Flights 
Act of 2020 (116th--H.R. 7867), which sought to clarify FAA's 
authority to impose requirements on passengers to protect 
health and safety, require passengers to wear masks on board 
aircraft and within airports during public health emergencies 
caused by airborne disease, mandate development of a national 
aviation preparedness plan to respond to pandemics, call for a 
study on transmission of infectious diseases in airplane 
cabins, and create an FAA Center of Excellence on Infectious 
Disease Response and Prevention in Aviation to advise the FAA 
Administrator on infectious diseases and air travel. The bill 
was not marked up or otherwise advanced by the Committee during 
the 116th Congress.

BUS SHIELDS

    On buses, plastic shields, which have previously been used 
to help protect drivers from assaults, are now being added by 
some transit agencies to help protect drivers from 
coronavirus.\80\ According to the American Public 
Transportation Association's (APTA) Mobility Recovery and 
Restoration Task Force, adding physical barriers between 
drivers and passengers minimizes the person-to-person spread of 
disease.\81\ The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), which 
represents over 200,000 workers, includes temporary barrier 
installation as part of its recommended ``Bus Airflows and 
Solutions for Operators.'' \82\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \80\ Luz Lazo, ``Plastic barriers protected bus drivers from 
assaults. Now they shield them from the coronavirus,'' Washington Post 
(December 30, 2020) available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/
trafficandcommuting/bus-driver-barriers-coronavirus/2020/12/29/
7e4ce230-3e1a-11eb-8bc0-ae155bee4aff_story.html.
    \81\ American Public Transportation Association Mobility Recovery 
and Restoration Task Force White Paper, ``Transit Leadership in the 
Post-COVID-19 Mobility Landscape Part One: Measures to Promote Safe 
Mobility,'' (September 2, 2020) p. 16 available at https://apta.com/wp-
content/uploads/Updated_Transit_Leadership_in_the_Post-COVID-
19_Mobility_
Landscape_Part_1_v2.pdf.
    \82\ Amalgamated Transit Union, ``Safe Service Now: COVID019--Bus 
Airflows and Solutions'' (last viewed Jan. 17, 2021), available at 
https://www.atu.org/covid-one9/resources/
STRAT_COVIDPerilsofAirflowFlyer.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

SURFACE SANITIZATION

    The CDC recommends frequent hand washing and/or use of hand 
sanitizer containing at least 60 percent alcohol.\83\ To help 
airplane passengers comply, the Transportation Security 
Administration (TSA) allows passengers to carry on one 
container of hand sanitizer up to 12 ounces.\84\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \83\ CDC, ``How to Protect Yourself & Others,'' Updated December 
31, 2020 available at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/
prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html
    \84\ https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/
items/hand-sanitizers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Both public and private transportation services have also 
explored innovations in disinfection. JetBlue has experimented 
with a machine from Honeywell that uses UV light to disinfect 
cabins.\85\ The CTA has purchased electrostatic sprayers to 
help evenly distribute its cleaning agent and help the agent to 
cling to surfaces, as well as with surface coating products to 
prevent viruses from sticking to surfaces inside of 
vehicles.\86\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \85\ Cailey Rizzo, ``JetBlue Is Testing a Giant UV Light Machine 
That Could Disinfect Plane Cabins in Under 10 Minutes,'' Travel + 
Leisure (July 30, 2020), available at https://www.travelandleisure.com/
airlines-airports/jetblue/jetblue-airplane-cabin-disinfectant-machine-
coronavirus.
    \86\ https://www.transitchicago.com/coronavirus/vehicles/#New.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    APTA's Mobility Recovery and Restoration Task Force has 
recommended that transit agencies comply with recommendations 
by health and safety agencies regarding masks, and provide key 
supplies in both vehicles and facilities for both passengers 
and employees to help mitigate against the spread of contagious 
disease.\87\ Examples of such supplies include soap, cleaning 
wipes, hand sanitizer dispensers, paper towels, tissues, and 
trash cans to dispose of used products.\88\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \87\ American Public Transportation Association Mobility Recovery 
and Restoration Task Force White Paper, ``Transit Leadership in the 
Post-COVID-19 Mobility Landscape Part One: Measures to Promote Safe 
Mobility,'' (September 2, 2020) p. 13 available at https://apta.com/wp-
content/uploads/Updated_Transit_Leadership_in_the_Post-COVID-
19_Mobility_
Landscape_Part_1_v2.pdf.
    \88\ Id. at p. 8.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Some transit agencies are also transitioning to contactless 
payment systems such as phone app-based fare collection, which 
helps reduce touch points and potentially infections.\89\ Other 
concepts transit systems are considering to reduce surface-
based infection include antimicrobial coverings for handrails 
and other key touch points to inhibits growth of microbes,\90\ 
copper coatings, which reduce the length of time COVID-19 can 
remain on a surface, and self-cleaning nanocoatings, which can 
kill viruses on surfaces and nearby air.\91\ The Port Authority 
of New York and New Jersey, for example, has been experimenting 
with a self-cleaning escalator handrail system using UV 
light.\92\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \89\ American Public Transportation Association Mobility Recovery 
and Restoration Task Force White Paper, ``Transit Leadership in the 
Post-COVID-19 Mobility Landscape Part One: Measures to Promote Safe 
Mobility,'' (September 2, 2020) pp. 19-20 available at https://
apta.com/wp-
content/uploads/Updated_Transit_Leadership_in_the_Post-COVID-
19_Mobility_
Landscape_Part_1_v2.pdf; See also ``Contactless Payment: Metro Makes 
TAP Cards Available On Apple Devices,'' CBS Los Angeles (September 3, 
2020) available at https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/09/03/
contactless-payment-metro-makes-tap-cards-available-on-apple-devices/.
    \90\ Id. at p. 23.
    \91\ Id. at pp. 24-25.
    \92\ Larry Higgs, ``Self-sanitizing escalator handrail coming to 
Port Authority bus terminal,'' NJ.com (August 2, 2020) available at 
https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/08/self-sanitizing-escalator-
handrail-coming-to-port-authority-bus-terminal.html; see also American 
Public Transportation Association Mobility Recovery and Restoration 
Task Force White Paper, ``Transit Leadership in the Post-COVID-19 
Mobility Landscape Part One: Measures to Promote Safe Mobility,'' 
(September 2, 2020) pp. 26-27 available at https://apta.com/wp-content/
uploads/
Updated_Transit_Leadership_in_the_Post-COVID-
19_Mobility_Landscape_Part_1_
v2.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

PHYSICAL DISTANCING

    The CDC recommends maintaining physical distance of at 
least six feet as a strategy to decrease the spread of 
coronavirus. When an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks 
and droplets from their mouth or nose are launched into the air 
they can land in the mouths or noses of people nearby, 
potentially infecting those individuals.\93\ However, as the 
following examples demonstrate, the ability to maintain six 
feet of separation varies across and within modes of 
transportation. In aviation, many airports have instituted 
physical distancing requirements within terminals, but once 
aboard aircraft, flight crew and travelers are generally 
limited in their ability to remain six feet apart due to the 
size of the cabin.\94\ Likewise, maintaining at least six feet 
of distance can be challenging in other crowded transportation 
settings, such as in buses and subway cars and on commuter 
ferries.\95\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \93\ CDC, Summary of Guidance for Public Health Strategies to 
Address High Levels of Community Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and Related 
Deaths (December 2020) available at https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/
69/wr/mm6949e2.htm; CDC, Social Distancing (last accessed January 13, 
2021) available at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-
getting-sick/social-distancing.html.
    \94\ See, for example, Houston Airports Authority, FlySafe Houston 
(accessed on January 13, 2021) available at https://
www.fly2houston.com/flysafe; San Francisco International Airport, What 
We Are Doing (accessed on January 13, 2021) available at https://
www.flysfo.com/travel-well/new-health-protocols; Saint Louis Lambert 
International Airport, Travel Update: Coronavirus (COVID-19) (accessed 
on January 13, 2021) available at https://www.flystl.com/newsroom/stl-
news/2020/travel-update-coronavirus-covid-19.
    \95\ CDC, Wear Face Masks on Public Transportation Conveyances and 
at Transportation Hubs (last accessed January 13, 2021) available at 
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/face-masks-public-
transportation.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

AIR QUALITY/VENTILATION

    The CDC encourages increasing indoor air ventilation as a 
strategy to help reduce transmission of coronavirus.\96\ The 
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning 
Engineers has recommended specific actions to improve air 
quality and thereby decrease the risk of infectious disease 
exposure in indoor environments, including mobile environments 
such as vehicles and ships.\97\ These recommendations include, 
for example, using filters and air cleaners and ensuring 
sufficient outdoor airflow rates.\98\ Most commercial airliners 
use high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters \99\ and 
have a high air-exchange rate, including a mix of outside and 
recirculated air.\100\ Particles generated by sneezing or 
coughing, however, remain in the cabin air creating exposure 
for disease transmission until they enter the ventilation 
system and are effectively removed by HEPA filters.\101\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \96\ CDC, Summary of Guidance for Public Health Strategies to 
Address High Levels of Community Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and Related 
Deaths (December 2020) available at https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/
69/wr/mm6949e2.htm.
    \97\ ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force, Core Recommendations for Reducing 
Airborne Infectious Aerosol Exposure (accessed on January 14, 2021) 
available at https://www.ashrae.org/file%20library/
technical%20resources/covid-19/core-recommendations-for-reducing-
airborne-infectious-aerosol-exposure.pdf.
    \98\ Id.
    \99\ HEPA filters are high efficiency particle air (HEPA) filters 
with an efficiency of 99.97% removal of particulates larger than 0.30 
microns. See: ``Frequently Asked Questions,'' American Society of 
Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), 
accessed here: https://www.ashrae.org/technical-resources/frequently-
asked-questions-faq.
    \100\ Airlines for America, ``Working Together to Protect Travelers 
from Curb to Gate'' (July 2, 2020) available at https://
www.airlines.org/blog/working-together-to-protect-travelers-from-curb-
to-gate/.
    \101\ National Academies of Science, Infectious Disease Mitigation 
in Airports and on Aircraft (2013) available at http://nap.edu/22512.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION STATUTORY AUTHORITY TO COMBAT THE 
                    COVID CRISIS

    On July 27, 2020, the Transportation Trades Department AFL-
CIO (TTD) and its 33 member unions petitioned the DOT to 
mandate by regulation the usage of masks or face coverings for 
passengers on DOT-regulated commercial transportation 
providers.\102\ In its petition, TTD cited the ``patchwork of 
state or local mandates and a deeply inadequate federal 
response consisting of non-mandatory guidance'' which failed to 
protect front-line transportation employees.\103\ At the time 
of the petition, ``barely half of states [had] enacted 
mandatory mask requirements in public'' even as the country set 
global records on the rate of new COVID-19 infections.\104\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \102\ Letter from Larry I. Willis, President, Transportation Trades 
Department AFL-CIO, to Secretary Elaine Chao, U.S. Department of 
Transportation (July 27, 2020) available at https://ttd.org/policy/
federal-comments/ttd-petitions-dot-for-passenger-face-mask-mandate/.
    \103\ Id.
    \104\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Federal 
Railroad Administration (FRA), and the Federal Transit 
Administration (FTA) already have the authority to mandate the 
usage of masks and face coverings. Under title 49 of the U.S. 
Code, the FAA has the statutory authority to issue mandates 
that promote safety.\105\ For example, this has been 
interpreted in the past by the FAA through the issuance of a 
``Public Health Authority Notification'' via publication in the 
Federal Register to include regulations related to passengers 
with communicable diseases.\106\ FRA and FTA's rulemakings also 
include requirements to promote safety. For example, under 
FRA's System Safety Program and Risk Reduction Program final 
rule, a hazard is defined as ``any real or potential condition 
(as identified in [the railroad's] risk-based hazard analysis) 
that can cause injury, illness, or death; damage to or loss of 
a system, equipment, or property; or damage to the 
environment.'' \107\ The FTA uses a similar definition in its 
Public Transportation Agency Safety Plans regulation: ``Hazard 
means any real or potential condition that can cause injury, 
illness, or death; damage to or loss of the facilities, 
equipment, rolling stock, or infrastructure of a public 
transportation system; or damage to the environment.'' \108\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \105\ See 49 U.S. Code Sec. 44701, ``General requirements,'' 
available at https://www.govinfo.gov/
content/pkg/USCODE-2018-title49/pdf/USCODE-2018-title49-subtitleVII-
partA-subpartiii-chap447-sec44701.pdf; 49 U.S. Code Sec.  44703, 
``Airman certificates,'' accessed here: https://www.govinfo.gov/
content/pkg/USCODE-2018-title49/pdf/USCODE-2018-title49-subtitleVII-
partA-subpartiii-chap447-sec44703.pdf; 49 U.S. Code Sec.  44507, 
``Regions and centers,'' available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/
pkg/USCODE-2018-title49/pdf/USCODE-2018-title49-subtitleVII-partA-
subpartiii-chap445-sec44507.pdf.
    \106\ ``Public Health Authority Notification,'' Federal Aviation 
Administration, Department of Transportation, Federal Register, Vo. 71, 
No. 31, 71 FR 8042, February 15, 2006, available at https://
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2006-02-15/pdf/06-1424.pdf. The 
notification is summarized as follows: ``The FAA us publishing this 
notice to inform hospitals and other health care organizations of its 
status as a `public health authority' under the medial privacy 
requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 
of 1996.'' Ibid.
    \107\ ``System Safety Program and Risk Reduction,'' Federal 
Railroad Administration, Department of Transportation, Federal 
Register, Vol. 85, No. 43, 85 FR 12826, March 4, 2020, accessed here: 
https://beta.regulations.gov/document/FRA-2009-0038-0118.
    \108\ 49 C.F.R. Sec.  673.5, ``Definitions,'' accessed here: 
https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=
7e96bb63db489533521d74f7f860cf48&mc=true&node=pt49.7.673&rgn=div5#se49.7
.673_15.
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION ACTIONS

    On October 3, 2020, DOT rejected TTD's petition for an 
emergency order mandating masks on all commercial public 
transportation modes.\109\ As of January 17, 2021, DOT has 
failed to issue an order.\110\ In a letter to Chair DeFazio on 
December 30, 2020, providing an update on DOT's response to 
COVID-19, DOT listed the following accomplishments: ``the 
Department has issued over 200 administrative actions granting 
regulatory relief to support critical needs and recovery, 
distributed over $35 billion in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and 
Economic Security (CARES) Act relief, facilitated distribution 
of 100 million facemasks to front-line transportation 
operators, and provided emergency relief to truckers.'' \111\ 
The DOT has also communicated health and workplace guidance 
from the CDC and OSHA with stakeholders.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \109\ Press Release, ``On the Day POTUS Tests Positive for COVID-
19, U.S. DOT Rejects Mask Mandate for All Commercial, Public 
Transportation,'' Transportation Trades Department AFL-CIO (October 3, 
2020) available at https://ttd.org/news-and-media/on-the-day-potus-
tests-
positive-for-covid-19-u-s-dot-rejects-mask-mandate-for-all-commercial-
public-transportation/.
    \110\ Jorge L. Ortiz, `` `Blood on his hands': As US nears 400,000 
COVID-19 deaths, experts blame Trump Administration for a `preventable' 
loss of life,'' USA Today (January 17, 2021) available at https://
www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/01/17/covid-19-us-400-000-
deaths-
experts-blame-trump-administration/6642685002/.
    \111\ Letter from Adam J. Sullivan, Assistant Secretary for 
Governmental Affairs, Department of Transportation, to Chair DeFazio 
(December 30, 2020).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    One of these stakeholders, APTA, has developed a ``COVID-19 
Resource Hub'' with best practices and implemented the ``APTA 
Health & Safety Commitments Program'' to ensure safe operation 
of public transportation systems.\112\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \112\ American Public Transportation Association, ``COVID-19 
Resource Hub,'' (last viewed January 17, 2021) available at https://
apta.com/covid-19-resource-hub/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSPORTATION PROVIDER ACTIONS AND ENFORCEMENT ISSUES

    Many front-line transportation workers have been left 
largely on their own to enforce any mask mandates.\113\ For 
flight attendants, aside from company policies that may bar 
passengers who do not wear masks from future flights, any 
federal enforcement only stems from passengers who become 
unruly.\114\ On January 11, 2021, noting recent violence at the 
U.S. Capitol and press reports of rowdy and unruly passengers 
on commercial airlines who refused to wear masks, Chair DeFazio 
and Chair Larsen wrote to FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson 
urging him to deter disorderly passengers by vigorously 
enforcing its authorities and pursue maximum penalties 
authorized by law--$35,000 per violation.\115\ On January 13, 
2021, citing increased disruptive behavior by airplane 
passengers stemming from both refusal to wear masks and from 
recent violence at the U.S. Capitol, the FAA issued a zero-
tolerance policy by which the agency committed to taking 
enforcement action against unruly passengers, including fines 
up to $35,000 and possible jail time, as opposed to first using 
counseling and warnings.\116\ The policy is currently in effect 
through March 30, 2021.\117\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \113\ Harmeet Kaur and Natalia V. Osipova, ``For flight attendants, 
getting people to wear masks is now one of the hardest parts of the 
job,'' CNN, January 21, 2021 available at https://www.cnn.com/travel/
article/flight-attendants-unruly-passengers-masks-trnd/index.html.
    \114\ Id.
    \115\ ``DeFazio and Larsen Encourage FAA Administrator to Use the 
Full Weight of Federal Law to Protect Airline Passengers and Crews 
Ahead of Inauguration,'' Majority Press Release, Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure, January 11, 2021, accessed here: 
https://transportation.house.gov/news/press-releases/defazio-and-
larsen-encourage-faa-administrator-to-use-
the-full-weight-of-federal-law-to-protect-airline-passengers-and-crews-
ahead-of-inauguration.
    \116\ David Shepardson, ``Exclusive: U.S. FAA chief orders `zero 
tolerance' for disruptive airline passengers, possibly jail,'' Reuters 
(January 13, 2021) available at https://www.reuters.com/
article/us-usa-election-aviation-exclusive/exclusive-u-s-faa-chief-
orders-zero-tolerance-for-
disruptive-airline-passengers-possibly-jail-idUSKBN29I302; See also 
FAA, ``Press Release--Federal Aviation Administration Adopts Stricter 
Unruly Passenger Policy,'' (January 13, 2021) available at https://
www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=25621.
    \117\ FAA, ``Press Release--Federal Aviation Administration Adopts 
Stricter Unruly Passenger Policy,'' (January 13, 2021) available at 
https://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=25621
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA) RESPONSE

    On March 13, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, 
President Trump declared an emergency under Section 501(b) of 
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 
Act (Stafford Act, P.L. 93-288 as amended).\118\ The initial 
series of declarations authorized Public Assistance emergency 
protective measures to all states, territories, the District of 
Columbia, and 32 federally-recognized tribes.\119\ By April 22, 
2020, President Trump had approved major disaster declaration 
requests for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the five 
territories, and one federally-recognized tribe.\120\ 
Currently, pandemics are not explicitly included in the 
definition of ``major disaster'' under the Stafford Act.\121\ 
Areas of concern raised by recipients of the assistance have 
included the federal cost share and eligibility and 
reimbursement clarifications.\122\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \118\ Stafford Act, 42 U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 5121 et seq.; Letter from 
President Donald J. Trump on Emergency Determination Under the Stafford 
Act (March 13, 2020) available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-
statements/letter-president-donald-j-trump-emergency-determination-
stafford-act/.
    \119\ Id.
    \120\ Federal Emergency Management Administration, COVID-19 
Disaster Declarations (last accessed January 18, 2021) available here 
https://www.fema.gov/disasters/coronavirus/disaster-declarations.
    \121\ See 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5122, ``Definitions,'' available at 
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2018-title42/pdf/USCODE-
2018-title42-chap68-subchapI-sec5122.pdf.
    \122\ See Coalition Letter on the FEMA Assistance Relief Act 
(September 29, 2020) available at https://www.nga.org/advocacy-
communications/coalition-fema-assistance-relief-act/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

ECONOMIC IMPACT ON TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

INTER-CITY AND CHARTER BUSES

    The Nation's private motorcoach industry--which includes 
about 3,000 operators of commuter shuttles, private charters, 
and scheduled service--has suffered devastating ridership and 
revenue losses as a result of decreased travel demand during 
the COVID-19 pandemic.\123\ Based on reports from motorcoach 
companies, between 80 and 95 percent of charter motorcoach 
trips have been cancelled or are simply not being booked due to 
the pandemic.\124\ The American Bus Association (ABA) has 
estimated that up to 50 percent of bus companies could go out 
of business by the end of 2021.\125\ Further, ABA-commissioned 
research indicates that without a strong recovery (and without 
government assistance), 78 percent of jobs in the charter-bus 
sector will be lost during the next year and around 65 percent 
will be lost in the commuter, scheduled, and shuttle-bus 
sectors.\126\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \123\ Tim Levin, ``With no COVID-19 relief in sight, the private 
bus industry could collapse--taking with it a vital US transport 
network'' Business Insider (November 24, 2020) available at https://
www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/with-no-covid-19-relief-in-sight-the-
private-bus-
industry-could-collapse-taking-with-it-a-vital-us-transport-network/ar-
BB1bjHWt.
    \124\ John Dunham and Associates, Memo to American Bus Association 
President Peter Pantuso (September 8, 2020) available at https://
www.buses.org/assets/images/uploads/pdf/
Economic_Update_on_Motorcoach_Industry_090820-B.pdf.
    \125\ Tim Levin, ``With no COVID-19 relief in sight, the private 
bus industry could collapse--taking with it a vital US transport 
network'' Business Insider (November 24, 2020) available at https://
www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/with-no-covid-19-relief-in-sight-the-
private-bus-
industry-could-collapse-taking-with-it-a-vital-us-transport-network/ar-
BB1bjHWt.
    \126\ Id; John Dunham and Associates, Memo to American Bus 
Association President Peter Pantuso (September 8, 2020) available at 
https://www.buses.org/assets/images/uploads/pdf/
Economic_Update_on_Motorcoach_Industry_090820-B.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

AVIATION

    Demand for commercial air travel plummeted last spring as 
coronavirus cases surged, and it continues to be far below 
typical levels. Airlines operating in the United States are now 
offering just 42 percent of the seats that they offered a year 
ago.\127\ TSA security screenings remain far below normal 
levels as well; on Christmas day 2020, for example, TSA 
screened only a quarter of the passengers that it did on the 
same day in 2019.\128\ As airlines struggled to remain solvent 
in the face of declining revenues over the past year, they 
furloughed tens of thousands of flight attendants, pilots, and 
other workers prior to receiving financial assistance.\129\ The 
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (PL 116-136; 
CARES Act), enacted March 27, 2020, provided financial 
assistance to air carriers to pay airline employees with a 
prohibition on involuntary worker furloughs. This prohibition 
initially expired after September 30, 2020. A second round of 
funding was approved as part of another COVID relief package, 
which extended the layoff moratorium until March 31, 2021, and 
requires that air carriers recall any involuntarily furloughed 
employees.\130\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \127\ John Grant, OAG Update (last accessed January 15, 2021) 
available at https://www.oag.com/blog/coronavirus-update-week-one-2021.
    \128\ TSA, traveler checkpoint numbers for 2019-2020 (last accessed 
January 15, 2021) available at https://www.tsa.gov/coronavirus/
passenger-throughput.
    \129\ CNBC, Airlines Begin Complex Process of Calling Back More 
Than 32,000 Furloughed Workers (last accessed January 15, 2021) 
available at https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/23/coronavirus-stimulus-
gives-airlines-15-billion-to-call-back-furloughed-workers.html.
    \130\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The COVID-19 pandemic has also affected revenues flowing 
into the Airport and Airways Trust Fund (``Trust Fund''), the 
major federal source of funding for improvements to airports 
and the nation's air traffic control system. Section 4007 of 
the CARES Act authorized a suspension of aviation excise taxes 
through calendar year 2020. The suspended taxes include the 
primary revenue sources for the trust fund--the 7.5 percent tax 
on airline passenger ticket sales, segment fees, the air cargo 
waybill tax, and aviation fuel taxes paid by both commercial 
and general aviation aircraft.\131\ The tax holiday, coupled 
with the precipitous drop in air travel during the pandemic, 
meant the trust fund faced potential insolvency; Congress 
responded by transferring $14 billion from the general fund 
into the trust fund under the Continuing Appropriations Act, 
2021 and Other Extensions Act (P.L. 116-159), which averted 
insolvency.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \131\ Congressional Research Service, ``Federal Civil Aviation 
Programs: In Brief'' (July 20, 2020) available at https://
crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R42781.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSIT

    COVID-19 and the resulting shelter-in-place orders, 
business closures, suspension of tourism, and increasing 
unemployment significantly decreased public transit and 
commuter rail ridership. In the San Francisco Bay Area, public 
transit ridership through Bay Area Rapid Transit is 88 percent 
below its baseline; rail ridership in Washington, D.C., has 
plummeted 86 percent since 2019; and ridership on New York's 
MTA subways is down around 70 percent.\132\ Public transit 
agencies also have incurred substantial costs through increased 
cleaning and disinfecting procedures, steps meant to protect 
employees and the public.\133\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \132\ Abby Vesoulis, ``The Future of American Public Transit 
Depends on Congress,'' Time (December 17, 2020) available at https://
time.com/5921917/mass-transit-covid-congress/.
    \133\ Paul P. Skoutelas, APTA President and CEO, ``Examining the 
Surface Transportation Board's Role in Ensuring a Robust Passenger Rail 
System,'' testimony before the House Subcommittee on Railroads, 
Pipelines and Hazardous Materials (November 18, 2020), available at: 
https://www.apta.com/advocacy-legislation-policy/testimony-letters/
letters/paul-p-skoutelas-
president-and-ceo-apta-on-examining-the-surface-transportation-boards-
role-in-
ensuring-a-robust-passenger-rail-system-house-subcommittee-on-
railroads-pipelines-and-haza/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    These revenue declines and additional costs have fueled 
extreme budget shortfalls. The Washington Metropolitan Area 
Transit Authority (WMATA) reported a revenue decline of $550 
million this fiscal year.\134\ Washington State Ferries, which 
operates commuter ferries in Puget Sound and around the San 
Juan islands, lost $68 million in revenue due to decreased 
ridership.\135\ The Chicago area's commuter rail system 
projects a two-year budget deficit of $682.5 million.\136\ 
These revenue shortfalls force transit authorities to slash 
routes and delay scheduled expansions--decisions that, experts 
say, could impair transit for the next decade.\137\ While the 
pandemic package Congress passed at the end of the 116th 
Congress included $14 billion for public transit, APTA 
estimates it would take $39.3 billion for the nation's transit 
systems to recover to pre-pandemic levels.\138\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \134\ Justin George, ``Metro is planning normal service this year, 
but hoping for a cash infusion in 2022,'' Washington Post (January 14, 
2021), available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/
local/trafficandcommuting/metro-budget/2021/01/14/211a0f8e-562f-11eb-
a931-5b162d0d033d_
story.html.
    \135\ Michelle Baruchman, ``Washington state ferry ridership 
dropped to historic lows last year,'' Seattle Times (January 13, 2021) 
available at https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/
transportation/washington-state-ferry-ridership-dropped-to-historic-
lows-last-year/.
    \136\ Robert Channick, ``Metra is falling further behind budget 
amid COVID-19 ridership decline,'' Chicago Tribune (August 19, 2020) 
available at https://www.chicagotribune.com/
coronavirus/ct-coronavirus-chicago-metra-ridership-revenue-decline-
20200819-ffl2sbjnu
jempaex5pbbt5zqta-story.html.
    \137\ Abby Vesoulis, ``The Future of American Public Transit 
Depends on Congress,'' Time (December 17, 2020) available at https://
time.com/5921917/mass-transit-covid-congress/.
    \138\ Laura Bliss, ``For Public Transit, the Stimulus Is a 
Lifeline--But a Short One,'' Bloomberg (December 22, 2020) available at 
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-22/transit-gets-a-
reprieve-not-a-rescue-in-stimulus; Press Release, ``New Independent 
Economic Analysis Shows Public Transportation Industry Faces $39.3 
Billion Shortfall,'' American Public Transportation Association 
(January 28, 2021) available at https://apta.com/news-publications/
press-
releases/releases/new-independent-economic-analysis-shows-public-
transportation-industry-faces-39-3-billion-shortfall/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

CRUISE INDUSTRY

    The cruise industry has been uniquely affected by the 
COVID-19 pandemic, including, early on, tens of thousands of 
people, including both passengers and crew members, being 
quarantined for months onboard ships.\139\ There is a 
'Conditional Sailing Order' in place in the United States, 
while Canada, the Cayman Islands, Australia, New Zealand, the 
Seychelles, and Spain have all banned cruise ships for the 
foreseeable future.\140\ Major cruise lines, including Carnival 
Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, and Holland America Line, have 
cancelled all sailings for several more months.\141\ The 
financial impact on cruise ship companies has been severe. The 
Financial Times reported in June 2020 that Carnival Cruise 
Lines was losing $1 billion each month.\142\ Also last year, 
following substantial losses due to the pandemic, the credit 
ratings of Carnival and Royal Caribbean were downgraded to junk 
status by two major rating agencies.\143\ Virtually the entire 
U.S. domestic commercial passenger fleet, including overnight 
excursions, day charters, and tours, has also shut down.\144\ 
Stakeholders, including the Passenger Vessel Association, are 
working with the CDC to develop reopening guidelines based on 
CDC recommendations.\145\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \139\ Taylor Dolven, ``Cruise ships sailed on despite the 
coronavirus. Thousands of people paid the price.'' Miami Herald (April 
23 2020) accessed at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/
tourism-cruises/article241640166.html.
    \140\ Kaye Holland, ``Hoping for calmer waters: Cruise industry 
looks ahead to `the year of recovery'' The Telegraph (January 7, 2021) 
available at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/news/positive-
future-for-cruise-holidays-say-experts/.
    \141\ Taylor Dolven, ``Cruises keep getting canceled due to the 
pandemic'' Miami Herald (December 4, 2020).
    \142\ Alice Hancock, ``Coronavirus: is this the end of the line for 
cruise ships?'' Financial Times (June 7, 2020) available at https://
www.ft.com/content/d8ff5129-6817-4a19-af02-1316f8defe52.
    \143\ Id.
    \144\ Letter from Passenger Vessel Association to Speaker Nancy 
Pelosi (April 8, 2020) available at http://www.passengervessel.com/
downloads/letters/2020-CARES-ACT-2-Speaker-Pelosi.pdf.
    \145\ Passenger Vessel Association, ``Reopening Guidelines: Getting 
the Domestic Passenger Vessel Industry Back Underway,'' (last accessed 
January 19, 2021) available at http://www.passengervessel.com/covid-
19.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

MARITIME INDUSTRY

    The U.S. maritime industry, including merchant mariners, 
vessel owners and operators, and shipbuilders, the Nation's 
port system, and supporting industries integrate our economy 
with a vast global maritime supply chain system that moves more 
than 90 percent of the world's trade by tonnage, including 
sources of energy, consumer goods, agricultural products, and 
raw materials.\146\ These industries, vessels, infrastructure, 
and personnel also play critical roles in national security, 
supporting our Nation's ability to provide sealift for the 
Department of Defense (DOD) during times of war and national 
emergency.\147\ It is estimated that before the COVID-19 
pandemic, more than 650,000 Americans worked in the maritime 
industry.\148\ Even more jobs--roughly 30.8 million--were 
supported by cargo moving through deep ports in the United 
States.\149\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \146\ Maritime Administrator Mark H. Buzby Testimony before the 
House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on 
Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation (March 6, 2019), available at 
https://transportation.house.gov/imo/media/doc/Buzby%20Testimony1.pdf.
    \147\ Id.
    \148\ Press Release, ``Ports, Other Maritime Entities Request $3.5B 
in COVID-19 Relief,'' American Association of Port Authorities, 
December 9, 2020, available at https://www.aapa-ports.org/advocating/
PRDetail.aspx?ItemNumber=22701.
    \149\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Globally, maritime trade was down 4.1 percent in 2020.\150\ 
There was also a sharp decrease in port calls compared to 
2019.\151\ A coalition of U.S. maritime stakeholders describe 
the impacts as follows: ``Commercial cargo has plummeted--total 
waterborne trade volume is down 6.3% compared to last year, 
while the total value of this trade has crashed by 13.9% 
totaling $200 billion.'' \152\ With commercial cargo and trade 
down, there have also been added costs to stakeholders to 
design and implement COVID-19 protocols and precautions.\153\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \150\ UNCTAD, ``COVID-19 cuts global maritime trade, transforms 
industry,'' November 12, 2020, available at https://unctad.org/news/
covid-19-cuts-global-maritime-trade-transforms-industry.
    \151\ UNCTAD, ``COVID-19 and maritime transport: Impact and 
responses,'' (2020), available at https://unctad.org/system/files/
official-document/dtltlbinf2020d1_en.pdf.
    \152\ Letter from American Association of Port Authorities and 
other maritime entities to Congressional Leadership, (December 9, 
2020), available at https://aapa.cms-plus.com/files/
MTS%20Relief%20Coalition%20Letter_Congress.pdf.
    \153\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

STATE AND LOCAL REVENUES, FEDERAL TRUST FUNDS

    The pandemic's initial effect on travel behaviors has been 
significant. While the long-term specific impact is still 
uncertain, early data showing an estimated one billion fewer 
miles driven each day, or an 11.4 percent decrease when 
compared to 2019.\154\ As a significant portion of state 
transportation funding comes from user fees, such as motor fuel 
taxes, declines in travel have had a direct impact on state 
transportation budgets.\155\ Density-reliant user fee revenue 
sources, such as transit fares, variable toll rates, and 
congestion pricing, have been particularly hard hit by the 
COVID-19 pandemic.\156\ While gas tax revenue sharply declined 
during the first two months of the pandemic, these receipts 
have appeared to recover faster than other revenue sources, 
particularly when compared to user fees that rely on specific 
commuter patterns.\157\ Early estimates from the American 
Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials 
project that state departments of transportation will see $16 
billion in revenue declines in 2020, and $37 billion in losses 
over the next five years.\158\ However, the most recent census 
data shows that State motor fuel tax receipts for the first 
nine months of 2020 were down by $2.5 billion (-6.3 percent) 
compared to their 2019 levels, whereas State vehicle and 
operator license revenues that are also often used by States to 
fund transportation were down $1.0 billion this year, or -3.9 
percent.\159\ Overall impacts on tax receipts can vary widely 
depending on the State, given the mix of different revenue 
sources relied upon to fund transportation. Oregon reported 
collecting $27 million less in gas tax revenue between January 
and August 2020, and estimates the State Highway Fund will 
collect $170 million less in 2020 and 2021.\160\ Pennsylvania's 
Department of Transportation reported in November 2020 that it 
has already lost nearly $400 million in revenue as a result of 
reduced travel, and expects to lose a total of $500 to $600 
million in 2020.\161\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \154\ National Governor's Association, Transportation Funding and 
Financing During COVID-19, (December 7, 2020) available at https://
www.nga.org/memos/transportation-funding-financing-covid-19/.
    \155\ Id.
    \156\ Id.
    \157\ Id
    \158\ Id.
    \159\ Jeff Davis, ``Loss from COVID Uneven and Less than 
Anticipated'' Eno Center for Transportation, (December 21, 2020), 
available at https://www.enotrans.org/article/new-census-data-shows-
state-local-revenue-loss-from-covid-uneven-and-less-than-anticipated/.
    \160\ National Governor's Association, Transportation Funding and 
Financing During COVID-19, (December 7, 2020) available at https://
www.nga.org/memos/transportation-funding-financing-covid-19/.
    \161\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONGRESSIONAL ACTION

    Congress included billions of dollars of relief and job 
protection measures in the CARES Act and the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260). Among the Committee-
related provisions in the CARES Act are the following: $32 
billion to fund the Payroll Support Program for airline 
workers, $29 billion in loans to air carriers, $10 billion in 
grants to airports, $25 billion to public transit operators, $1 
billion for Amtrak, $45 billion for the FEMA Disaster Relief 
Fund, and other funds for federal agencies to prevent, prepare 
for, and respond to COVID-19.\162\ The Consolidated 
Appropriations Act included the following among its provisions: 
$14 billion for transit; $10 billion for state transportation 
departments and local transportation agencies; $1 billion for 
Amtrak; $2 billion for motorcoach and bus operators, school bus 
companies, and U.S. flag passenger vessel operators; $2 billion 
for airports; $15 billion to extend the Payroll Support Program 
for aviation employees through March 31, 2021; and $2 billion 
for FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund.\163\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \162\ P.L. 116-136, Sec. Sec.  4003, 4112, & Division B. More 
information is also available at https://transportation.house.gov/news/
press-releases/chair-defazio-offers-his-support-for-putting-
american-families-and-workers-first-in-third-covid-19-relief-package.
    \163\ P.L. 116-260 Division F & Division M. More information is 
available at https://transportation.house.gov/news/press-releases/
chair-defazio-applauds-new-round-of-aid-for-the-hard-hit-
transportation-sector-in-omnibus-and-covid-relief-legislation-.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

                              WITNESS LIST

     LProfessor David Michaels, PhD, MPH, Department of 
Environmental and Occupational Health, Milken Institute School 
of Public Health, The George Washington University
     LMs. Sara Nelson, International President, 
Association of Flight Attendants--CWA
     LMr. Lewie Pugh, Executive Vice President, Owner-
Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA)
     LMr. Ismael Rivera, Bus operator for Lynx and 
Member of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1596, Orlando, 
FL
     LProfessor William P. Bahnfleth, PhD, PE, FASHRAE, 
FASME, FISIAQ, Professor of Architectural Engineering, The 
Pennsylvania State University
     LThe Honorable Joe Buscaino, Councilman, Los 
Angeles City Council, and Past President, National League of 
Cities, on behalf of National League of Cities

 
 PROTECTING TRANSPORTATION WORKERS AND PASSENGERS FROM COVID: GAPS IN 
                SAFETY, LESSONS LEARNED, AND NEXT STEPS

                              ----------                              


                       THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021

                  House of Representatives,
    Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,
                                            Washington, DC.
    The committee met, pursuant to call, at 11:29 a.m., in room 
2167 Rayburn House Office Building and via Cisco Webex, Hon. 
Peter A. DeFazio (Chair of the committee) presiding.
    Present in person: Mr. DeFazio, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Mr. 
Garamendi, Mr. Stanton, Mr. Kahele, Ms. Newman, Mr. Graves of 
Missouri, Mr. Young, Mr. Webster, Mr. Perry, Mr. Rodney Davis, 
Dr. Babin, Mr. Graves of Louisiana, Mr. Rouzer, Mr. Bost, Mr. 
Westerman, Mr. Mast, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Miss Gonzalez-Colon, Mr. 
Stauber, Mr. Burchett, Mr. Johnson of South Dakota, Dr. Van 
Drew, Mr. Guest, Mr. Nehls, Ms. Mace, Ms. Van Duyne, and Mrs. 
Steel.
    Present remotely: Ms. Norton, Mr. Larsen, Mrs. Napolitano, 
Mr. Cohen, Mr. Sires, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Titus, Mr. 
Maloney, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Brownley, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. 
Payne, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Brown, Mr. 
Allred, Ms. Davids, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Delgado, Mr. 
Pappas, Mr. Lamb, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Auchincloss, Ms. Bourdeaux, 
Ms. Strickland, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Mr. Massie, Mr. 
LaMalfa, and Mr. Balderson.
    Mr. DeFazio. I now call the full committee hearing to 
order.
    I ask unanimous consent that the chair be authorized to 
declare a recess at any time in today's hearing.
    Without objection, so ordered.
    Today we are here to discuss one aspect of COVID-19: the 
impact on the transportation system, its workers, its 
passengers, the gaps that still exist in protecting these 
workers and passengers, lessons we have learned from the 
Federal Government's response to the pandemic so far, and 
potential next steps to better protect transportation workers 
and passengers from COVID-19 and other future potential health 
crises.
    It has hit a lot of sectors hard. The reduction in mass 
transit ridership and air passengers has led to devastating 
economic consequences for local and State governments, transit 
agencies, and commercial airlines. Maritime and trucking have 
been hit variably, depending upon their lines of business. But 
for all, there have been consequences in terms of COVID itself.
    The transportation workers have been very hard hit by 
health dangers and also the financial repercussions of the 
COVID health crisis. The Transportation Trades Department, 
which represents a lot of these transportation workers, is 
sharing some of those stories online as we speak. And I would 
encourage people to check out ``COVID transportation stories'' 
on Twitter to hear even more examples of why today's hearing is 
so important but only after you have sat through the 
fascinating hearing.
    I am thankful, however, that we now have a commonsense 
national strategy unveiled by the Biden administration the 
first day in office. It won't be easy. There is no immediate 
fix, but at least they have put in place some basic national 
consistent measures. We need more PPE, obviously. Maritime 
workers are moving cargo through our ports. Busdrivers and rail 
operators are helping doctors, nurses, and American workers 
engage in combating COVID-19 through their essential jobs. 
Aviation is transporting some of these same essential people 
and the vaccines by air. Transportation workers in all of these 
modes are at a high risk of contracting COVID-19: close 
quarters, large number of individuals that travel, and frequent 
trips make them particularly vulnerable. Truckdrivers, 
busdrivers, delivery personnel, mechanics, engineers, maritime 
workers, pilots, flightcrews, and railroad conductors have all 
been impacted by COVID-19 economically, socially, and 
medically. Many have been infected and some, tragically--
actually, quite a few--have lost their lives.
    For months, I pushed for a national mask mandate for 
transportation workers and passengers, but unfortunately, the 
previous administration would not impose such a mandate. When 
measures have been adopted by individual airlines as rules of 
the airline and/or by transit agencies and local jurisdictions, 
flight attendants and busdrivers have been harassed, beaten, 
and attacked while carrying out their job duties trying to 
protect themselves and their other passengers from those who 
refuse to wear a face mask. We owe those workers a debt of 
gratitude for their commitment and courage for showing up every 
day to keep America moving.
    Now those mandates will be backed by Federal law. I have 
had conversations with Administrator Dickson. The maximum fine 
is $35,000 and 1 year imprisonment, and they will be for 
egregious cases pursuing those maximum fines to get the 
attention of people.
    CDC just came out with guidance, which we will get into, on 
what constitutes a proper mask, which is going to be confusing, 
and it is going to require a lot of work by the various modes 
to get that information to their users, their passengers, their 
customers. So that is a work in progress as of this week.
    I have actually contacted Chair Thompson of the Homeland 
Security Committee. We have a new memorandum of understanding 
with them on areas of mutual concern and interest, and I 
informed him that I am going to contact the head of the 
Transportation Security Administration and ask them to take the 
lead, at least in airports, on enforcing this mandate because 
if people get past TSA, and they get to the gate, and none of 
the vendors down there sell masks, it becomes a big problem. 
You are supposed to actually have the mask on as you enter the 
airport. So, by the time they get to TSA, they should have a 
proper mask on, and they should put up posters like they do for 
everything else we can't carry on about what kind of mask you 
can have and you can't. This is going to be a difficult 
transition.
    As Dr. David Michaels, the former head of OSHA under the 
Obama administration, one of the witnesses here today, has 
pointed out, the Trump administration has steadfastly refused 
to put forward regulations to protect American workers and the 
workforce at large. OSHA is now developing individual 
workplace--because all workplaces vary--mandates and 
requirements, some of the States have done it individually, but 
it is better to have a national system, a national plan. You 
have got to wear a hard hat when you go on a construction site, 
even if it is a construction site where it is not likely 
anything is going to fall on your head. And not having a 
mandatory requirement for something as dangerous as COVID-19 
was a huge, huge lack.
    Face masks and proper ventilation systems can help. We will 
hear from ASHRAE today about that. I was interested in some of 
their assessment of different environments in terms of 
transmission, airborne transmission of the virus, and I will 
look forward to their testimony and the testimony of others 
working directly with the traveling public.
    We need a massive increase in testing capacity. I have 
concerns that the CDC is considering a national mandate that 
everyone have a COVID test before they fly. That would mean an 
immediate increase of at least 50 percent in daily testing 
capacity, and I don't know where that comes from. And, 
furthermore, I am not certain of its effectiveness given that, 
even the most effective test is not particularly accurate. The 
PCR has a 100-percent failure rate at day one, and people are 
most infectious days minus one, minus two, and day plus one. So 
I just question whether this would be effective. And if it is 
necessary in aviation, well, then I guess we would have to 
worry about interstate trucking, interstate buses, Amtrak, and 
people getting in their automobiles and crossing State lines. 
So I hope we will have some discussion of that here today also.
    With that, I recognize the ranking member for his opening 
remarks.
    [Mr. DeFazio's prepared statement follows:]

                                 
   Prepared Statement of Hon. Peter A. DeFazio, a Representative in 
      Congress from the State of Oregon, and Chair, Committee on 
                   Transportation and Infrastructure
    Today, we are here to discuss one aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic, 
the impact on the U.S. transportation system, its workers and its 
passengers, the gaps that still exist in protecting these workers and 
passengers from the virus, the lessons that have been learned from the 
Federal Government's response to the pandemic so far, and potential 
next steps to better protect transportation workers and passengers from 
COVID-19 and any future public health crisis we may confront.
    The coronavirus pandemic has been a public health catastrophe and 
economic disaster for our country and a calamity for the world. Still, 
the chaotic, contradictory, and lackluster federal response inarguably 
made things much worse than they needed to be, cost more lives, and 
created the conditions that exacerbated the widescale spread of the 
disease across our nation. The COVID-19 virus has now taken the lives 
of more than 440,000 Americans to date and infected more than 26 
million others in the U.S. alone.
    And it has hit the transportation sectors hard. The reduction in 
mass transit riders and air passengers has led to devastating economic 
consequences for local, regional and state governments, transit 
agencies, and commercial airlines. The maritime and trucking industries 
have also suffered dire economic consequences. Our transportation 
networks will take a long time to recover financially, and they may be 
forever altered fundamentally by changing workplace practices. 
Transportation workers in particular have been hard hit by the 
devastating health dangers and significant financial repercussions of 
the public health crisis our nation continues to face. The 
Transportation Trades Department, which represents a lot of those 
transportation workers, is sharing some of those stories online as we 
speak and I would encourage people to check out ``COVID transportation 
stories'' on Twitter to hear even more examples of why today's hearing 
is so important.
    I am thankful, however, that we now have a common-sense national 
strategy unveiled by the Biden administration on its first day in 
office to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. It won't be easy. There is no 
immediate fix. More lives will be lost in the weeks and months ahead. 
Correcting the damage that has already resulted from waiting so long to 
lead the nation out of this public health crisis will take time. A long 
time. In the meantime, this Committee will help lead the way in 
protecting the health and safety of transportation workers and 
passengers. I believe there is hope on the horizon.
    The U.S. transportation network and its workers play a critical 
role in keeping passengers and freight moving to their destinations on 
time. During the pandemic they have helped to get personal protective 
equipment (PPE) to where it needed to go via air, sea, rail and truck. 
Maritime workers are keeping our economy running by moving cargo 
through our ports. Bus drivers and rail operators are helping transport 
doctors, nurses, and American workers engaged in combatting the COVID-
19 pandemic to their essential jobs. All of these efforts and others 
have put transportation workers--and continue to put transportation 
workers--at a high-risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus. The close 
quarters, large numbers of individuals that travel on transportation 
systems, and frequent trips make transportation workers particularly 
vulnerable to COVID-19.
    Truck drivers and bus drivers, delivery personnel, mechanics and 
engineers, maritime workers, pilots and flight crews, and railroad 
conductors have all been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic 
economically, socially, and medically. Many have been infected with the 
virus and some have lost their lives. For many months, I have pushed 
for a national mask mandate to protect transportation workers and 
passengers from the risk of being infected with the COVID-19 virus. A 
lack of federal resolve by the Trump administration to implement 
uniform national policies on this basic and most critical public health 
safety measure has led to confusion and confrontation.
    Flight attendants and bus drivers have been harassed, beaten, and 
attacked while carrying out their job duties trying to protect 
themselves and their passengers from those who refuse to wear a face 
mask. We owe all of these workers a debt of gratitude for their 
commitment and their courage for showing up for their jobs every day to 
move America.
    Unfortunately, efforts to rely on science to protect transportation 
workers and passengers from COVID-19 were often impeded and ignored by 
the Trump administration. According to the New York Times, the CDC 
drafted an order in September 2020 under its quarantine powers that 
would have required all passengers and employees to wear face masks on 
all forms of public and commercial transportation in the United States, 
but it was blocked by the White House.
    In addition, the White House reportedly prevented the CDC from 
extending its original No Sail Order for cruise ships to mid-February. 
The Trump administration also failed to use its statutory powers to 
enforce fundamental health and safety best practices in the workplace 
to help protect transportation and other workers from the COVID-19 
pandemic by holding employers responsible for this basic duty.
    As Dr. David Michaels, the former head of the Occupational Safety 
and Health Administration under the Obama administration and one of our 
witnesses here today has pointed out, the Trump administration 
steadfastly refused to implement regulations that would protect 
transportation workers and the American workforce at large from the 
deadly risks of the COVID-19 virus.
    While there are federal regulations requiring workers to wear hard 
hats in construction sites and their employers face financial penalties 
if they do not, the Trump administration was unwilling to issue 
mandatory workplace requirements surrounding some of the hard facts 
regarding the COVID-19 pandemic: that wearing face masks saves lives, 
that physical distancing prevents the spread of the virus, that proper 
ventilation systems can help diminish COVID-19 infections. These are 
hard scientific facts and the lack of clear, comprehensive, and 
mandatory measures to protect transportation workers and passengers 
from the COVID-19 virus has cost lives and spread infections among co-
workers, into their local communities and across the nation.
    We must do better. There is hope on the horizon with a vaccine, new 
plans by the Biden administration to double the Nation's testing 
capacity, and to mobilize 100,000 Americans in a new U.S. Public Health 
Jobs Corps to conduct contact tracing, and implement a national mask 
mandate.
    I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about these 
important issues.
    With that I yield to Ranking Member Graves. Thank you.

    Mr. Graves of Missouri. Thank you, Chairman DeFazio.
    And I appreciate our witnesses being here today to testify 
about the impact of the COVID pandemic and what impact it is 
having on transportation workers and how we can continue 
forward through a safe recovery.
    The pandemic has ravaged our country since the first case 
was reported in January 2020. Many workers can't work virtually 
like we are today and continue to show up in person to perform 
those essential services that we all rely upon. Notably, this 
includes our frontline transportation workers that make sure 
our grocery store shelves are stocked, that safely transport 
people across the country and ensure that our frontline workers 
can get to their jobs to help serve the public.
    Just like the overall economy, different sectors of the 
transportation economy have been affected or been impacted in 
different ways by the coronavirus. Since the last time that we 
examined this topic, Congress has authorized an unprecedented 
amount of $113 billion to support different sectors of the 
transportation industry to ensure that workers stay employed 
and that these businesses can bounce back quickly. This 
assistance includes grants totaling $60 billion for airlines, 
airports, and their contractors; $39 billion for transit 
systems; $10 billion for State departments of transportation; 
$2 billion for Amtrak, and $2 billion for motorcoach operators, 
schoolbus companies, and passenger ferries. We need to ensure 
that all of this money leaves the Federal Government and gets 
to the intended recipients as soon as possible.
    Moving forward through the recovery, we must make safe, 
smart, and responsible decisions to get our workforce going and 
businesses hiring again. This is going to affect our ability to 
restart and reconnect supply chains that are key to the 
economic recovery. As Americans get back to traveling, they 
need safe and effective measures to give them the confidence 
that they need to return, but we also have to ensure that the 
workers providing these transportation services are safe as 
well.
    I am glad we have the opportunity today to hear directly 
from frontline workers about their experiences during the 
pandemic. Thank you again for participating today, but more 
importantly, thank you for keeping the country, our country, 
moving in these very difficult times. Thank you very much.
    And, with that, I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
    [Mr. Graves of Missouri's prepared statement follows:]

                                 
  Prepared Statement of Hon. Sam Graves, a Representative in Congress 
     from the State of Missouri, and Ranking Member, Committee on 
                   Transportation and Infrastructure
    Thank you, Chair DeFazio. I appreciate our witnesses being with us 
today to testify about the impact that the COVID pandemic is having on 
transportation workers and how we can continue forward through a safe 
recovery.
    The pandemic has ravaged our country since the first U.S. case was 
reported in January 2020. Many workers can't work virtually like we are 
today and continue to show up in-person to perform the essential 
services that we all rely upon. Notably, this includes our frontline 
transportation workers that make sure our grocery store shelves stay 
stocked, transport people safely across the country, and ensure that 
other frontline workers can get to their jobs to help serve the public.
    Just like the overall economy, different sectors of the 
transportation economy have been impacted in different ways by the 
coronavirus. Since the last time we examined this topic, Congress has 
authorized an unprecedented amount of $113 billion to support different 
sectors of the transportation industry to ensure that workers stay 
employed and that these businesses can bounce back quickly. This 
assistance includes grants totaling $60 billion for airlines, airports, 
and their contractors; $39 billion for transit systems; $10 billion for 
state departments of transportation; $2 billion for Amtrak; and $2 
billion for motorcoach operators, school bus companies, and passenger 
ferries. We need to ensure that all of this money leaves the federal 
government and gets to the intended recipients as soon as possible.
    Moving forward through the recovery, we must make smart, safe, and 
responsible decisions to get our workforce going and businesses hiring 
again. This will affect our ability to restart and reconnect supply 
chains that are key to economic recovery.
    As Americans get back to traveling, they need safe and effective 
measures to give them the confidence needed to return. But we also must 
ensure that the workers providing these transportation services are 
safe.
    I'm glad we have the opportunity today to hear directly from 
frontline workers about their experiences during the pandemic. Thank 
you for participating today, but more importantly thank you for keeping 
our country moving even in these difficult times.

    Mr. DeFazio. I thank the ranking member.
    I would now like to welcome witnesses on our panel: 
Professor David Michaels, Department of Environmental and 
Occupational Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, 
George Washington University; Ms. Sara Nelson, international 
president, Association of Flight Attendants-CWA; Mr. Lewie 
Pugh, executive vice president, Owner-Operator Independent 
Drivers Association; Mr. Ismael Rivera, a bus operator for Lynx 
and member of ATU, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1596, 
Orlando; Professor William Bahnfleth, a professor of 
architectural engineering from Pennsylvania State University, 
chair of the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force; and the Honorable Joe 
Buscaino, councilman, Los Angeles City Council, past president, 
National League of Cities, on behalf of the National League of 
Cities.
    Thank you for joining us today. We look forward to your 
testimony.
    Without objection, our witnesses' full statements will be 
included in the record, and they have been distributed prior to 
this meeting, and many of us have read your written testimony. 
So I would urge that you, you know, you may deviate, you may 
expand, expound, you may respond to others who are on the panel 
if you come after them. I would like to have something a little 
more active than sitting there reading your notes.
    With that, you will each be recognized for 5 minutes.
    Professor Michaels, you may proceed.

 TESTIMONY OF PROFESSOR DAVID MICHAELS, Ph.D., MPH, DEPARTMENT 
  OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH, MILKEN INSTITUTE 
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY; SARA 
    NELSON, INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF FLIGHT 
ATTENDANTS--CWA, AFL-CIO; LEWIE PUGH, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, 
OWNER-OPERATOR INDEPENDENT DRIVERS ASSOCIATION; ISMAEL RIVERA, 
BUS OPERATOR, LYNX, AND MEMBER, AMALGAMATED TRANSIT UNION LOCAL 
  1596, ORLANDO, FLORIDA; WILLIAM P. BAHNFLETH, Ph.D., P.E., 
FASHRAE, FASME, FISIAQ, PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING, 
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, TESTIFYING ON BEHALF OF HIS 
    ROLE AS CHAIR, ASHRAE EPIDEMIC TASK FORCE; AND HON. JOE 
  BUSCAINO, PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL, 
     TESTIFYING ON BEHALF OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES

    Mr. Michaels. Thank you, Chairman DeFazio, Ranking Member 
Graves, distinguished members of this panel. My name is David 
Michaels. I am an epidemiologist and professor at the George 
Washington University School of Public Health. From 2009 to 
2017, I served as Assistant Secretary of Labor for the 
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the longest 
serving Administrator in OSHA's history. From 1998 to 2001, I 
was Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety, and Health at 
the U.S. Department of Energy, protecting the workers, the 
communities, and the environment around the Nation's nuclear 
weapons facilities.
    Since this pandemic began, much of my work has focused on 
improving the protection of workers exposed to the virus that 
causes COVID-19. I was a member of the Biden-Harris COVID-19 
Advisory Board and served on the National Academies' expert 
panel that developed the framework for equitable vaccine 
allocation.
    COVID-19 has created an unprecedented public health crisis 
with a huge impact on the transportation sector. Workers need 
better protection to avoid illness and death. Passengers need 
reassurance they can travel without fear of infection. And the 
industry needs safe workers and willing passengers to survive 
in this difficult period. We don't know how many workers have 
developed or died from COVID after workplace exposures, but 
there are many studies demonstrating that exposure in 
transportation greatly increases risk of disease.
    We have to protect transportation workers and passengers 
from COVID, and we know how to do it. Every transportation 
system must develop a plan to prevent virus exposure. Look, 
infection control is not simple or easy, and it requires the 
active cooperation of everyone involved. Plans must be 
developed, implemented, and evaluated collaboratively with the 
workers and, if there is one, the workers' union.
    This infection control plan must be based on what we call 
the hierarchy of controls. This is a widely applied set of 
principles to prevent workplace health hazards. It is the basis 
for modern industrial hygiene and for all of OSHA's health 
standards.
    The most effective way to reduce exposure is to make sure 
that people who may be spreading the virus stay home. Workers 
need to be supported financially to enable them to quarantine 
or to isolate, and small employers may need help paying for 
this. Enacting emergency sick leave support should be a very 
high legislative priority.
    Masking is the next step in keeping the virus out of the 
air of a workplace. The CDC now requires all passengers and 
workers on global and interstate transportation to be masked. 
This will no doubt save many lives.
    But once the virus gets into the air, individuals must be 
kept far apart. Six feet apart is the often-cited requirement, 
but this is an arbitrary distance, and more is always better. 
And even 6 feet is impossible in many transportation settings, 
underscoring the need for mandatory masks, maximizing 
ventilation, and ensuring appropriate filtration.
    In many cases, ventilation and filtration on buses and 
other modes of public transportation will need to be improved. 
OSHA, the Federal agency charged with ensuring worker safety 
and health, has just strengthened its COVID safety 
recommendations and, as you heard, is likely to soon finally 
issue an emergency standard, including requirements for masks, 
distance, and ventilation, as well as, very importantly, 
protection against retaliation for workers who raise safety 
concerns.
    Effective enforcement of public health rules will require 
active collaboration between the Transportation Security 
Administration, DOT agencies, OSHA, and transportation 
employers and unions. However, many of the transportation 
workers at highest risk for COVID are not covered by OSHA. DOT 
agencies with weak or no worker protections have preempted 
OSHA's authority. The result is that for large numbers of 
transportation employees, their workplaces are OSHA-free zones. 
This committee should strongly encourage DOT agencies to 
quickly develop joint regulatory and enforcement efforts with 
OSHA.
    Prioritizing vaccination of transportation workers at high 
risk is also of great importance. The Federal Government should 
establish a vaccination program specifically for workers 
involved in interstate or global travel by land, air, and sea, 
and provide the vaccines at hubs and ports they pass through 
for their work.
    So, in summary, the Federal Government must take strong 
actions to ensure the safety of passengers who rely on 
transportation systems, their workers, and the communities in 
which passengers and workers live. If transportation is not 
safe, we will not be able to stem this pandemic and return the 
economy to normalcy. Thank you very much.
    [Mr. Michael's prepared statement follows:]

                                 
Prepared Statement of Professor David Michaels, Ph.D., MPH, Department 
 of Environmental and Occupational Health, Milken Institute School of 
            Public Health, The George Washington University
    Thank you, Chairman DeFazio and Ranking Member Graves for inviting 
me to testify at this important hearing addressing the COVID-19 
pandemic, one of the most pressing and difficult issues facing the 
nation today.
    My name is David Michaels. I am an epidemiologist and Professor of 
Environmental and Occupational Health at the Milken Institute School of 
Public Health of George Washington University. The views expressed in 
my testimony are my own and do not represent the views of George 
Washington University.
    From 2009 until January 2017, I served as Assistant Secretary of 
Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the 
longest serving Assistant Secretary in OSHA's history. From 1998 to 
2001, I was Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety and 
Health, charged with protecting the workers, community residents and 
environment in and around the nation's nuclear weapons facilities. I am 
currently a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the US 
National Toxicology Program, appointed by Health and Human Services 
Secretary Alex M. Azar in 2019.
    Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, much of my work has focused on 
improving the protection of workers exposed to SARS-CoV-2.\1\ \2\ I was 
a member of the Biden-Harris Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board; served 
on the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine's expert 
panel that developed a Framework for Equitable Allocation of Vaccine 
for the Novel Coronavirus; and am a member of the Lancet COVID-19 
Commission's Task Force on Safe Work, Safe School, and Safe Travel.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Michaels D, Wagner GR. Occupational Safety and Health 
Administration (OSHA) and Worker Safety During the COVID-19 Pandemic. 
JAMA. 2020;324(14):1389-1390. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.16343
    \2\ Michaels D. Wagner GR. Halting Workplace COVID-19 Transmission: 
An Urgent Proposal to Protect American Workers. The Century Foundation. 
October 15, 2020. Available at: https://tcf.org/content/report/halting-
workplace-covid-19-transmission-urgent-proposal-protect-american-
workers/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    COVID-19 has created an unprecedented public health crisis, one 
that has had a huge impact on the transportation sector. Workers need 
better protection to avoid illness and death, passengers need 
reassurance that they can travel without fear of infection and the 
industry needs safe workers and willing passengers to survive in this 
difficult period.
    My testimony today focuses on the COVID-19 risks facing workers and 
passengers who travel by air, bus, train, ship and mass transit. While 
many of the challenges facing this sector are similar to those facing 
other essential industries, there are aspects that are unique and 
require approaches and solutions that are new, bold and immediate.
    The United States is facing a massive worker safety crisis. As the 
COVID-19 pandemic has continued to devastate the nation, millions of 
workers continue to risk their lives by continuing to go into work to 
care for the nation's sick and elderly, to help families put food on 
their tables, to ensure public safety and to get people to and from 
work and to destinations near and far. The toll on these essential 
workers--and on their families and communities--has been enormous.
    There are inadequate data on the extent of COVID-19 infection 
related to exposures in the US in general and, specifically, in the 
transportation sector. The federal government collects almost no data 
on the job or occupation of most cases of COVID-19. Anecdotally, we 
learn of powerful tragic stories, like that of Jason Hargrove, a bus 
driver from Detroit who died of COVID-19 eleven days after he reported 
on a video about a passenger on his bus who was openly coughing without 
covering her mouth. Articles in the press have alerted the public to 
the large number of cases and deaths among passengers and workers on 
cruise ships, as well as the suicides that have occurred among the tens 
of thousands of workers who have been stranded on these ships after the 
passengers were allowed to disembark.
    As you are hearing today from other panelists, unions representing 
transportation sector workers have seen large numbers of members 
sickened and, in many cases, killed by the virus, but comprehensive 
statistics on workers or passengers are unavailable.
    There is no question that, without adequate protections, the risk 
of infection is high among both transportation passengers and workers. 
There are numerous studies demonstrating that exposure in 
transportation greatly increases risk of COVID-19. In one outbreak 
reported from China that occurred early in the epidemic, before 
precautions were implemented, a single individual transmitted the virus 
to more than one-third (23 of 67) of their fellow passengers on a bus 
trip of just a few hours.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ Shen Y, Li C, Dong H, et al. Community Outbreak Investigation 
of SARS-CoV-2 Transmission Among Bus Riders in Eastern China. JAMA 
Intern Med. 2020;180(12):1665-1671. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.5225
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Having virtually no reliable data on work-related COVID-19 in the 
United States, we must look to studies undertaken aboard. There is 
convincing empirical evidence from studies in other countries that 
workers employed in transportation, including flight attendants and bus 
drivers, are at greatly increased risk for infection.
    A study of COVID-19 cases by occupation in Norway, where there are 
complete data on occupation of cases, found that in the first wave of 
the pandemic (Feb 26-July 17, 2020), bus and tram drivers had a more 
than five-fold excess risk of infection. By the second wave (July 18-
October 20, 2020) when improved precautions were implemented, these 
drivers still had a 70% increased risk of infection, but the risk of 
infection among travel attendants and travel stewards, a category that 
includes flight attendants, had almost five-fold excess risk.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ Magnusson K, Nygard K, Methi F, Vold L, Telle K. Occupational 
risk of COVID-19 in the 1st vs 2nd wave of infection. medRxiv doi: 
https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.29.20220426
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Bus and coach drivers were also found to have elevated risk of 
death from COVID-19 in the United Kingdom,\5\ and, in Sweden, bus and 
taxi drivers have ``substantially heightened'' risk of both COVID-19 
infection and death.\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ United Kingdom Office of National Statistics. Coronavirus 
(COVID-19) related deaths by occupation, England and Wales: deaths 
registered between 9 March and 28 December 2020. Jan. 25, 2021. 
Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/
health
andsocialcare/causesofdeath/bulletins/
coronaviruscovid19relateddeathsbyoccupationengland
andwales/deathsregisteredbetween9marchand28december2020#men-and-deaths-
involving-
covid-19-by-occupation
    \6\ Sunnee B, Maria B, Siddartha A, Sven D, Gunnar A, Eleonora M. 
Deaths in the frontline: Occupation-specific COVID-19 mortality risks 
in Sweden, 2020. Available at: https://su.figshare.com/articles/
preprint/Deaths_in_the_frontline_Occupation-specific_COVID19_
mortality_risks_in_Sweden/12816065/2
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    We know what is necessary to protect both transportation workers 
and passengers. Every organization that operates a transportation 
system must develop a plan to prevent virus exposure. Infection control 
is not simple or easy and requires the active cooperation of everyone 
involved. In general, successful hazard control initiatives require 
worker involvement in all aspects of Safety and Health Management 
System. This is even more true of an infection control plan; workers 
have the most to lose if the plan fails, but if they do not have some 
ownership in the program, it is less likely to succeed. For these 
reasons, the plan can't simply be imposed by fiat. It must be 
developed, implemented, and continuously evaluated with the input and 
collaboration of the workers, including, if there is one, the workers' 
union.
    The infection control plan must be based on the ``hierarchy of 
controls'', the widely applied set of principles to prevent workplace 
health hazards that is the basis for OSHA's policies and the modern 
practice of industrial hygiene. The application of the hierarchy of 
controls to the prevention of virus transmission in transportation is 
outlined below.
    The most effective way to reduce exposure is to keep people who may 
be spreading the virus home. Workers need to be supported financially 
to enable them to quarantine or isolate as appropriate and requiring 
this of small employers may be particularly burdensome. There is 
compelling evidence that the emergency sick leave provision of the 
bipartisan Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) was 
successful in not only providing badly needed financial support for 
workers who were required to isolate or quarantine, but in helping 
prevent hundreds of COVID-19 cases.\7\ Unfortunately, this life-saving 
program ended Dec. 31, 2020. Government support for paid sick leave 
helps prevent transmission to passengers and other workers and levels 
the playing field for employers. Renewing this program should be a very 
high legislative priority.
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    \7\ Pichler S, Wen K, Ziebarth NR. COVID-19 Emergency Sick Leave 
Has Helped Flatten The Curve In The United States. Health Affairs 
2020:39(12). Available at https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/
hlthaff.2020.00863
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    Since it will not be possible to ensure that all potentially 
infectious individuals remain at home, the next steps are to limit 
exposure to the virus. It is now understood that the virus can be 
spread by tiny aerosol particles and by larger, although still tiny, 
droplets. Masking is the first line of source control; facial covering 
will prevent much of the virus exhaled by an infected person from 
entering the environment. Once the virus is in the air, efforts must be 
made to prevent it from being inhaled by others, preferably by 
eliminating it from the environment. It is of great importance to keep 
individuals (even masked individuals) as far apart as possible. The 
often-cited requirement is six feet between people, but that is an 
arbitrary distance, and more is always desirable. But even six feet is 
impossible in most transportation settings. This underscores the 
particular need for mandatory masks, maximizing ventilation, and 
ensuring appropriate filtration systems. In many cases, ventilation and 
filtration on buses and other modes of public transportation will need 
to be improved.
    In some situations of high exposure risk, workers may be given 
personal protective equipment (PPE), such as N95s or other respirators. 
These have a different objective than the masks discussed above. Those 
are to reduce viral load in the air and do not protect the individual 
from exposure; PPE is meant to protect the wearer.
    Hand sanitation and disinfection must be included in the infection 
control plans, as well. Workers must be given the opportunity, proper 
disinfecting agents, and enough time to wash their hands and take any 
other precautions necessary to reduce exposure risk.
    Whistleblowers play a vital role in identifying hazards and 
protecting themselves and their coworkers. Employers should welcome the 
concerns they raise, because workers are often the first to spot 
conditions that may result in exposure to themselves, to other workers, 
or to the public. From the first report of a Washington State physician 
being fired after raising safety concerns,\8\ there have been numerous 
reports of retaliation against workers for raising safety concerns with 
their employer or with OSHA, or for using their own personal protective 
equipment when management did not supply adequate protection.\9\
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    \8\ Judd R. Backed by ACLU, whistleblowing doctor sues Bellingham 
hospital after he was fired for raising coronavirus concerns. Seattle 
Times, May 28, 2020. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/aclu-
joins-ousted-doctor-ming-lin-in-lawsuit-against-bellingham-hospital
    \9\ Berkowitz D. OSHA Must Protect Whistleblowers Who File 
Retaliation Complaints. National Employment Law Program. October 8, 
2020, Available at: https://www.nelp.org/publication/osha-failed-
protect-whistleblowers-filed-covid-retaliation-complaints
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    For these reasons, plans must include provisions to encourage 
workers to raise concerns, along with assurances that they will not 
suffer retaliation if they do. This sort of retaliation is against the 
law under numerous transportation statutes as well as the OSHA law, and 
employers should know they risk significant penalties for violating 
these statutes.
    One aspect of the pandemic that crosses all sectors is the failure 
of leadership of the previous administration. There was no national 
plan for addressing the pandemic and reducing virus transmission in 
workplaces, schools or transportation. Much of this was left to the 
states, which, given the interstate or global nature of transportation, 
meant that little or nothing was done by government agencies to 
mitigate exposure on all commercial modes of interstate travel. Both 
the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Department of 
Transportation (DOT) refused to issue enforceable regulations to 
protect workers, or, in the case of DOT, passengers and workers. 
Efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to 
require masks in transportation were blocked by the White House.\10\
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    \10\ Kaplan S. White House Blocked C.D.C. From Requiring Masks on 
Public Transportation. October 9, 2020. Available at : https://
www.nytimes.com/2020/10/09/health/coronavirus-covid-masks-cdc.html
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    Fortunately for the nation, the Biden Administration is now 
stepping up efforts to prevent community and workplace transmission. 
There is now a national plan to control the pandemic and enhanced 
workplace protections are a component of this plan.
    The CDC has issued an order, effective February 1, 2021, requiring 
all passengers and workers on global and interstate transportation wear 
masking:

          This Order must be followed by all passengers on public 
        conveyances (e.g., airplanes, ships, ferries, trains, subways, 
        buses, taxis, ride-shares) traveling into, within, or out of 
        the United States as well as conveyance operators (e.g., crew, 
        drivers, conductors, and other workers involved in the 
        operation of conveyances) and operators of transportation hubs 
        ( e.g., airports, bus or ferry terminals, train or subway 
        stations, seaports, ports of entry) or any other area that 
        provides transportation in the United States.
          People must wear masks that cover both the mouth and nose 
        when awaiting, boarding, traveling on, or disembarking public 
        conveyances. People must also wear masks when entering or on 
        the premises of a transportation hub in the United States.\11\
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    \11\ US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Federal 
Register Notice: Wearing of face masks while on conveyances and at 
transportation hubs. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/
masks/mask-travel-guidance.html

    Enforcement will require active collaboration between the 
Transportation Security Administration, Department of Transportation 
agencies and transportation systems. The Biden Administration is also 
increasing efforts to speed up vaccine production and vaccination 
rates, but until most of the nation is vaccinated, stopping exposure in 
transportation will remain of paramount importance, and a significant 
challenge. There are structural reasons this will be particularly 
difficult for the transportation sector.
    OSHA, the primary federal agency with authority in worker safety 
and health, has strengthened its recommendations for worker protections 
and is likely to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard which would 
apply to the millions of employers under that agency's authority.
    However, for the most part, many of the workers in the 
transportation sector most at risk for exposure to COVID-19 are not 
covered by OSHA regulations or enforcement. Section 4(b)1 of the OSHA 
law states:

        Nothing in this Act shall apply to working conditions of 
        employees with respect to which other Federal agencies . . . 
        exercise statutory authority to prescribe or enforce standards 
        or regulations affecting occupational safety or health.

    Applying this unfortunate part of the OSHA statute, many DOT 
agencies with weak or no worker protections or enforcement have pre-
empted or significantly restricted the application of OSHA regulations. 
The result is that for large numbers of transportation employees, their 
workplaces are OSHA-free zones.
    In addition, OSHA does not cover public employees in twenty-four 
states which means that transportation workers who are employed by 
public entities have no legal right to a safe workplace in those 
states.
    It is important for the safety of transportation workers that 
Congress pass legislation providing OSHA protections to public 
employees and that requires OSHA and the Department of Transportation 
to reach an agreement providing protection for transportation employees 
equal to that provided other workers as a result of OSHA's Emergency 
Temporary Standard.
    One of the lessons of the first ten months of the pandemic in the 
US is that voluntary government recommendations are not adequate to 
protect workers and the public. General recommendations for mask use 
were ignored by a sizable minority of people, contributing to 
uncontrolled spread in many locations. For example, OSHA and CDC 
recommendations to employers in the meat and poultry industry have not 
been successful in stemming workplace transmission in this industry.
    By making only recommendations, federal agencies shift the burden 
of enforcement on to employers. Recalcitrant passengers are far more 
likely to follow requirements if they are imposed by federal or state 
agencies, compared with policies of the operator, who have little 
ability to punish passengers who refuse to comply. Further, federal 
regulations level the playing field so that, if investment is required, 
employers who want to do the right thing and protect their employees 
are not at a disadvantage competing with low-road employers who have 
less commitment to worker safety.
    The objective must be to stop exposure to the virus in all modes of 
transportation in which people from unrelated households travel. The 
CDC's mask requirement is a valuable and vitally important first step. 
Now is the moment for federal transportation agencies to take the steps 
necessary to require all transportation systems and the transportation 
hubs under its jurisdiction to develop and implement comprehensive 
infection control plans applying the hierarchy of controls. The details 
of these required plans will need to be developed by federal public 
health experts, with the input of employers and unions representing the 
workers involved.
    While these must be enforceable requirements to be effective, at 
the moment, it will be extremely difficult for the DOT agencies 
involved to actually enforce them. To enhance enforcement, some DOT 
agencies may have to cede some authority to OSHA. This can be done; in 
2014, the FAA and OSHA signed a a Memorandum of Undertanding enabling 
OSHA to enforce its hazard communication, bloodborne pathogens and 
noise standards to the working conditions of aircraft cabin crewmembers 
while they are on aircraft in operation.\12\ This committee should 
strongly encourage these agencies to quickly develop joint regulatory 
and enforcement efforts with OSHA.
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    \12\ Memorandum of Understanding between the Federal Aviation 
Administration and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 
Occupational Safety and Health Standards for Aircraft Cabin 
Crewmembers. Aug. 26, 2014. Available at: https://www.faa.gov/about/
initiatives/ashp/media/FAA_OSHA_MOU_2014.pdf
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    Given the extent of exposure among transportation workers, 
prioritizing vaccination of those workers at high risk is of great 
importance. However, the state-based system of vaccine allocation may 
make this prioritization more difficult, since workers involved in 
interstate and global transportation are often in cities other than 
those that they call home. (While this is a significant concern for 
many transportation workers, it is a particularly intractable problem 
for seafarers, who are at elevated risk of workplace exposure and 
disease, and who have little ability to register for and receive a 
vaccination in their home state in a timely manner.) The federal 
government should establish a comprehensive COVID-19 vaccination 
program specifically for transportation workers and provide the 
vaccines at hubs that they pass through for work.
    In summary, ensuring the safety of passengers who rely on 
transportation systems, their workers, and the communities in which 
passengers and workers live, is of critical importance to the future of 
the country. If transportation is not safe, we will not be able to stem 
the epidemic and return the economy to normalcy.
    I urge this committee to do all within its power to advance 
programs that prevent transmission of COVID-19 in all means of 
transportation under its jurisdiction. Universal masking is an 
important step, but it is not sufficient. Workers and passengers need 
operators to develop and implement comprehensive infection control 
plans based on the hierarchy of controls. DOT agencies must collaborate 
with OSHA and other federal agencies to enforce this requirement.

    Mr. DeFazio. Thank you, Dr. Michaels.
    We would now proceed to Ms. Sara Nelson, Association of 
Flight Attendants, president.
    Ms. Nelson. Thank you, Chairman DeFazio and Ranking Member 
Graves, and the members of the committee for the opportunity to 
testify today.
    Together, we are tackling the worst public health crisis in 
over 100 years and a financial crisis deeper than all previous 
economic disrupters combined that our industry has faced in its 
100-year history.
    In the absence of a Federal plan, until recent days with 
the Biden administration, I want to recognize the airline 
industry for working with unions on safety measures, such as 
required mask policies for airports and airplanes. Receiving 
backing from the Federal Government on these mask requirements 
makes all the difference for flight attendants, passenger 
service agents, and TSA officers who are tasked with ensuring 
travelers comply.
    It has been difficult and combative at times without clear 
instruction to the public. We applaud FAA Administrator Steve 
Dickson for his strong statements and emergency order to make 
clear there will be no second chances for passengers who fail 
to comply with crewmember instructions that keep everyone safe. 
Violators will face the Federal penalties of up to $35,000 and 
imprisonment. This zero tolerance policy is in effect through 
the end of March, and we encourage the FAA to extend it.
    Aviation is critical for vaccine distribution, and the 
people on the front lines of aviation need priority. We 
encourage the Federal Government to set up vaccine clinics at 
major airports and make it easy for airline crewmembers to 
access both their first and second doses. This will maximize 
efficacy of the vaccine and prevent wasted doses.
    Until we can contain the virus and fully open our economy, 
the airline industry will continue to operate at massive 
losses. The good news is that, with the support of this 
committee, and Chairman DeFazio leading the way, we created the 
first Federal relief program that is truly workers first, which 
covered 2.1 million workers under the CARES Act through 
September 30th of 2020. When it was not extended, furloughs, 
separations, and no-paid status began on October 1, affecting 
hundreds of thousands of workers and those still working. The 
late December emergency relief continued the same requirements 
of the original CARES Act PSP: no furloughs or layoffs, and 
reinstatement of pay as of December 1 through March 31, no cuts 
to hourly wage rates, maintain and restore service to all 
communities, caps on executive compensation for 2 years beyond 
the relief period, and a ban on stock buybacks and dividends. 
This workers first plan, we hoped, would be a template for 
relief across other industries. It looks much like the 
successful programs we have seen in Europe except that in this 
country, it is even more valuable because healthcare is also 
tied to employment. We need to extend the PSP through September 
30th of 2021 with a $15 billion Payroll Support Program, and we 
thank this committee for promoting this as part of the COVID 
relief package Congress is working to secure for Americans in 
the coming weeks.
    The program is the best use of the public's money because 
it uses the payroll systems, the airlines, and contractors 
already in place. Workers continue to pay taxes, supporting 
their cities' and States' tax base, continue Social Security 
contributions, Medicare and more. Healthcare, pension, and 
retirement contributions, sick leave programs, and other 
protections remain in place.
    When the program lapsed, furloughs caused certification and 
security credentials to lapse too. Nearly 3 months of furloughs 
caused a 4-month recovery of the credentials to get everyone 
back to work. Without an extension, this problem will grow 
exponentially.
    Airline workers are getting back in place to support 
vaccine distribution and recovery. We support 1 in 14 jobs in 
this country. PSP supports the best public health decisions, no 
cost-cutting strains on safety and health policies. In the long 
term, airline balance sheets are already loaded up on debt. 
Debt-heavy balance sheets will lag recovery and create downward 
pressure on good jobs and hurt consumers too. There were 
endless arguments about why PSP makes sense on a Government 
balance sheet, but this is really about the people: the flight 
attendant who sought this union job because she had Crohn's 
disease and needed regular preventive care in order to live a 
normal life but who without it becomes so ill, she can't even 
look for another job. The flight attendant who cares for 
elderly parents and whose sister and husband lost their jobs 
during COVID but have children to provide for, and so the 
entire family moved in together, and he became the sole 
provider thanks to PSP. The flight attendant who was forced to 
work more during the furloughs because in a cost-cutting 
environment, productivity is driven high. She was displaced 
from her home base and sent to spend more time on an airplane 
to get to work out of Philadelphia instead of Phoenix. She lost 
her life due to COVID just this past week.
    Furloughs disproportionately affect women and people of 
color and force an older workforce to leave home more often to 
work with greater risks of serious effects of the virus. 
Aviation has a long history of collaboration among Government, 
industry, unions, scientists, and consumers. We can beat COVID 
and emerge stronger, and let's do this together. I look forward 
to your questions. Thank you.
    [Ms. Nelson's prepared statement follows:]

                                 
Prepared Statement of Sara Nelson, International President, Association 
                   of Flight Attendants--CWA, AFL-CIO
                              Introduction
    My name is Sara Nelson. I am a twenty-five year union flight 
attendant and president of the Association of Flight Attendants--CWA, 
AFL-CIO (AFA), representing 50,000 flight attendants across the 
industry. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on what we are 
experiencing in our work environment during this pandemic and how 
uniform safety policies can mitigate risks and instill confidence for 
the traveling public.
    Exactly one year ago, on February 4, 2020, responding to concerns 
voiced by rank-and-file Flight Attendants and in consultation with 
infectious disease experts, our union called for the administration to 
create and implement a coordinated, comprehensive federal plan to 
contain and combat the virus. Aviation plays an important role in 
stopping the spread of communicable disease. Our requests for 
leadership and efforts to coordinate with government went unanswered by 
the previous administration. In the year since, the pandemic has 
battered our economy, devastated the aviation industry, and killed more 
than 440,000 Americans.
    The health and economic impacts of COVID-19 still loom large for 
our industry. Keeping passengers and crew safe is our top priority.
                     Payroll Support Program (PSP)
    While new health and safety standards for air travel are critical 
to the recovery of the industry, these measures are only possible 
because of Congress' unprecedented and bipartisan support for aviation 
workers over the past year. And, I underscore that the reforms you 
consider today will only succeed if Congress maintains that financial 
support.
    Members of this Committee joined together nearly one year ago to 
pass a historic workers' first relief package for aviation workers in 
the CARES Act. The result was the Payroll Support Program (PSP), the 
most successful jobs program in the CARES Act. PSP was designed with a 
single purpose: to keep aviation workers--gate agents, flight 
attendants, mechanics, caterers, and pilots--paid, connected to 
healthcare, out of the unemployment lines, and ready to lift the entire 
country. This program is the best use of public funds because it used 
systems already in place through airline payrolls, kept benefits and 
payroll taxes in place, and maintains the basis for retirement security 
both in terms of government programs and contractual or company policy 
retirement benefits. Aviation workers were able to have certainty and 
continue spending into the economy. Fundamentally, it allowed us to 
take care of ourselves so our country could focus on those who were 
sick or vulnerable.
    Under the terms of the program, funding for PSP goes exclusively to 
maintaining the salaries, wages, and benefits for aviation workers. 
Corporate restrictions during the relief period and for years after 
include, no dividends, no stock buybacks, and unprecedented limits on 
executive compensation. It conditions the carriers' receipt of federal 
funds on making no involuntary furloughs or layoffs. Participating 
carriers must also maintain levels of scheduled service, critical to 
small communities. In the pandemic this was especially important to 
ensure well-functioning health care and pharmaceutical supply chains to 
serve small and remote communities.
    PSP has been an overwhelming success, responsible for saving 
hundreds of thousands of jobs in our industry, and maintaining critical 
spending in our communities, where every aviation job supports 3.55 
additional jobs.
    Last October, when the program expired prematurely, the impact was 
immediately clear. The airlines' dire warnings turned into immediate 
and massive furloughs and layoffs. Even more aviation workers took 
unpaid leave to save healthcare, or had to make hard decisions like 
moving across the country in the middle of the pandemic in order to 
keep the job. The furlough numbers only tell a fraction of the story of 
the impact on the workforce. Only a short-term extension in Congress' 
end of year emergency relief forestalled a workforce disaster.
    I share this background to underscore a point that members of the 
Committee make all the time. The recovery of our nation's health and 
our economy are inextricably linked. Long overdue federal coordination 
on safety measures will help protect our passengers and aviation 
workers, and with it payroll support is essential.
    As we warned prior to the furloughs on October 1, furloughed 
workers while back on payroll as of December 1 with the emergency 
relief will not all be qualified to work until the end of March. Two to 
three months of furloughs caused a three to four month recovery of the 
infrastructure. Without an extension, this problem grows exponentially 
and this demonstrates the unique issue in aviation with job loss.
    PSP allows airlines to maintain staffing levels necessary to keep 
air routes open and keep passengers safe. As we fight our way to the 
other side of this pandemic, we need a robust crew list to ensure no 
worker goes to work when they aren't feeling well and to avoid travel 
disruption when crew call out sick. During the holiday travel season, 
when PSP had lapsed and crews were involuntarily furloughed, we saw a 
preview of the kind of disruption that can be caused when airlines do 
not have reserve staff on hand to manage absences caused by the virus 
or weather-related disruptions. In a diverse field, widespread 
furloughs hit women and people of color the hardest. Those who remain 
on the job are older and more likely to have complications from COVID, 
and they are forced to work more during furloughs.
    When PSP was originally put in place in March 2020, the assumption 
or hope was that the country would be on its way to recovery by the 
fall. The opposite happened and by the fall the only thing we knew for 
certain about COVID was that there was no certainty about when recovery 
would occur. Now we know more. We have a vaccine and an administration 
with a plan. But we know revenues will continue to suffer by staggering 
numbers for at least the first half of this year. International network 
airlines are still losing up to 30 million dollars a day. Considerable 
liquidity makes it possible for airlines to ``weather the storm'' with 
furloughs and deep cost cuts, but the result is felt by workers and 
consumers. In the long term, debt heavy balance sheets will lag overall 
economic recovery and create downward pressure on good jobs.
    Current emergency funding supports aviation jobs through March 31, 
2021. But, airlines schedule two months in advance and the process of 
job cuts for April 1 has already begun. Essential workers have been 
living with incredible chaos and uncertainty. The furloughs are felt by 
the entire workforce. The continuation of PSP can't wait.
    A PSP extension through September 30, 2021 will keep hundreds of 
thousands of airline workers current with certifications and security 
clearances that will be necessary when more normal travel can finally 
resume. I appreciate the Committee's continued support for this job-
saving program.
           Providing consistent and ready access to vaccines
    Interstate transportation workers--including airline crewmembers--
are essential to the U.S. economy, ensuring the transport of people and 
goods (including vaccines) across state lines, on the ground and in the 
air. These essential workers who cross state lines every day to carry 
out interstate commerce should be covered by a federal vaccination 
program. Providing clearly-defined access to vaccinations is 
particularly urgent, given the emerging threat of new viral strains. 
State programs are inconsistent in how they prioritize the vaccination 
for crewmembers. We propose DOT, in coordination with other federal 
agencies, run a federal vaccination program that reflects CDC's Tier 1B 
priority vaccination (alongside public transit workers and other 
essential workers) for frontline aviation workers.
    Flight attendants, in particular, have contact with a large number 
of people every day, typically crossing state lines, putting them at 
increased risk of infection.\1\ To facilitate an efficient vaccination 
rollout for this highly mobile workforce, the federal government should 
set up vaccination clinics at major airports to make it easy for 
airline crewmembers to access both their first and second doses, 
without disrupting their travel schedules. Doing so would also maximize 
the efficacy of the vaccine and prevent wasted doses.
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    \1\ A 2020 Norwegian population study regarding the risk of COVID-
19 by occupation concluded the following: ``[B]artenders, waiters, 
travel stewards, bus, tram, and taxi drivers had a higher risk of 
infection than other occupation groups in the 1st and/or 2nd wave of 
infection, and they also typically have contact with many different 
people in their work possibly exposing many people if they are not 
aware that they are infected.'' Note that ``travel stewards'' includes 
flight attendants and their counterparts on ships. Reference: 
Magnusson, K; Nygard, K; Vold, L; and Telle, K. (2021) ``Occupational 
risk of COVID-19 in the 1st vs 2nd wave of infection,'' medRxiv 
preprint, doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.29.20220426; posted Nov. 
3, 2020.
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    Ultimately, widespread vaccination is the only path to sustained 
recovery for the airline industry. Prioritizing access to vaccinations 
for airline crewmembers will improve safety and public confidence in 
airline travel. Airline crewmembers who are vaccinated will be ready to 
report for work, assuring their ability to support the distribution of 
vaccines to communities across the United States.
                  Confidence in the safety of aviation
    Commercial aviation depends on consumer confidence that flying is 
safe. Traditionally, aviation safety has been concerned with accidents 
and terror-related threats but, today, viral spread is first and 
foremost on the minds of most passengers. Simply put, American 
aviation--and with it many key sectors of our economy like tourism and 
travel--will not recover until passenger confidence returns and our 
economy can safely open. This Congress and the new administration must 
create and promote a culture that puts safety first in order to contain 
the spread of COVID-19 in aviation and renew confidence in travel and 
trust in our nation's handling of the pandemic. When President Biden 
issued his Executive Order titled ``Promoting COVID-19 Safety in 
Domestic and International Travel'' on his first full day in office, it 
sent a clear message of his Administration's commitment to science and 
public health. In tandem, we need the relevant federal agencies to 
establish and enforce penalties for those who refuse to follow these 
rules in order to keep us all safe. Confidence is not a static concept. 
In light of the discovery of COVID-19 mutations that are more 
contagious strains, safety procedures must also evolve to reflect the 
science and enhanced dangers of the virus.
    We support a comprehensive approach to safety that will protect 
passengers and crew while rebuilding public confidence in air travel, 
including mandating masks, minimizing food/beverage service, mitigating 
disruptive passengers, ensuring appropriate access to pay-protected 
quarantine, improving notification and contact tracing, maximizing 
onboard ventilation and filtration, establishing sanitation protocols, 
and prioritizing crewmember access to vaccines. We stand ready to 
support Congress and the Administration in the important and necessary 
work of implementing these measures.
                              Mask mandate
    On January 29, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 
published a long-awaited mask mandate entitled ``Requirement for 
Persons to Wear Masks While on Conveyances and at Transportation 
Hubs,'' \2\ to effectuate President Biden's day one Executive Order. 
This common-sense requirement aligns with the extensive scientific 
findings that facial coverings are the most important line of defense 
in crowded environments, particularly where the ability to social 
distance is limited. We applaud and are deeply grateful for President 
Biden's decisive action, mandating mask-wearing at airports, onboard, 
and on ground transportation and for the CDC's timely promulgation of 
the order. We now urge the FAA to promote enforcement by mandating 
electronic signage at airports and safety announcements onboard and at 
the gate.
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    \2\ https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/pdf/Mask-Order-CDC_GMTF_01-29-
21-p.pdf
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    We know from experience that the flying public is ready to adapt to 
new behaviors when instructions are clear and rules are enforced. 
Passengers learned to stop smoking, pack minimal fluids in their carry 
ons, and turn off their cell phones for engine start and climb. They 
can readily learn to wear a mask if the FAA clearly and repeatedly 
defines both the expectation and the penalties for non-compliance. We 
applaud Administrator Dickson's recent public campaign to back up crew 
who enforce mask policies and other rules to keep everyone safe, 
including communicating clearly the consequences for failing to do so. 
In addition, when flight attendants' work requires them to take on 
additional risk of exposure--such as entering the flight deck with a 
pilot who may not be wearing a mask, or providing first aid to a 
passenger--airlines should be required to provide a supply of N-95 
masks for additional protection.
    Any exemptions must be stringent, well-documented and managed 
before any passenger arrives at the gate for their flight. When the 
smoking ban was proposed, a minority of passengers didn't want to be 
told they couldn't smoke onboard. They argued it would be emotionally 
hard and that surely there should be exemptions. But the blanket non-
smoking rule was put into effect anyway--without exemptions--because 
the Department of Transportation recognized that doing so would improve 
safety for everyone, send an unequivocal message about risks posed by 
smoking onboard, improve confidence in the safety of travel, and make 
compliance much easier.
    Protocols in the airports are needed for Customer Service and other 
ground personnel. Airlines should provide Personal Protective Equipment 
(PPE) including equipment such as face shields to be worn along with 
masks. High traffic areas such as ticket counters, waiting areas, jet 
bridges and staff lounges must be routinely and thoroughly sanitized to 
reduce the risk of infections. These measures are recommended by the 
CDC and must be implemented to protect the safety of aviation workers. 
To best protect workers, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) 
advocates using the Hierarchy of Hazard Controls as a framework for 
workplace protections. Multiple types of protections are necessary 
based on job hazard assessments, including the use of administrative 
controls, e.g. work from home when feasible, reduction in staffing or 
staggered schedules, occupancy limits, and distancing.
     Minimize onboard food and beverage service to essential items
    A 2020 study of COVID-19 infection by occupation in Norway found 
that flight attendants and their counterparts working on ships reported 
nearly five times the risk of COVID-19 during the second wave of 
infection last summer and fall, as compared to the general working 
population in Norway, when matched by age and gender.\3\ The only jobs 
that posed a higher risk of COVID-19 during that time involved serving 
food and beverages. Even health care workers in Norway were at lower 
risk than flight attendants during that time. The data is clear: 
repeated exposure to unmasked individuals increases the risk of 
transmission. For this reason, to protect passengers and flight crews, 
it is critical that food and beverage services be reduced to the 
absolute minimums.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ Magnusson, K; Nygard, K; Vold, L; and Telle, K. (2021) 
``Occupational risk of COVID-19 in the 1st vs 2nd wave of infection,'' 
medRxiv preprint, doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.29.20220426; 
posted Nov. 3, 2020.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Study after study confirms that wearing a mask is the single best 
protection against spreading and receiving COVID-19. Modeling data and 
population studies both show a strong effect, but only when masks are 
worn properly and consistently. As Americans, we are told to wear a 
mask in the grocery store and the doctor's office, and if we were to 
remove our mask to eat a sandwich or sip a glass of wine in those 
environments, we'd be escorted off the premises. Flight attendants work 
in one of the most densely-occupied spaces in the world with windows 
that don't open, doors that aren't available most of the time, and 
limited ventilation.
    Until the pandemic is over, the FAA must send a consistent message 
about masking up to prevent onboard disease transmission, including 
mandatory, regular announcements for passengers to not remove their 
mask until the flight attendants have passed their row and, even then, 
to only ``dip'' their mask down momentarily to take a bite or sip 
(``dip and sip''). AFA recommends that airlines only serve cold food 
and drinks on flights less than 1,800 miles or three hours, that drinks 
are only distributed in individual cans/bottles, and that onboard 
alcohol sales are suspended until the pandemic is over.
                         Disruptive passengers
    Starting in mid-2020 and worsening in 2021, crewmembers have 
experienced a notable increase in the frequency and intensity of 
disruptive passenger incidents, many of which involve the combination 
of alcohol and a refusal to comply with mask rules. AFA is deeply 
appreciative of the leadership from FAA Administrator Steve Dickson who 
issued a new order on Jan. 13, 2021 \4\ to enhance enforcement and 
penalties against disruptive passengers. Under the new order, 
passengers are advised there are no warnings or second changes for 
passengers who interfere with, physically assault, or threaten to 
physically assault aircraft crew or anyone else on an aircraft. They 
will immediately and surely face stiff penalties, including fines of up 
to $35,000 and imprisonment. Public health measures have been 
politically charged and the subject of conflict on our planes. This 
action by Administrator Dickson serves as an effective deterrent for 
bad actors as flight crews work to protect the health and safety of all 
passengers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ https://www.faa.gov/news/media/attachments/
Order2150.3C_CHG%204.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Following President Biden's Executive Order and the new mask 
mandate from the CDC, we ask that the FAA make clear that a refusal to 
wear a mask and abide by federal regulations constitutes a violation 
carrying the same significant penalties. Passengers who compromise 
health and safety and violate federal rules may be banned from flying. 
This action helps deter violations and bolsters the safety-first 
culture that has long defined the aviation industry.
    Gate agents who work inside the airport routinely come into contact 
with passengers while helping them board the aircraft. Staying six feet 
away from others is virtually impossible at these counters. Agents must 
also enforce federal/airline rules to wear masks in the gate area and 
to report symptoms on screening questionnaires. The combination of 
irate passengers, reduced staffing levels, and slow response from law 
enforcement has led to increased cases of assault against our members. 
Airlines must give workers the support they need to protect themselves, 
particularly in pushing for faster response from Airport Law 
Enforcement.
    The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 created new protections from 
physical and verbal assault for customer service agents. Implementation 
of these protections and FAA enforcement has been inadequate. Airlines 
must be required to post ample signage alerting passengers of these 
protections and properly record any violent interaction on injury/
illness logs.
                  Expanding eligibility to quarantine
    As a general rule, airline policies state that a flight attendant 
is only eligible to quarantine if they had a ``known exposure'' to 
COVID-19, which the CDC defines as at least 15 minutes within six feet 
of someone who has tested positive. This may be an appropriate standard 
for exposures in an office or home environment where notification is 
likely and dilution ventilation is generally high. But it is a nearly 
impossible bar to meet on aircraft, in part because it is highly 
unlikely that a flight attendant will know if a passenger has tested 
(or will test) positive. Also, if a flight attendant spends five 
minutes assisting a passenger who is coughing and removes their mask to 
breathe more freely, that most certainly constitutes exposure. CDC 
guidance is critical for a science-based approach to minimize risk and 
limit spread of disease. However, occupational realities of the 
aircraft must be integrated for guidance to be effective.
    The CDC exposure tight definition means few flight attendants are 
eligible to quarantine with pay protection and are, instead, told to 
``self monitor'' for COVID-19 symptoms. As a result, if an airline 
creates its policies based on this guidance alone, crewmembers risk 
transmitting the virus to their fellow crew, passengers, and family 
members. Also, crewmembers risk being stuck away from home on a 
subsequent flight or layover with symptoms. It is very important to 
expand the definition for crews to include ``known or suspected 
exposure to someone who is positive or has symptoms consistent with 
COVID-19.'' Importantly, while the current FAA guidance document ``SAFO 
20009'' supports the airline interpretation of ``exposure,'' it also 
recommends that crews should be excluded from work if they were exposed 
to a person who was even ``likely'' to have COVID-19. Further, that 
same ``SAFO'' document recommends that crews maintain six feet from 
others while sitting on the jumpseat, working in the galley, and while 
on ground transportation, all of which is impossible. The crowded, 
enclosed nature of crewmembers' work spaces makes it all the more 
important that crews who were likely exposed to COVID-19--without 
necessarily defining a fixed number of minutes--are permitted to 
quarantine until they either secure a negative PCR test or they 
recover, and all without fear of discipline or financial penalty. 
Crewmembers need consistent, safety-oriented definitions for what 
constitutes an exposure and they need access to pay-protected 
quarantine protocols that put safety first.
                 Ensuring a safe duration of quarantine
    On Dec. 2, 2020, the CDC published revised COVID-19 quarantine 
guidance. Specifically, the agency noted that, because a 14-day 
quarantine period is onerous for most Americans, it would instead 
recommend either a 7-day quarantine (for people who took a COVID-19 
test and were negative) or a 10-day quarantine (for people who did not 
get tested). The CDC noted that a shortened quarantine period should 
``reduce the burden'' and ``increase community compliance'' which was 
an exercise in pragmatism, but did not reflect any change in the 
science of COVID-19. Since then, a population-based study was published 
in a CDC journal which reported a negative effect of shorter 
quarantine.\5\ The authors of that work concluded that ``persons 
released from quarantine before 14 days should continue to avoid close 
contact and wear masks when around others . . .'' However, avoiding 
close contact and ensuring mask compliance for passengers and even 
other crew is not possible in the aircraft cabin. Despite this, some 
airlines have chosen to follow the less protective quarantine guidance 
for their workers. Airlines should be required to ensure non-punitive 
policies for testing and a pay-protected 14-day quarantine for workers 
who have had either known or suspected exposure to COVID-19. Doing so 
will help to reduce spread of the virus in aviation and reflect a 
safety-focused aviation culture.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ Rolfes, MA; Grijalva, CG; Zhu, Y; et al. (2021) ``Implications 
of shortened quarantine among household contacts of index patients with 
confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection--Tennessee and Wisconsin, April-
September 2020,'' Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 69(5152);1633-
1637, 1 Jan. 2021; Available for download at: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/
volumes/69/wr/mm695152a1.htm
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       Improving contact tracing
    It is not clear which agency, if any, is responsible for contact 
tracing of passengers and crews, and flight attendants are unlikely to 
ever know if a passenger with whom they had contact onboard was 
positive for COVID-19. We have had a few reports from members who 
received a phone call from their state health department weeks after a 
flight to notify them that a passenger tested positive, by which time 
they had contact with thousands of passengers and multiple crews. Crews 
can't even be assured of being notified if a member of their crew 
tested positive, even though crewmembers routinely share ground-based 
transportation to and from layover hotels, and may share meals during a 
layover as well. Where possible, airlines should be required to conduct 
a 72-hour lookback in response to a report of passenger or crew 
infection, with timely notification to flight attendants. The Public 
Health Agency of Canada maintains a website with a list of flights, 
including the date, airline, flight number, city pair (and seat number, 
if known), during which there was a report of one or more positive 
COVID-19 cases. The list provides a useful and inexpensive first step 
for contact tracing in a timely way. On this, we should follow the lead 
of our northern neighbor.
    Improvements are needed on incident reporting, contact tracing and 
timely notification to all affected employees of potential exposure, 
and reporting of cases to the Union. The employer's COVID-19 illness 
reporting to the Union varies at each airline and station and is not 
being used in a consistent manner to effectively give warning to 
employees to prevent potential outbreaks.
             Maximizing onboard ventilation and filtration
    We urge the FAA to go beyond a recommendation and to mandate that 
all recirculated air on aircraft be filtered to the high-efficiency 
particulate air (HEPA) standard. Airlines and manufacturers 
consistently claim that the high air exchange rate onboard aircraft 
protects passengers and crew from airborne exposure to viruses like 
COVID-19. While air exchange rate onboard is high, so too is the 
production of ``bioeffluents'' onboard--the gases and particles, 
including viruses, exhaled by people. In the small space of the cabin, 
the rate of dilution of bioeffluents is consistently and considerably 
lower than in ground-based environments. Ensuring that aircraft 
ventilation systems are operating to maximize health and safety 
protects passengers and crew, minimize risk of transmission, and help 
build consumer confidence.
        Implementing effective disinfection/sanitation protocols
    It is well-recognized that the primary means of exposure to COVID-
19 is through the airborne route. However, to address contact with 
contaminated surfaces, airlines must also maintain sanitation and 
disinfection protocols. In addition, it would be prudent to minimize or 
eliminate touch points for flight attendants, both within food and 
beverage service, and for non-essential services such as hanging 
passengers' coats. Finally, crews would benefit from being provided 
with regular briefing sheet reminders about best practices of avoiding 
common touch locations, using hand sanitizer with a minimum 60% alcohol 
content, and routine hand washing for at least 20 seconds as 
practicable after arrival.
                                Closing
    COVID-19 is a public health emergency and financial catastrophe. It 
has had a more severe impact on aviation than any other economic 
downturn or crisis in aviation's 100 years combined. There is no doubt 
our country and the airline industry have the experience and resources 
to implement plans that can eradicate the virus and recover. Doing this 
properly truly is an action of solidarity. Investing in people, jobs, 
and safety nets now are critical if we are to have the vast majority of 
the population able to care for themselves so we can focus on the sick 
and vulnerable to isolate the virus, contain it, and get beyond the 
pandemic. Aviation has a long history of collaboration among 
government, industry, unions, scientists, and consumers. This 
collaboration and careful approach to layered safety, security and 
health has built the safest mode of transportation, the backbone of the 
American economy, and the access that we enjoy around the world. We can 
ensure safety and recover--together.

    Mr. DeFazio. I thank the gentlelady.
    I would now move on to Mr. Pugh.
    Mr. Pugh, you have 5 minutes. Unmute wherever you are.
    Mr. Pugh. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I am Lewie 
Pugh with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. 
Prior to working at OOIDA, I had 23 years' experience of 
driving and being a small business trucking owner and still 
have a CDL. Thank you.
    Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, small business truckers 
and professional drivers literally put their lives on the line. 
When many Americans began working from home, truckers continued 
to crisscross this Nation, picking up and delivering the items 
that we all needed. When COVID first hit, shippers and 
receivers started restricting access to their facilities. 
Suddenly, finding a place to use the restroom became very 
difficult, even impossible at times. Drivers weren't able to 
find masks, hand sanitizer, or even bottled water. Ironically, 
they were delivering everything Americans needed to survive, 
yet, they could hardly buy much of this themselves. But it 
wasn't until FEMA began distributing these items in truckstops 
that truckers finally were able to get what they needed.
    They also had no real idea what they were to do if they 
experienced COVID symptoms themselves, a lot of times hundreds, 
if not thousands, of miles from home.
    And then things went from horrible to unimaginable when 
freight rates dropped to historic lows. Some loads were paying 
pennies per mile. By May of 2020, roughly 80,000 truckers were 
out of work.
    Congress, you could have temporarily suspended the Federal 
diesel tax so drivers could have kept some extra money in their 
pockets during these toughest times. You could have waived the 
heavy vehicle use tax so that truck owners would have gotten a 
modest break. You could have reinstated the per diem for 
employee drivers or even suspended UCR payments. Instead, you 
hung your hats on PPP which failed most small carriers.
    DOT and DHS, they did rise to the occasion. They were 
engaged with the industry and took a number of steps to address 
the real issues that were affecting drivers. For example, the 
Federal Highway Administration permitted States to allow food 
trucks in rest areas. Unfortunately, many States, just like 
here in Missouri, wouldn't allow the food trucks in these rest 
areas. Think about that. Truckers couldn't buy food in a 
truckstop. They couldn't buy food in a restaurant. And yet 
States had the nerve to deny them to even have a hot meal at a 
rest area. We here at OOIDA were not even allowed to give away 
free food in a rest area. To me, that is a real shame.
    We were all shocked last year when this committee voted in 
the middle of a global catastrophe to increase Federal 
insurance requirements by $1.25 million. Truckers watched in 
disbelief as this panel, who was patting them on the back on 
social media, went to kicking them while they were down.
    Things are getting better, but safe truck parking is still 
at a national crisis. Last year, this committee provided $250 
million for truck parking projects in the highway bill. That is 
a great starting point, but more must be done.
    Thank you to Representative Mike Bost and Angie Craig for 
working with us to develop a bill to address the problem. 
Despite there being over 65 members on this committee in the 
last Congress, only 4 of you cosponsored this legislation.
    So what do we want? We want more truck parking. Not only 
should you cosponsor the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, 
but let's get it done.
    Try to do something good for truckers without doing 
something bad. Don't cripple them with unnecessary insurance 
increases and speed limiter mandates.
    Repeal the overtime exemption for employee drivers. I have 
been asked by legislators what would be the result of this. The 
result would be truckers would finally be paid for the time 
that they work. This would also cure the driver churn that big 
carriers misleadingly tout as a shortage.
    Reinstate the per diem for employee drivers. Let them 
deduct their meals while they are out on the road again.
    You can take steps to help, but you must avoid causing 
unnecessary damage. Truckers have earned your respect by now. 
Show them some real appreciation. Twitter statements are real 
nice, but they don't put food on the table.
    Drivers still worry about how they are going to get the 
vaccine while they continue to work. Finding a decent meal is 
still tough for them. Many are concerned about the future of 
their business, uncertain freight markets, and new regulations. 
Some even fear that their business will survive COVID only to 
be put out of business by you, Congress.
    So I appreciate this time and look forward to answering 
your questions. Thank you.
    [Mr. Pugh's prepared statement follows:]

                                 
   Prepared Statement of Lewie Pugh, Executive Vice President, Owner-
                Operator Independent Drivers Association
    Chairman DeFazio, Ranking Member Graves, and members of the 
Committee, my name is Lewie Pugh and I am the Executive Vice President 
of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA). Prior to 
working at OOIDA, I was a small-business trucker for nearly 23 years 
with 2.5 million miles of safe driving. Before operating my own 
trucking business, I drove a truck during my service in the United 
States Army. I still proudly hold a Commercial Driver's License (CDL). 
In short, I've been a trucker my entire career.
                              About OOIDA
    OOIDA has represented the interests of owner-operators and 
professional drivers for over 45 years. We were created by truckers to 
ensure their voices were being heard in Washington and beyond. Decades 
later, we continue to be led by men and women who make their living 
behind the wheel. Today, we have over 150,000 members across the United 
States and Canada. We know truckers better than anyone.
    Small trucking businesses like those we represent account for 96% 
of registered motor carriers in the U.S. We are undoubtedly the safest 
and most diverse operators on our nation's roads. Our activities impact 
all sectors of the American economy on a daily basis. We move 
everything and anything--from agricultural products and household goods 
to military equipment and energy resources.
                              Introduction
    Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, small-business truckers and 
professional drivers have literally put their lives on the line to keep 
us safe. When many Americans began working from home, truckers 
continued to crisscross the country, picking up and delivering items 
that we all need.
    The perseverance of the nation's truck drivers has never faltered 
even in the face of many new challenges. At the onset of COVID-19, 
shippers and receivers started restricting access to their facilities, 
including restrooms. Suddenly, finding a place to use the bathroom was 
more difficult, even impossible at times. Initially, drivers weren't 
able to find masks, hand sanitizer, or even bottled water. Ironically, 
they were delivering everything Americans needed to survive, though 
they couldn't actually buy much of it themselves. It was a cruel 
reality, and it wasn't until FEMA began distributing items at truck 
stops that many truckers finally had what they needed.
    They also had no real idea what they would do if they experienced 
COVID symptoms while on the road, often hundreds if not thousands of 
miles from home. And then things went from horrible to unimaginable 
when freight rates dropped to historic lows, in some cases only paying 
pennies per mile. By May of 2020, roughly 80,000 truckers were out of 
work.
    Congress could have temporarily suspended the federal diesel tax so 
drivers would have extra money in their pockets during the toughest 
times. You could have waived the heavy vehicle use tax (HVUT) for a 
year so that every truck owner would get a modest break. You could have 
reinstated the per diem for employee drivers or even suspended Unified 
Carrier Registration (UCR) payments. Instead, you hung your hats on the 
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which failed to support most small 
carriers.
    In the midst of the crisis, the Department of Homeland Security 
(DHS) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) rose to the occasion. 
They engaged industry stakeholders and took a number of steps to 
address real issues that were affecting drivers. For example, the 
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) allowed states to permit food 
trucks at rest areas. Unfortunately, many states, like Missouri, 
wouldn't allow it. Think about that for a minute--truckers couldn't buy 
food at a truck stop or restaurant, yet some states had the nerve to 
deny them a hot meal at rest areas. OOIDA wasn't even permitted to give 
free meals away in Missouri. That's a damn shame.
    We were all shocked last year when this Committee voted, in the 
middle of a global catastrophe, to increase motor carriers' federal 
minimum liability insurance requirements by $1.25 million. Truckers 
watched in disbelief as members of this panel went from patting them on 
the back on social media to kicking them while they were down.
    Things are getting better, but safe truck parking is still a 
national crisis. Last year, this Committee provided a one-year, $250 
million authorization for truck parking projects in the highway bill. 
This is a great starting point, but more must be done. We've worked 
with Reps. Mike Bost (R-IL) and Angie Craig (D-MN) to develop a 
bipartisan bill to address the problem. Despite there being over 65 
members on this Committee last Congress, only 4 of you cosponsored the 
legislation.
    So what do truckers want?
      We want more truck parking. Not only should you cosponsor 
the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, but get it done.
      Try to do something good for truckers without doing 
something bad. Don't cripple them with unnecessary insurance increases 
or a speed limiter mandate.
      Repeal the overtime exemption for employee drivers in the 
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). I've been asked by some lawmakers what 
would happen as a result. My answer is simple: employee drivers would 
actually be paid for the hours they work. This would also help fix the 
driver churn that big carriers misleadingly tout as a driver shortage.
      Reinstate the per diem tax deduction for employee 
drivers. Let them deduct their meals while out on the road again.

    You can take steps to help, but you must also avoid causing 
unnecessary damage. Truckers have earned your respect by now. We 
encourage you to show them some real appreciation--Twitter statements 
are nice but it doesn't put food on the table.
    Drivers still worry about getting the vaccine while they continue 
to work. Finding a decent meal is still tough. Many are concerned about 
the future of their business, an uncertain freight market, and new 
regulations. Some even fear that their business will survive COVID only 
to be destroyed by Congress.
                             Truck Parking
    The truck parking shortage is a national safety crisis. In 2015, 
the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Jason's Law survey report 
recognized the lack of truck parking had become a serious highway 
safety concern.\1\ Unfortunately, the problem has only worsened since 
then. In December 2020, FHWA issued findings from its 2019 Jason's Law 
survey, which found that truck parking shortages are still a major 
problem in every state and region of the country.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Jason's Law Truck Parking Survey Results and Comparative 
Analysis, Office of Freight Management and Operations, Federal Highway 
Administration, United States Department of Transportation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Furthermore, the expansion of truck parking capacity hasn't kept 
pace with truck vehicle miles traveled, and a handful of states 
actually have fewer public parking spaces than they did at the time of 
the original survey. Governments at all levels are failing to confront 
this challenge, and Congress must step in to solve this urgent safety 
problem.
    While the truck parking shortage has been a concern for decades, 
the closure of rest areas during the coronavirus pandemic brought new 
attention to truck parking challenges. For example, countless truckers 
were left scrambling to find places to take a break after Pennsylvania 
closed its rest areas early in the pandemic. At the time, our industry 
pushed federal officials, as well as those in Pennsylvania, to reopen 
these critical facilities without delay. With the encouragement of 
FHWA, the state ultimately reversed course and reopened each of its 
rest areas over time.
    Unfortunately, the reopening process was unnecessarily slow and 
undoubtedly still forced some drivers to park in unsafe areas. In the 
future, federal and state transportation and health officials must 
understand the importance of these facilities in the safe and efficient 
movement of goods during a national emergency, and ensure they remain 
accessible for truckers. Thankfully, swift outreach from industry and 
federal officials not only helped reopen shuttered facilities in 
Pennsylvania, but prevented other states from following suit. Although 
pandemic-related parking issues have largely been resolved, the 
underlying parking shortage remains.
    Professional drivers regularly report difficulty accessing safe 
parking for commercial motor vehicles (CMV), especially during times of 
high demand. Surveys of our members routinely reveal most truckers have 
been forced to drive beyond the point where they feel safe and alert 
simply because they could not find a place to park. This not only 
jeopardizes their own safety, but also the well-being of the motoring 
public with whom they share the road. Truckers are commonly placed in 
no-win situations where they must decide to park in an unsafe or 
illegal location--such as a vacant lot--or violate federal hours-of-
service (HOS) regulations by continuing to search for a safer and legal 
alternative.
    The current crisis also creates hazards for the general public. As 
a last resort, drivers who are unable to find adequate parking often 
reluctantly park in hazardous road-side locations, such as highway 
shoulders and interstate entry and exit ramps. This creates safety 
risks for law enforcement officials as well. Often, they are faced with 
the dilemma of allowing a tired trucker to rest in a dangerous location 
or ordering them to relocate when they are out of drivable hours.
    Congress can help address the truck parking shortage by enacting 
the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, which would dedicate existing 
highway safety funding for the expansion of truck parking capacity. 
This legislation doesn't create any new uses for federal funds or 
authorize new spending. Instead, it ensures that existing funding is 
focused on creating new parking spaces through the establishment of a 
competitive grant program. We would like to thank Representatives Mike 
Bost and Angie Craig for introducing this legislation during the 116th 
Congress, and we look forward to building even greater bipartisan 
support for this legislation in the new Congress.
    Unfortunately, too many federal dollars have been spent on 
technology-based solutions that fail to address the root of the parking 
problem. We've determined federal investment in the expansion of truck 
parking capacity is key. With a focus on increasing capacity, the Truck 
Parking Safety Improvement Act would provide funding for the 
construction of new rest areas and truck parking facilities, while also 
helping public entities convert existing spaces--such as inspection 
sites, weigh stations, and closed rest areas--into truck parking 
locations.
    OOIDA believes providing federal investment in the expansion of 
truck parking capacity must be a top priority for Congress in the 
development of the next highway bill. Addressing this problem will 
certainly demonstrate to professional drivers that Congress understands 
one of the most significant challenges they face on a daily basis and 
wants to help.
                      Minimum Liability Insurance
    Trial lawyers and their allies in Congress have proposed 
legislation to increase the minimum level of financial responsibility 
for trucking companies operating in interstate commerce. While working 
to gather support for their proposal, organizations like the American 
Association for Justice (AAJ) have shared wholly misleading information 
about this issue.
    Federal law currently requires motor carriers to maintain at least 
$750,000 in liability coverage ($5 million for those hauling hazardous 
materials). However, the vast majority of carriers are insured at $1 
million or more. Having additional coverage is obviously not required, 
but the insurance industry tends to naturally adjust levels based on 
market conditions. If enacted, legislation like H.R. 3781 (the 
INSURANCE Act) from the 116th Congress would increase minimums from 
$750,000 to a whopping $4,923,154. Small-business truckers would 
quickly see their premiums dramatically increase.
    OOIDA would like set the record straight on the real impact a 
minimum insurance increase would have on highway safety and the 
catastrophic effect it would have on small trucking businesses. This is 
particularly important for small carriers, who are already struggling 
as a result of the pandemic and uncertainty within the freight market. 
Truckers want to operate safely, and to do so, they make significant 
investments in their equipment to keep it in good working order. 
Placing new costs on small-business truckers through unnecessary 
increases to minimum insurance requirements would detract from these 
goals and ultimately put some of the safest drivers out of business.
    Because there are so many factors that determine premium costs, it 
is difficult to estimate precisely how much they would increase for 
different motor carriers. We know from surveying our members and 
analyzing the American Transportation Research Institute's annual 
surveys on the cost of operation that small motor carriers already pay 
more per mile than their larger competitors. This is by no means a 
result of poor driving records, but rather the inability of small 
businesses to negotiate better rates. Our members also typically have a 
higher deductible to keep costs down, meaning any increase in minimum 
requirements would disproportionately affect small businesses. 
Compounding this problem, any increase is likely to cause some insurers 
to no longer provide coverage to large trucks. This will further 
increase costs, as supply becomes limited.
    We estimate that if Congress increased minimum coverage 
requirements to $2,000,000, as this Committee did in last year's H.R. 
2, premium costs for small business truckers could at least double, 
causing a trucker who currently pays $10,000 per year to pay a whopping 
$20,000. This would be unaffordable to many small businesses, who would 
quickly be driven out of business. For other carriers that try to 
offset the news costs by increasing their rates, they would likely lose 
business to better-leveraged large fleets.
    Contrary to claims by those who will benefit financially from an 
increase in insurance minimums, this will do absolutely nothing to 
improve highway safety. Supporters of the proposal have no reputable 
research indicating it would. And they never will, because there is no 
correlation between insurance coverage and highway safety. In fact, 
increasing insurance minimums would likely force many owner-operators--
who are collectively among the safest, most experienced drivers on the 
road--out of the industry because premiums would become unaffordable. 
As a result, an increase to minimum insurance requirements may actually 
decrease highway safety, not improve it.
    Proponents of this proposal claim that insurance requirements need 
to be increased simply because they haven't been raised since the 
1980s. This erroneously assumes the insurance industry only provides 
coverage at the federally-mandated levels. Again, most motor carriers 
are insured at least $250,000 above the current minimum threshold 
because that's what the market dictates.
    AAJ and their allies, including members of this Committee, want you 
to believe the rising cost of healthcare for those involved in a crash 
justifies an increase in insurance minimums. However, research 
indicates this is patently false. As required by MAP-21, the Federal 
Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) commissioned the John A. 
Volpe Transportation Systems Center (Volpe) to research this issue in 
greater detail. In 2014, Volpe released its report, which explained, 
``The vast majority of CMV-caused crashes have relatively small cost 
consequences, and the costs are easily covered with the limits of 
mandatory liability insurance.''
    If you're wondering if this includes some of the most costly 
crashes, Volpe adds, ``A small share exceed the mandatory minimum but 
are often covered by other insurance or assets.'' There are certainly 
catastrophic crashes that exceed today's requirements. However, Volpe 
helps put these rare occurrences into perspective by stating, ``A final 
portion of high-cost crashes would fall outside compensation 
instruments even if the minimum liability were raised.'' In short, 
these exceptional cases are often times so expensive that no level of 
insurance would cover them. We would also point out that, according to 
Volpe, only 0.6% of crashes result in damages that exceed today's 
minimum coverage limits.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ Kent Hymel et al., Financial Responsibility Requirements for 
Commercial Motor Vehicles, John A. Volpe Transportation Systems Center 
(2013).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    If the existing insurance minimum covers over 99% of truck-involved 
crashes, what's the impetus for increasing the current requirement?
    It should come as no surprise that AAJ is leading this proposal, as 
trial lawyers typically receive 30-40% of a judgment or settlement 
against a motor carrier--and sometimes more. For AAJ, this is a shrewd, 
if not unabashedly transparent effort. Mandating an increase in 
coverage limits will exponentially boost their judgments and 
settlements.
    What remains most important is the fact that proposals to increase 
minimum insurance rates for motor carriers will do nothing to improve 
highway safety. Rather, it imposes yet another unnecessary and 
expensive federal mandate that will force the safest and most 
experienced truckers off the road, while further lining the pockets of 
our nation's trial lawyers. It will also do nothing to help protect 
transportation workers or rebuild our infrastructure. As Congress 
rightfully focuses on defeating the coronavirus and reviving our 
economy through infrastructure investment, a minimum insurance increase 
has no place in the discussion.
                     FLSA and Overtime Compensation
    Like all hard-working Americans, truckers want to be appropriately 
compensated for their work. For decades, driver compensation has been 
eroding, making careers in trucking less appealing to new entrants and 
less sustainable for experienced truckers.
    One of the most unnecessary barriers to fair compensation that 
truckers face is the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which currently 
exempts employee drivers from overtime pay requirements. This exemption 
was implemented in the 1930s to prevent drivers from working too many 
hours, but today it simply prevents them from receiving adequate 
compensation for their work. It also contributes to problems with 
excessive detention time because shippers, receivers, and others in the 
industry have no financial incentive to load and unload trucks in a 
timely, efficient manner.
    The unfairness of the overtime exemption has always been clear, but 
the long hours truckers have worked during the pandemic makes the 
injustice even more obvious. Waivers to HOS regulations for truckers 
hauling emergency supplies exacerbated this issue, with some truckers 
working even longer hours than they normally would. All of this work 
was done without a guarantee of overtime pay for their efforts. While 
OOIDA supported the relaxing of HOS requirements to quickly respond to 
the early challenges of the pandemic, keeping them in place for an 
extended period of time has resulted in most drivers working longer 
hours without any additional compensation.
    Simply put, the FLSA exemption makes it the law that a driver's 
time is less valued than other professions. If Congress is serious 
about providing relief to the working class, then you must start by 
repealing this outdated exemption. While the Education and Labor 
Committee has final jurisdiction over repealing this exemption, it is 
interrelated with the issues that the Transportation and Infrastructure 
Committee is discussing today and handles more generally.
                      Access to Food and Restrooms
    In addition to difficulty finding parking at the outset of the 
pandemic, truckers also faced challenges accessing basic needs like 
food and restroom facilities. During government mandated stay-at-home 
orders, restaurants and other fresh food options at truck stops were 
largely closed. To provide at least some relief to truckers, we 
supported FHWA's decision to allow states to permit food trucks to 
temporarily operate at highway rest areas. We thank Members of Congress 
who also encouraged the agency to take this step. Unfortunately, very 
few states embraced this solution. As COVID cases surged across the 
country this fall and states renewed or expanded dining restrictions, 
truckers again found themselves struggling to find warm, quality meals 
while on the road.
    Moving forward, we encourage Congress to not only allow states 
greater flexibility in permitting food trucks at rest areas during 
crises, but expand daily food access to hard-working truckers by 
reversing the federal ban on the commercialization of rest areas.
    Truckers also experienced difficulty accessing restrooms at 
shipping and receiving facilities throughout the pandemic. Some 
businesses claimed that limiting access was a way to control the spread 
of the virus to their employees. These policies were counterproductive. 
As the most transient community in America, truckers must have the 
ability to wash their hands after handling freight, paperwork, and 
business equipment to help combat the spread of the virus. During any 
future public health crisis, Congress must work with the logistics 
community to ensure truckers have access to restrooms.
    More broadly, the federal government should continue to improve its 
communication to public and private entities about the problems of 
closing critical facilities to truckers during emergencies. While there 
may be valid health reasons for these measures, truckers' needs were 
often ignored in the heat of the moment when policies were implemented.
                             Access to PPE
    In the early months of the pandemic, acquiring PPE was a serious 
challenge for truckers. Many had to independently purchase equipment or 
find free distribution sites, despite being appropriately deemed 
essential workers. OOIDA worked closely with FMCSA to obtain and 
distribute protective masks to drivers. We also appreciated the efforts 
of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency (FEMA) in obtaining and distributing PPE to hundreds 
of thousands of truckers. Still, many truckers, including employee 
drivers, have been forced to independently track down and pay out-of-
pocket for PPE, hand sanitizer, and other supplies to protect 
themselves and those they come into contact with. In any future 
national health crisis, the distribution of protective supplies to 
truckers must occur immediately. Not only are professional drivers 
moving critical supplies to areas of need, they are also the most 
transient community in the country, which increases their chances of 
exposure.
    As an association that represents employee drivers, owner-
operators, and small-business motor carriers, our top priority is 
ensuring the safety and well-being of truckers. We support government 
efforts to help make PPE as widely-available as possible. We are also 
open to legislative proposals that would require employers to provide 
basic supplies to employees, but any proposal must take into account 
the unique challenges small businesses face and the limited 
availability of supplies, especially for those not purchasing in large 
quantities. Furthermore, these measures must not be overly complicated 
or punitive for businesses that are facing unprecedented challenges.
                     Access to Testing and Vaccines
    Truckers face distinct challenges when it comes to accessing 
testing for COVID-19. Most of the time, our members are out on the 
road, away from home--often for hundreds of nights a year. It is not 
easy for them to drop in to their doctor's office for a COVID test if 
they are feeling sick, exhibiting symptoms or have been in contact with 
an infected individual. During the worst parts of the pandemic, it was 
very difficult for our members to find information about where they 
could obtain a test while on the road. While the federal government has 
since made information available on testing locations, Congress should 
make certain this information is communicated to essential workers like 
truckers much earlier and more clearly during any future health crisis.
    Similarly, truckers are now concerned about how they will access 
vaccinations while continuing to work. For professional drivers, who 
often spend several consecutive weeks or even months on the road to 
make ends meet, accessing vaccinations can be logistically difficult 
and economically disruptive. Few truckers know precisely where they 
will be from week-to-week, making it difficult to return home for shots 
and often impossible to predict where they may be located when it's 
time for a second booster. Even those who are capable of getting 
vaccinated while they work will undoubtedly experience difficulty 
accessing vaccination sites--visiting a clinic, pharmacy or medical 
facility by car is much easier than finding a location to temporarily 
park a CMV. Providing vaccinations at truck stops and rest areas 
throughout the country would be an effective solution to ensuring the 
essential workers in our industry are receiving the care they need.
                        PPP and Economic Relief
    As this Committee considers how to improve the federal government's 
response to future national emergencies and help small-business 
truckers survive the current pandemic, it also needs to be aware of the 
ways Congress failed to help truckers during the economic downturn 
caused by coronavirus. Far too many of our members didn't qualify for a 
loan under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) because of the way the 
program was structured. In short, this program doesn't work well for 
independent contractors that make significant investments in equipment 
and take multiple deductions when filing taxes.
    While the PPP falls outside the Transportation and Infrastructure 
Committee's jurisdiction, it's important to understand the frustration 
truckers felt when they were told to apply for this government 
assistance program, only to find out that it doesn't work for them. 
This was the go-to recommendation for small-businesses impacted by the 
coronavirus, and when it didn't work for our members, they were 
essentially out of luck.
    Compounding this frustration, truckers have seen Congress provide 
passenger airlines with billions of dollars in aid, but are left to 
wonder why the small trucking businesses who keep the supply chain 
moving were essentially left out. While some of these decisions weren't 
made in this Committee, you have the power to help truckers make it 
through these challenging times by avoiding unnecessary regulatory 
costs and burdens.
    For truckers who didn't get any relief in 2020, the last thing they 
need is new costs that don't provide them, or the public, any real 
benefit. Small-business truckers need to be able to make necessary 
investments in their equipment and their businesses to continue 
operating safely, and they need to make investments to adapt to changes 
brought on by COVID. None of this will be possible if they are hurting 
from the economic downturn, are unable to access federal aid, and have 
to pay new costs to meet new federal regulations.
                          Broker Transparency
    In the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, freight rates reached 
historic lows and many drivers were struggling. After years of small-
business truckers expressing frustration about the deliberate evasion 
of transparency regulations (49 CFR Sec. 371.3) by freight brokers, the 
detrimental impacts of COVID-19 finally caught the attention of federal 
regulators. In May, the President remarked that truckers were being 
price-gouged by brokers and DOT started listening. Let's be clear, 
current regulations mandate that brokers keep transaction records and 
allows carriers to review such records.
    These rules enable carriers to make educated decisions about what 
loads to take and with whom to do business. However, because these 
regulations go largely unenforced, brokers have implemented common 
practices that make it difficult for carriers to ever access 
transactional information required by Sec. 371.3. These practices 
include making carriers visit a broker's physical business location to 
view information in person or forcing carriers to waive their rights 
under Sec. 371.3 when signing contracts.
    As a solution to improve broker transparency, OOIDA filed a 
petition with the agency that would require brokers to provide 
transaction information automatically within 48 hours of the completion 
of the contractual services and would prohibit brokers from including 
any contractual provision that waives a carrier's right to access 
transaction records. Since our petition was submitted in May 2020, 
FMCSA has opened up a variety of regulatory dockets to gather public 
comments regarding this issue. Once the agency has completed their 
review of these comments, OOIDA strongly encourages FMCSA to promulgate 
and enforce measures that will prevent brokers from continuing to 
circumvent transparency requirements. All truckers want is for brokers 
to comply with existing federal regulations. They're not asking for 
anything more than their right to transparency, which is used to help 
them differentiate good brokers from unscrupulous ones.
                               Conclusion
    Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, small-business truckers and 
professional drivers have literally put their lives on the line to keep 
us safe. While they have faced daunting new obstacles, our truck 
drivers have ensured that critical supplies get delivered to all 
corners of the country. We have outlined just a few of the steps that 
Congress can take to show their appreciation and support, but we also 
urge you to avoid causing unnecessary damage that would force the 
industry's safest drivers off the road.
    Thank you.

    Mr. DeFazio. Thank you, Mr. Pugh.
    Mr. Rivera.
    Mr. Rivera. Good afternoon. Hello, and thank you for the 
opportunity to testify. My name is Ismael Rivera. I have been a 
transit worker since 1997. I began driving a bus for New York 
City Transit Authority and came to Lynx in Orlando 17 years 
ago.
    I am a proud member of ATU Local 1596. Led by international 
president John Costa, ATU has taken extraordinary steps since 
the beginning of this pandemic to keep transit workers and 
passengers safe and save our members' jobs. ATU developed a 
list of demands for transit systems on the safe provision of 
service including gloves, masks, protective barriers, pandemic 
leave, rear-door entry, and onsite testing.
    The International also partnered with transit agencies to 
secure $39 billion in Federal funding to save the industry and 
buy PPE, and we are now seeking another $39.3 billion. Our 
union in many locations stepped up and helped transit systems 
acquire gloves and masks. ATU International also launched a 
mask education campaign to ensure our members know their right 
to refuse to work when confronted with hazardous safety 
conditions.
    Driving a bus has always been a tough job. Busdrivers get 
attacked on moving vehicles regularly. Now we are being 
attacked by an invisible enemy. Each time a passenger coughs 
just a few feet behind us, we know that we are in a potential 
death trap, driving down the road in a tin can with bad air 
circulation. One hundred twenty-six ATU members have died due 
to COVID, and thousands have been infected.
    In addition to driving a bus, ATU members also now serve as 
the mask police. We are getting brutally attacked for simply 
enforcing the rules and trying to stop the spread of the virus. 
There was a baseball bat beating in California and a 2 by 4 
attack in Texas. Here in Florida, a homeless woman boarded a 
bus and began coughing on passengers. The driver told her that 
she needed to wear a mask. The woman then spat on the driver.
    When someone boards without a mask, we are faced with a 
tough choice: say nothing and risk that an infected rider will 
spread the virus or tell them to put on a mask and risk a 
violent reaction. It is just the beginning. I am constantly 
checking the mirror, making sure that riders are keeping their 
masks on. They often pull the mask off, and that is when the 
real tension begins. I am a busdriver, not a police officer. I 
don't need political debates on my bus, but that is the way 
things are right now.
    Social distancing on a bus is very hard to do. In Orlando, 
we have been told to limit our capacity to 15 passengers on a 
40-foot bus. Although the agency gives us discretion to allow a 
few more riders, passengers are allowed in front rows, which is 
too close for comfort for many of us. Lynx gives us four masks 
per shift for passengers who don't have one, and we hit the 
road hoping that is enough. We come in early to wipe down the 
vehicles, especially the driver shields. Our shields are better 
than nothing but still leave a gap, exposing us to attacks. We 
must still touch wheelchairs to help disabled riders get on 
board, secure their wheelchairs, and help them exit. The buses 
we drive have major issues with air flow, air sterilization, 
and filters. It is no wonder so many of us are dying.
    By my count, about 20 workers at Lynx have been infected 
with coronavirus, including myself. We do have contact tracing, 
for what it is worth. Florida officials are not following 
Federal vaccine guidelines, that give transit workers priority. 
So, despite our high risk, we wait for the shot, putting our 
lives on the line every day.
    FTA needs to fully use its safety authority as soon as 
possible. President Biden's action on day one requiring masks 
on public transit is a great start. We need high-quality masks 
available more widely and help enforcing mask requirements and 
making sure buses are not overcrowded. ATU joins APTA in urging 
Congress to provide an additional $39.3 billion in relief to 
help keep systems running and buy PPE. We strongly support 
hazard pay for transit workers in the next COVID bill. Our 
members are heroes, but we get treated like zeroes at the 
bargaining table. It is not right.
    Finally, the CARES Act required employers to offer 2 weeks 
of paid sick leave to anyone who got sick with COVID or had to 
quarantine because they had been exposed. That expired in 2020. 
Congress needs to restore this. Nowadays, getting behind the 
wheel of a bus or working at a maintenance shop when you are 
not feeling well can have deadly consequences for so many 
people.
    In conclusion, COVID has shown the world the true meaning 
of essential workers. Since the pandemic began, transit workers 
have put their lives on the line, bravely reporting to work 
every day. With continued operations funding, commonsense 
safety measures, and a seat at the table for the workers to 
express their concerns, we can work our way through these 
challenges together. Thank you very much.
    [Mr. Rivera's prepared statement follows:]

                                 
 Prepared Statement of Ismael Rivera, Bus Operator, Lynx, and Member, 
         Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1596, Orlando, Florida
                              Introduction
    Chairman DeFazio, Ranking Member Graves, and Members of the 
Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on protecting 
transportation workers and passengers from COVID. I look forward to 
providing information on gaps in safety, lessons learned and next 
steps. My name is Ismael Rivera. I've been a transit worker since 1997. 
I began driving a bus for the NY MTA in Brooklyn and then up in Harlem, 
and came down here to Lynx in Orlando 17 years ago, where I am a proud 
member of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1596.
                           Saving Jobs, Lives
    Led by International President John Costa, ATU has taken 
extraordinary steps since the beginning of this pandemic to keep 
transit workers and passengers safe and save the jobs of our members 
nationwide. Early on, ATU developed a list of demands for transit 
systems regarding the safe provision of service. These recommendations 
included, but were not limited to, gloves, masks (for both workers and 
passengers), protective barriers, pandemic leave, rear door entry, on-
site testing, and other critical measures. The International also 
partnered with transit agencies in 2020 to secure $39 billion in 
federal funding to save the industry and provide the resources to 
purchase critical personal protective equipment (PPE). In fact, at the 
height of the PPE shortage in the spring, it was our union that in many 
locations stepped up and helped the transit systems acquire life-saving 
gloves and masks. ATU International also launched a mass education 
campaign to ensure our members know their right to refuse to work when 
confronted with an imminent hazardous safety or security condition, as 
protected under the National Transit Systems Security Act, the Surface 
Transportation Assistance Act of 1982, the federal Occupational Safety 
and Health Act, and National Labor Relations Act.
                             Dangerous Job
    Driving a bus has always been a tough job, even before the 
coronavirus. Bus drivers get attacked on moving vehicles regularly. 
People don't like paying fares or being told about regulations, and 
they get angry about service issues, so they often take out their 
frustrations on the drivers. ATU members all across the country have 
been viciously assaulted. With no barriers to protect us, we are 
sitting ducks. I was attacked back in New York.
    Now, we are being attacked by an invisible enemy. Our members drive 
everyday not knowing who's at each stop, or who they've been in contact 
with. Each time a passenger coughs just a few feet behind us, the 
drivers' hands grip the wheel a bit tighter, as we know that we are in 
a potential death trap, driving down the road in a tin can with bad air 
circulation. Throughout the U.S. and Canada, 124 ATU members have died 
due to coronavirus and thousands of transit workers have been infected.
                            The Mask Police
    In addition to driving a bus, ATU members also now serve as the 
``mask police.'' Far too often during these politically charged times, 
we have been brutally attacked for simply enforcing the rules and 
trying to stop the spread of the virus.
    A baseball bat beating in California, a two-by-four attack in 
Texas, and a bone-breaking sucker punch in New York are just a few 
violent incidents that underscore another danger for transit workers in 
a coronavirus world--and they all happened in one month. Since the 
pandemic began, there have been hundreds of COVID-related violent 
encounters between bus drivers and angry passengers who refuse to wear 
masks or follow social distancing protocols.
    At the beginning of the pandemic, transit systems were boarding 
from the back and waving fares. But regular fare collection and front 
door boarding resumed again in the summer, bringing passengers and 
drivers within a few feet of one another, exposing us to the virus and 
angry people.
    When someone boards one of our buses without a mask, we are faced 
with a tough choice: say nothing and risk that an infected rider will 
spread the virus, or tell the passenger to put on a mask and risk a 
violent reaction. When you confront someone, it can escalate quickly. 
He could spit on you, he could throw something at you, or he could hurt 
another passenger. But what if that person is sick and contaminates 
everyone on this bus? And you could have prevented that?
    Last May, a St. Louis man boarded a bus without a mask. After the 
female driver informed him that he could only ride the bus with a face 
covering on, the man fired a 9 mm pistol at the driver. She was saved 
only by the polycarbonate shields that were installed as part of the 
COVID response. In Austin, TX, a man threatened a bus driver with 
broken scissors after being told to wear a mask. In Springfield, MA, a 
PVTA bus driver was assaulted after asking a passenger to wear a face 
covering. The suspect punched the woman driver in the back of the head 
and then assaulted another person who tried to help. Knoxville, TN 
police arrested a man after he threatened a bus driver with a box 
cutter after she asked him to put on a face mask before boarding. In 
Staten Island, NY, a man was arrested on assault charges for throwing 
hot coffee onto an MTA bus driver's face when he was asked to put on a 
face covering.
    In Boston, a teenager recently attacked an MBTA bus driver after he 
was asked to put a mask on or get off the bus. He then began coughing 
on the driver, claiming he had COVID and attacked the driver with a 
block that's put under the bus wheels when it is parked. Here in 
Florida, a homeless woman recently boarded a Miami bus and began 
coughing on passengers. The driver told her she needed to wear a mask. 
The woman then spat on the driver. Coughing on someone is not a 
laughing matter. When the pandemic first began back in March, ATU 
Member Jason Hargrove, from Detroit, posted a Facebook Live video 
complaining about one of his passengers who was openly coughing several 
times on his bus without covering her mouth. Eleven days later, Jason 
died of COVID-19. Jason loved his job and was proud to do it. He was 
always concerned about his passengers. He suffered too, as his 
temperature soared, his fingertips turned blue, and he couldn't 
breathe.
    Once a passenger gets on the bus with a mask, it's just the 
beginning for me. While driving down the road, I am constantly checking 
the mirror, making sure that riders are keeping their masks on. They 
often pull the face coverings off, and that's when the real tension 
begins. I'm a bus driver, not a police officer. I do not need political 
debates on board my vehicle, but that's the way things are right now. 
When people don't listen, we need to call in the issue to the company 
so they can send help.
                     Driving a Bus in a COVID World
    We are frontline workers. That does not change, virus or no virus. 
Our job is to make sure that people can get where they need to go--the 
doctor, the pharmacy, the grocery store--safely. All of this has become 
quite challenging during the pandemic.
    Social distancing on a bus is extremely hard to do. In Orlando, we 
have been told to limit our capacity to 15 passengers on a 40 foot bus, 
although the agency gives us the discretion to allow a few more riders. 
My route includes our local Home Depot, where day workers gather each 
day looking for work. I make sure they get where they need to go. But 
if I reach the maximum and come to a stop where people want to board, 
they have to wait for the next bus. Passengers are allowed in the front 
row, which is too close for comfort for many of us, and we are once 
again collecting fares.
    In some cities, passengers are provided with masks if they do not 
have one, but our members often drive in the inner cities where 
homeless people are currently boarding the buses for free, and boxes of 
masks on the vehicle usually disappear quickly. My employer, Lynx, 
gives us four masks per shift for passengers who do not have one, and 
we hit the road hoping that is sufficient.
    We come in early, not to use the company gym, which is closed, but 
to complete the COVID pre-shift tasks, grabbing the spray bottle and 
wiping down the vehicles, especially the driver shields that have been 
installed since the pandemic started. Our shields are better than 
nothing, but still leave a gap exposing us to attacks.
    As always, we must still touch wheelchairs to help disabled riders 
get on board, secure their wheelchairs, and help them exit. Anywhere we 
touch, the surface gets wiped down.
    By my count, about 20 workers at Lynx have been infected with the 
coronavirus, including myself. We do have contact tracing--if one of us 
comes down with the virus, people who have come into contact with the 
person are told to stay home for ten days.
    Federal vaccine recommendations give priority, in the second tier, 
to grocery store employees, transit workers and other front-line 
workers, along with people age 75 and older. Unfortunately, Florida 
officials are not following those guidelines. So despite our high risk, 
we wait for the shot, putting our lives on the line every day.
                          Bus Air Flow Issues
    It's no surprise that nationwide, thousands of transit workers have 
already tested positive for COVID, and hundreds have died. The buses we 
drive have major issues with air flow, air sterilization, and filters. 
When a bus is moving forward, it creates reversed airflow in the cabin, 
bringing unhealthy air into the driver's workstation. The buses have 
dangerous airflow with recycled and very poorly filtered air. Some 
jurisdictions have tried temporary measures, such as hanging shower 
curtains near the driver and separating us from the passengers, but 
transit worker deaths are still piling up.
                         Federal Action Needed
    The original CDC interim guidance for reopening public transit took 
into consideration many of the ATU's demands regarding social 
distancing, PPE, contact tracing, and several other protective measures 
for transit workers. But the previous administration watered down the 
CDC guidance, seriously scaling back or completely removing specific 
recommendations for transit systems:
      No specific guidance on necessary PPE;
      Lack of recommendations for testing transit workers and 
performing contact tracing;
      No guidance for strategic continuation of service to 
reduce overcrowding;
      Failure to offer specific guidance for effective 
sanitation and filtration of HVAC systems on transit vehicles;
      Scaled back recommendations for waiting to allow for air 
exchange before cleaning possibly contaminated work areas;
      Removed examples of physical barriers and partitions as 
effective measures to enforce social distancing and correct air flow 
recirculation issues; and
      Watered down protocols for responding to cases of 
potentially infected workers.

    We look forward to working with the new leadership at the Federal 
Transit Administration (FTA) to put these ideas into practice at the 
local level for the safety of the passengers and workers. Although the 
previous administration had recommended transit agencies make policies 
regarding facial coverings to reduce the risk of COVID, it stopped 
short of a mandate. FTA needs to use its safety authority in this area 
as soon as possible. President Biden's action on Day One requiring 
masks on public transit is a great start. Right off the bat, transit 
workers need high-quality masks available more widely, and as discussed 
above, we need to get help with new duties, such as enforcing mask 
requirements and making sure buses are not overcrowded.
                       The Next COVID Relief Bill
    We are of course incredibly grateful to the U.S. Congress for 
providing the resources necessary for the transit industry to survive 
the public health crisis. The $25 billion in emergency operating aid 
from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and 
the recent $14 billion in the Coronavirus Response and Relief 
Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 (CRRSAA) have preserved 
essential service for the millions of people who rely on transit and 
kept hundreds of thousands of transit workers off the unemployment line 
during these very difficult times.
    However, even if the vaccine rollout improves drastically in the 
first half of this year and our economy comes back to life, transit 
will still be in need of emergency operating aid for the foreseeable 
future. Dedicated sales taxes from bars and restaurants have dried up, 
leaving the agencies with no local transit operating assistance. Choice 
riders are understandably hesitant to get back on transit vehicles due 
to safety concerns. It will likely take years for ridership levels and 
fare box revenue to recover, and we will need significant levels of 
federal operating aid to survive. As highlighted by the American Public 
Transportation Association (APTA), an independent economic analysis 
found that public transit agencies face a projected funding shortfall 
of nearly $40 billion through 2023. We therefore urge Congress to 
provide an additional $39.3 billion in emergency funding to help public 
transit agencies provide safe, reliable service as they continue to 
grapple with the financial burden caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. All 
transit systems have been hit hard by this pandemic, and ATU calls on 
Congress to ensure that the next bill provides funding for all FTA 
grantees. The December bill, with its formula providing up to 75% of 
2018 operating costs between the CRRSAA and the CARES Act, did not 
result in distributing funding to every system.
    ATU also strongly supports pandemic premium (hazard) pay for 
essential workers (including public transit workers) in the next COVID-
19 legislation. The dictionary defines a ``hero'' as ``a person noted 
for courageous acts or nobility of character.'' Long before the 
coronavirus, transit workers, the eyes and ears of our communities, 
have been routinely performing heroic acts that impact all of us, 
whether you ride transit or not, like providing CPR to a taxi driver, 
saving a six year old boy with disabilities wandering through a busy 
intersection, or preventing a woman from jumping off of a bridge. Now, 
of course, ATU members and other essential workers are considered 
heroes for simply reporting to work each day. Our members are getting 
sick at a rate that is much higher than the general population because 
we are continuously exposed to large crowds of transit-dependent riders 
at close range, often times without the necessary PPE to keep us safe. 
There are safer and easier ways to earn about $25 per hour. The least 
we can do as a nation to recognize the sacrifices that transit workers 
and their families have made and will continue to make during this 
health crisis is to provide us with pandemic premium pay. While transit 
workers are rightfully being called ``heroes'' during these horrific 
times, we are finding that when we return to the bargaining table, we 
are being cast away as ``zeroes.''
    Finally, the CARES Act required employers to offer two weeks of 
paid sick leave to anyone who got sick with COVID or had to quarantine 
because they'd been exposed, and up to 12 weeks of partially-paid 
family and medical leave for parents who had to stay home with a child 
whose school or daycare closed. But that mandate, which applied to 
companies with between 50 and 500 employees, expired at the end of 
2020, and Congress did not extend it when it passed the CRRSAA. It is 
critical that Congress restores these provisions. Even before the 
pandemic, the lack of sick leave has always been a major issue for 
frontline workers, including transit employees, struggling to make ends 
meet. It's one thing to report to work with a common cold. Nowadays, 
getting behind the wheel of a bus or working in the maintenance shop 
when you are not feeling well can have deadly consequences for so many 
people, including coworkers, passengers, and their families. If you are 
sick, you should not have to feel the pressure to come to work because 
your paycheck is in jeopardy.
                               Conclusion
    The coronavirus has shown the world the true meaning of 
``essential'' workers. We are the ones who people rely upon to survive 
when everything around us shuts down. Since the pandemic began, transit 
workers have put their own lives on the line, bravely reporting to work 
every day, driving riders in our communities to the doctor, the grocery 
store, and the pharmacy. We make sure that nurses and other hospital 
workers get to their jobs to care of our family members and friends who 
are suffering. With continued adequate operations funding, a stronger 
federal role in the enforcement of common sense safety measures, and a 
seat at the table for workers to express their COVID concerns, we can 
work our way through these challenges together and live to see brighter 
days ahead.

    Mr. DeFazio. Thank you.
    We now move to Professor Bahnfleth.
    Mr. Bahnfleth. Thank you, Chairman DeFazio and Ranking 
Member Graves, for the opportunity to address the committee 
today. I am testifying on behalf of ASHRAE, a professional and 
technical society of more than 55,000 individual members 
dedicated to advancing the arts and sciences of heating, 
refrigerating, air conditioning, and aligned fields. The 
president of ASHRAE, Charles Gulledge, extends his thanks for 
your investigation of this important subject and offers 
ASHRAE's continued technical support.
    I chair the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force, which was formed to 
develop the guidance for space conditioning systems needed to 
make indoor environments as safe as possible during the 
pandemic. Task force members are volunteer experts who 
specialize in making indoor environments safer and healthier. 
ASHRAE guidance standards and other resources are science-based 
and free from commercial interests. The task force has produced 
hundreds of pages of widely referenced guidance materials based 
on current understanding of infection transmission and control, 
including recommendations specific to transportation systems.
    COVID-19 is believed to transmit by three modes.
    Short-range droplet transmission that occurs when an 
infected person and a susceptible one are close together. 
Public health authorities have long held this is the most 
important mode.
    Fomite transmission that occurs when an infected person 
contaminates an intermediate object that has been touched by a 
susceptible person who infects themselves. There is little 
evidence that this is a common mode of transmission.
    Airborne transmission resulting from the inhalation of fine 
particles small enough to remain airborne for long periods of 
time that can move far from their source is the third mode. The 
perceived importance of airborne transmission has grown 
substantially over the course of the pandemic.
    Each mode has specific controls: distancing and masks for 
short-range transmission, cleaning and personal hygiene for 
fomite transmission, and HVAC engineering controls for airborne 
transmission, ventilation, air distribution, filtration, and 
air cleaners. Masks also help control airborne transmission by 
reducing aerosol emissions from infected persons.
    How do these fundamentals apply to the protection of 
transportation workers and passengers?
    First, public health guidance should be followed. 
Distancing, hygiene, and indoor mask use are critically 
important. Secondly, mobile environments, such as aircraft, 
ships, cars, buses, and trains, are indoor environments 
provided with some level of HVAC system. The same engineering 
controls apply to buildings also apply generally to mobile 
environments.
    With respect to engineering controls, ASHRAE's primary 
recommendations are: provide at least required full occupancy 
ventilation whenever people are present, including janitorial 
and maintenance crews; use filters for recirculated air that 
remove infectious particles efficiently. If necessary, 
supplement ventilation and filtration with air cleaners 
demonstrated to be effective and safe. Combine ventilation and 
filtration and air cleaners to meet risk reduction targets 
while minimizing energy use and cost. Avoid indoor air flows 
that can extend short-range transmission by large droplets. 
Prevent reentry of contaminated air. And, finally, commission 
systems to verify that they are functioning as designed. This 
can improve protection and reduce energy use.
    Transportation HVAC systems vary widely in terms of the 
levels of ventilation and filtration they provide, as others 
have already noted. Aircraft have highly maintained systems 
that provide large air change rates and utilize high-efficiency 
filters. The age, condition, and air quality controls of buses 
and trains, however, cover a wide range and may present 
significant risk to passengers and workers alike. Ships may 
have good HVAC systems but space layouts that make distancing 
difficult.
    Plus, it is hard to generalize, but what is generally true 
is that there is non-negligible potential for COVID-19 
transmission on all modes of transport. Published studies of 
COVID-19 outbreaks document, among others, that a 10-hour 
flight carrying 217 travelers resulted in 14 infections; a 7\1/
2\-hour flight, only 17 percent full, that yielded 13 cases 
among 49 passengers; a 100-minute trip in a poorly ventilated 
bus on which 24 of 68 passengers were infected by a single 
person; and an ocean cruise on which 712 of 3,711 passengers 
and crewmembers contracted COVID-19.
    For the safety of those who must travel and those whose 
work is supporting travel, the ventilation and filtration 
capabilities of mobile environments, as well as related 
stationary facilities, should be evaluated and updated as 
necessary. Post-pandemic, consideration of significant design 
changes for new systems may be warranted. Some technologies 
needed to make future transportation safer are available now, 
but there are also many opportunities and needs for applied 
research to improve system design.
    ASHRAE is committed to support this effort, helping to 
ensure that the safest possible conditions are provided for all 
who need and want to travel today and in the future.
    I appreciate the committee's attention. I will be happy to 
answer your questions. Thank you.
    [Mr. Bahnfleth's prepared statement follows:]

                                 
   Prepared Statement of William P. Bahnfleth, Ph.D., P.E., FASHRAE, 
FASME, FISIAQ, Professor of Architectural Engineering, The Pennsylvania 
  State University, testifying on behalf of his role as Chair, ASHRAE 
                          Epidemic Task Force
    Thank you for the opportunity to address the committee today. I 
appreciate that Chairman DeFazio and Ranking Member Graves recognize 
the importance of transportation worker and passenger safety as the 
COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten health and life worldwide. I 
also want to thank the leadership of this committee for their foresight 
in holding a hearing on this topic last summer when few imagined that 
the worst days of the pandemic lay ahead. Today, COVID continues to 
take a terrible toll, so it is more important than ever to understand 
the tools available to us to reduce risk of disease transmission in 
aircraft, ships, trains, and buses, as well as the stationary 
facilities that support transportation. The lessons of this 
unprecedented public health crisis must be applied upon now to reduce 
case numbers and save lives, and absorbed so we will be better prepared 
to confront future epidemics that threaten our lives and livelihoods.
    I am testifying today on behalf of ASHRAE, a professional and 
technical society made up of more than 55,000 individual members 
founded in 1894. The President of ASHRAE, Charles Gulledge, also wants 
to extend his thanks for your investigation of this important subject. 
He asked me to share his message: ``Protecting the transportation 
workforce and passengers, many of whom are essential workers, is 
critical for all of us, as those traveling can rapidly spread the 
coronavirus over large distances. I am delighted that you have called 
upon the Chair of ASHRAE's Epidemic Task Force who is one of the 
leading experts in this field. On behalf of the entire ASHRAE 
organization, we offer continued technical support to your committee as 
you work on policies and legislation to make transportation systems 
safer and healthier.''
    In response to the pandemic, ASHRAE formed an Epidemic Task Force 
last March, which I was appointed to chair. The Task Force is comprised 
of volunteer members who are experts in the fields of air conditioning, 
ventilation, filtration and air cleaning. It includes practitioners as 
well as researchers and academics like myself who have focused their 
careers on making indoor environments safer and healthier. Importantly, 
as part of ASHRAE, the task force like all activities at ASHRAE, is 
free from commercial interests. Our guidance, standards, and other 
resources are based on science and consensus. The Task Force has 
produced hundreds of pages of guidance materials, conducted more than a 
hundred instructional webinars and courses, held briefings for policy 
makers, and developed summaries of this guidance that can be more 
accessible to the general public.
    ASHRAE's Epidemic Task Force has produced a 43-page guidance 
document specific to transportation systems (Attachment A). This 
guidance is based on current understanding of how COVID-19 is 
transmitted and on the principles of infection controls applicable to 
indoor environments generally, which includes mobile environments such 
as cars, trains, buses, aircraft, and ships. I will begin by reviewing 
those foundational considerations and then relate them to the 
transportation applications.
    According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC) as well as other public health authorities such as the World 
Health Organization (WHO), COVID-19 transmission is believed to be 
possible through three modes:
      Short range ``droplet'' transmission that occurs when an 
infected person and a susceptible one are sufficiently close together 
that large virus-containing droplets emitted by the infector through 
activities such as breathing, speaking, talking, coughing, and sneezing 
land in the eyes, nose, or mouth of the susceptible person. This mode 
of transmission is addressed by social distancing and use of masks, 
which limits the distance that infectious droplets travel and also the 
quantity of droplets. It should be noted that while the customary 
guideline in use for distancing is six feet, it has been shown 
experimentally that a sneeze may project a cloud of infectious droplets 
more than 25 ft from the source in still air. Air currents in an indoor 
environment may carry these infectious clouds over even larger 
distances. There is strong evidence for droplet transmission.
      Intermediate surface or ``fomite'' transmission that 
occurs when an infected person contaminates a surface that is touched 
by a susceptible person who infects themselves by touching their eyes, 
nose, or mouth. Fomite transmission is controlled primarily by personal 
hygiene, i.e., not coughing or sneezing into one's hands, regular hand 
washing, and not touching the face, and by disinfection of surfaces, 
especially high touch surfaces like door handles. While still deemed 
possible, the perceived importance of fomite transmission has decreased 
over the course of the pandemic and there is little evidence that it is 
a significant mode of transmission.
      Airborne transmission resulting from the inhalation of 
infectious aerosols, the particles produced by drying of respiratory 
droplets that are sufficiently small to remain airborne for long 
periods of time and to become distributed throughout an indoor 
environment. Airborne transmission has been divided by some into short 
range and long range airborne transmission, as aerosols are always 
present even within the range associated with droplet transmission and 
may contribute significantly to risk within the 6 ft distancing radius.
         Airborne transmission risk is controlled by ``engineering 
controls'' associated with heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning 
(HVAC) systems, including dilution with outdoor air, exhaust of 
contaminated air at its source, control of indoor air flows, filtration 
to remove infectious particles from the air, and air cleaners that 
capture or destroy infectious particles. Risk is also reduced through 
the use of masks, which reduce the amount of infectious material 
emitted into the air as well as the amount inhaled by a susceptible 
person. The focus of ASHRAE's COVID-19 guidance is mitigation of 
airborne infection risk, but within the context of a layered infection 
control strategy that addresses all significant modes of transmission.
         Early in the pandemic, WHO, CDC, and other health authorities 
were highly skeptical of the significance--or even possibility--of 
airborne transmission. Based on evidence of airborne transmission at 
the time, ASHRAE and some other organizations concluded that while 
definitive proof might not yet be available, there was sufficient 
reason to suspect airborne transmission that it should develop guidance 
to prevent it. Over time, the potential for airborne transmission 
became clearer and, since October of last year, however, both WHO and 
CDC have recognized that it can occur under certain circumstances and 
now recommend taking precautions against it. An important 
characteristic of airborne transmission is that it is proportional to 
airborne concentration of infectious particles, duration of exposure of 
susceptible persons, and the type of activities taking place. For 
example, an infected person exercising in a fitness center will shed 
infectious droplets at a higher rate than a sedentary individual and 
susceptible exercisers will inhale droplets at a faster rate.

    These modes of infection may occur in any type of indoor 
environment, but the extent of the risk represented by each mode and 
the extent to which it can be mitigated varies with the characteristics 
of a particular environment.
    ASHRAE's COVID-19 guidance currently addresses nine different 
facility types: residential, multifamily, healthcare, residential 
healthcare, commercial, communities of faith, school and university, 
laboratory, and transportation. Additional guidance is under 
development. The recommendations for each of these indoor environment 
types involve applications of the same engineering controls in ways 
appropriate to the specific indoor environment.
      Ventilation with outdoor air. Outdoor air is normally 
free of indoor pathogens, particularly viruses, which do not survive 
well outside the body. Outdoor air is mixed with indoor air, diluting 
viral aerosol it may contain and replacing potentially contaminated air 
that is exhausted at an equal rate. Ventilation is the most fundamental 
control for control of all contaminants. For buildings, a minimum 
amount of ventilation based on the type of use, number of occupants, 
and floor area is generally required by codes that are based on ASHRAE 
Standard 62.1 for non-residential buildings, Standard 62.2 for 
residential buildings, and Standard 170 for healthcare facilities. For 
non-healthcare facilities, the minimum ventilation requirement 
specified in the standard is not sufficient to provide a high degree of 
protection from airborne transmission.
      Air distribution. Air movement in indoor spaces can have 
positive and negative impacts on infection risk. Poor circulation of 
air in a space can result in poor removal of contaminants by 
ventilation. High velocity currents of air created by HVAC systems can 
create risk of extended droplet transmission. However, directional 
airflow can also be used to efficiently remove contaminants when the 
location of the source is known, for example, when an infected patient 
is in bed in a hospital patient room.
      Filtration. The filters used to remove particles from 
indoor air are typically composed of densely matted fibers. A range of 
filter efficiencies are available. The MERV rating system established 
by ASHRAE Standard 52.2-2017 is most commonly used for filters found in 
HVAC systems. MERV ratings range from 1-16 with higher numbers 
representing filters that are more efficient, particularly for small 
particles in the size range associated with respiratory aerosols. 
Current minimum filter efficiency requirements in ASHRAE Standards 62.1 
and 62.2 are MERV 8 and MERV 6, neither of which removes fine particles 
with high efficiency. As in the case of minimum ventilation rates, 
minimum filtration requirements do not provide much protection against 
airborne transmission.
      Air cleaners. A large number of technologies are 
available that disinfect air via different process. This includes many 
for which the evidence for efficacy and safety is lacking. If 
effective, air cleaners can be adjuncts to ventilation and filtration. 
The best established technology currently is disinfection with 
germicidal ultraviolet light, which can be applied in a number of 
different ways, both inside occupied spaces and in HVAC systems.

    ASHRAE's Core Recommendations for Reducing Airborne Infectious 
Aerosol Exposure (Attachment B) summarize guidance for HVAC system 
design and operation changes to reduce risk of COVID-19 transmission. 
The recommendations address the following key points:
      Public health guidance should be followed. Social 
distancing and good hygiene help reduce droplet and fomite risk and 
indoor mask use in public spaces during the pandemic reduces both short 
and long distance exposure.
      Minimum levels of ventilation and filtration should be 
maintained and may be exceeded if necessary to achieve desired levels 
of exposure reduction. Code minimum ventilation and MERV 13 or better 
filter efficiency should be viewed as baseline requirements that may 
not be sufficient. A requirement to increase outdoor air is not needed 
if exposure can be reduced sufficiently by other controls.
      Air cleaners may be used as a supplement to minimum 
ventilation and filtration to achieve risk targets. Only those 
demonstrated to be safe and effective should be used.
      Ventilation, filtration, and air cleaners may be combined 
to achieve exposure reduction goals while minimizing energy use. The 
energy cost of increased outdoor air flow, which must be brought to the 
indoor temperature, can be significant and a disincentive to increase 
protection. Filters and air cleaners can also reduce the amount of 
active virus in the air and may be able to do it with lower energy use 
and operating cost.
      Unless a directional airflow strategy is applicable, air 
distribution should not create strong air currents in the occupied part 
of a space that can blow large droplets from person to person and 
should thoroughly mix the air in a space. As noted previously the range 
of droplet transmission can be extended by high velocity air flows. 
Some studies of ventilation in healthcare facilities have found that in 
many cases good mixing of room air results in lower exposure than 
stratified air distribution.
      Ventilation systems should operate whenever occupants are 
present and outdoor air flow should not be reduced from its design 
values. Systems should remain in operation when, for example, 
janitorial or maintenance crews are present. Demand controlled 
ventilation, which reduces outdoor air flow in proportion to the number 
of people in a space, should not be used because it slows the removal 
of infectious particles and increases their concentration in the air.
      Re-entry of potentially contaminated air should be 
limited to safe values. Infections may be transmitted by recirculation 
of exhaust air in some types of energy recovery devices, placement of 
exhausts too close to outdoor air intakes, and by unintentional air 
flows through plumbing and ventilation shafts. Unintentional airflows 
were identified as the cause of outbreaks during the SARS epidemic. 
Recent investigations indicate that COVID-19 can be transmitted in this 
way.
      Systems should be commissioned to verify that they are 
functioning as designed. Many existing HVAC systems are not properly 
maintained and, as a result, use more energy than necessary and may not 
provide good control of indoor air quality.

    Further, in assessing risk related to transportation, an end to end 
approach should be taken that includes the entire trip, not only, for 
example, time spent on an airplane. An air traveler may take a train to 
the airport, then spend time in the terminal prior to boarding and, 
after arrival must again move through the terminal and may again use 
public transportation to reach their destination. Any of these steps in 
the process may be the cause of transmission.
    Ground facilities associated with transportation, including 
terminals, stations, hangars, garages, barns, and business offices have 
much in common with facility types for which extensive guidance is 
already available from ASHRAE and others. It should be possible to 
apply effective airborne protections to such facilities. A primary 
concern for public facilities such as terminals is the combination of 
large transient populations passing through them and the difficulty of 
maintaining distancing and of keeping the many high touch surfaces 
disinfected.
    Although they are not stationary, aircraft, ships, cars, buses, and 
trains are, nevertheless, indoor environments typically provided with 
some level of HVAC system. Therefore, the same engineering controls 
applied to buildings potentially can be applied to them. However, they 
are by no means simply small moving buildings. Aircraft, ships, cars, 
buses, and trains are all relatively small enclosed volumes in which 
the density of people is ordinarily much higher than in buildings. This 
density inherently increases the risk of short range transmission and 
it is difficult, if not impossible, to isolate passengers and workers 
in some cases, for example, in taxis. Ships, particularly cruise ships, 
bear more resemblance to land facilities but still provide many 
opportunities for close contact and fomite transmission.
    Transportation HVAC systems vary greatly in terms of the levels of 
ventilation and filtration they provide. Aircraft HVAC utilizes high 
recirculation rates through very efficient (HEPA) filters to greatly 
reduce airborne transmission risk, and aircraft maintenance is 
typically very thorough. There is a much wider range of conditions in 
trains and buses. Ventilation rates are likely to be low, and filter 
efficiencies not sufficient to provide good control of infectious 
aerosols. Ability to provide protected environments for workers that 
are isolated from the passenger environment also vary. Bus and taxi 
drivers, in particular, are exposed to the same environment as 
passengers in an enclosed environment that may not be well ventilated. 
HVAC systems on ships may be more like those in buildings with respect 
to ventilation and filtration, but the layout of ships can make 
distancing difficult. These differences affect the requirements for, 
and even the feasibility of making substantial reductions in risk. In 
some cases, control options are limited by security concerns, for 
example the risk of fire from malfunctioning electronic air cleaning 
devices in buses.
    Numerous case studies have been published investigating the 
transmission of COVID-19 during the current pandemic, mostly focused on 
aircraft, cruise ships, and buses. Similar studies in the past have 
investigated transmission of SARS and other diseases, particularly 
influenza. A few examples will serve to illustrate typical findings. 
Even in the highly ventilated, HEPA filtered environment of aircraft, 
transmission of COVID-19 has been observed during long-haul flights. In 
general, infections traced to travel tend to be passengers or workers 
who are in proximity to the index patient. For example, during a 
roughly 10-hour flight from London to Hanoi carrying 217 travelers that 
resulted in 14 infections among passengers and one among crew members, 
12 of the infected were in the business class cabin where the index 
patient was located (Khanh, et al. 2020). Significant outbreaks have 
been associated with even sparsely occupied planes, as in the case of a 
flight to Ireland that yielded 13 in-flight cases--12 passengers and 
one crew member--even though it was only at 17% capacity with 49 of 283 
seats filled (Murphy, et al. 2020). In this case, there were several 
groups of infected travelers in adjacent seats. While these incidents 
suggest close contact transmission because of the clustering of cases, 
investigations of other incidents suggest airborne transmission. For 
example, during a 100 minute round-trip by bus to a religious event, 24 
of 68 passengers were infected by a single index patient. The air 
conditioning system on the bus was in recirculation mode during the 
trip, i.e., no outdoor air was being brought in to dilute air 
contaminants (Shen, et al. 2020). In the case of the Diamond Princess 
Cruise ship incident, in which 712 of 3711 passengers and crew members 
contracted COVID-19, one analysis of infection data concluded that long 
range aerosol transmission accounted for most of the cases, even though 
the HVAC system on the ship was not recirculating air, while a second 
implicated close contact (Xu, et al. 2020).
    Like most buildings, our means of transportation have not been 
designed to protect us from the risk of airborne infection. Aircraft, 
with their well-maintained systems that provide good ventilation and 
filtration of air still have proved vulnerable to infection 
transmission because of passenger density and the long duration of some 
flights. Other transportation modes provide greater opportunities to 
transmit disease to passengers and workers because of their designs 
that provide only modest ventilation and filtration and that may not be 
subject to the stringent maintenance requirements of aircraft. The 
COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the extent of these limitations as 
documented in forensic studies of transportation-related outbreaks. For 
the present, the best way to minimize infection risk related to travel 
remains to do so only when necessary and, even then, by observing all 
recommended safety and hygiene measures, particularly distancing and 
use of masks.
    For the safety of those who must travel, it may be possible to 
upgrade the HVAC systems of some modes of transportation by improving 
ventilation, increasing filter efficiency and adding air cleaning 
technologies where applicable. However, as noted previously, there are 
limitations to the kind and extent of upgrades. This lesson--that risk 
can be significant and that our transportation systems currently may 
not provide the desired level of protection to workers and passengers, 
should be reflected in the design of future trains, buses, automobiles 
and ships. Improvements could include the obvious measures of 
increasing ventilation rates and filter efficiencies as well as making 
use of emerging air cleaner technologies. Some of the technologies we 
need are available now, but there are many opportunities for applied 
research to improve system design. For the safety of workers, providing 
isolated, clean environments for workers is also important, given the 
higher level of risk they experience due to spending a much greater 
amount of their time exposed to the risks inherent in transportation. 
Clear instructions to passengers regarding safe travel practices that 
are enforced is also a way to make existing transportation system safer 
while new and better protected fleets are developing. Given the rate at 
which vaccines for COVID-19 are being deployed, follow through in 
addressing all of these needs is essential. ASHRAE is committed, within 
its sphere of expertise, to helping ensure that the safest possible 
conditions are provided for all who need and want to travel, today and 
in the future.
    I appreciate the committee's desire to investigate this important 
topic and your consideration of my testimony. Protecting transportation 
workers and passengers is vital, especially for essential workers and 
those with critical needs such as doctor appointments. I hope my 
perspective focused on the built environment and HVAC systems proves 
useful, and I look forward to answering your questions. I also would be 
happy to provide any additional technical assistance from ASHRAE's 
Epidemic Task Force to advance the work of this committee. Thank you.
                               references
Azimi, P., Keshavarz, Z., Laurent, J.G.C., Stephens, B.R. and Allen, 
J.G., 2020. Mechanistic transmission modeling of COVID-19 on the 
Diamond Princess cruise ship demonstrates the importance of aerosol 
transmission. medRxiv.

Khanh, N.C., Thai, P.Q., Quach, H.L., Thi, N.A.H., Dinh, P.C., Duong, 
T.N., Mai, L.T.Q., Nghia, N.D., Tu, T.A., Quang, L.N. and Dai Quang, 
T., 2020. Transmission of SARS-CoV 2 during long-haul flight. Emerging 
infectious diseases, 26(11), p.2617.

Murphy, N., Boland, M., Bambury, N., Fitzgerald, M., Comerford, L., 
Dever, N., O'Sullivan, M.B., Petty-Saphon, N., Kiernan, R., Jensen, M. 
and O'Connor, L., 2020. A large national outbreak of COVID-19 linked to 
air travel, Ireland, summer 2020. Eurosurveillance, 25(42), p.2001624.

Xu, P., Qian, H., Miao, T., Yen, H.L., Tan, H., Cowling, B.J. and Li, 
Y.J., 2020. Transmission routes of Covid-19 virus in the Diamond 
Princess Cruise ship. medRxiv.

Shen, Y., Li, C., Dong, H., Wang, Z., Martinez, L., Sun, Z., Handel, 
A., Chen, Z., Chen, E., Ebell, M.H. and Wang, F., 2020. Community 
outbreak investigation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission among bus riders in 
eastern China. JAMA internal medicine, 180(12), pp.1665-1671.
                              attachment a
         ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force Guidance on Transportation
    [The 43-page document is retained in committee files and is 
available online at https://www.ashrae.org/file%20library/
technical%20resources/covid-19/ashrae-transportation-c19-guidance.pdf.]
                              attachment b
ASHRAE's Core Recommendations for Reducing Airborne Infectious Aerosol 
                                Exposure
    [Attachment B is retained in committee files and is available 
online at https://www.ashrae.org/file%20library/technical%20resources/
covid-19/core-recommendations-for-reducing-airborne-infectious-aerosol-
exposure.pdf.]

    Mr. DeFazio. Thank you, Professor. Now Councilman Buscaino.
    Mr. Buscaino. Good morning, Chair DeFazio, Ranking Member 
Graves, and members of the committee. I am here today on behalf 
of the National League of Cities, the Nation's oldest and 
largest network of cities, towns, and villages across America.
    The Nation's cities are on the front lines of the COVID-19 
response, and it is clear that the health and economic crisis 
is not over. Together, Congress and America's city communities 
must keep up the pace this year to respond, recover, and 
rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic challenges 
that came with such a prolonged and devastating pandemic.
    Local governments and our essential employees have been 
organizing since the first cases of COVID-19 were reported. 
Whether it was mask-wearing policies, keeping essential workers 
and projects moving, or supporting local restaurants and 
businesses with sidewalk or street access, we have tried to 
tackle every challenge head on.
    Locals are working to keep essential services and workers 
moving during COVID-19, but it has created a ripple effect of 
shutdowns and devastating health impacts that has docked almost 
every budget line in our city. This year, local budgets 
nationally are facing a shortfall of at least $90 billion, and 
we have depleted our reserves throughout 2020 on COVID 
expenses, leaving little cushion.
    To balance budgets, it has cost the U.S. 1.3 million good 
Government jobs, including transportation workers. In Los 
Angeles alone, the city's budget is short by $600 million this 
year, which will wipe out our $259 million reserve savings. It 
also leaves us with an unpaid $75 million loan to ourselves 
from our public works trust fund, which must be repaid on July 
1st, per our city charter.
    Large cities like ours that were lucky enough to get CARES 
Act COVID relief funding have met needs quickly; 96 percent of 
L.A.'s CARES relief funding have been used. While many cities 
and towns had to wait for State or county allocation, they put 
their CRF funds to good use by getting PPE to essential city 
workers, helping small businesses, and providing housing relief 
to families.
    I want you to know, colleagues, that any relief Congress 
passes for cities will be used to continue to support our most 
valuable asset: our people. America's communities are proud to 
have a dedicated and resilient workforce of professional, 
essential workers who have kept everything running, especially 
those who are part of our national supply chain, like my family 
and friends and neighbors in my hometown community of San Pedro 
that work the docks at the Port of Los Angeles and those that 
provide transportation to our communities.
    Unfortunately, far too many have fallen ill or lost their 
lives, like my dear friend Eddie Greenwood. They protect others 
from the virus. Our dockworkers may be essential but shouldn't 
be sacrificial.
    We salute them as essential workers and this committee can 
honor their sacrifices by taking steps to protect them and 
their jobs. Most importantly, colleagues, we have to get 
essential supplies and vaccinations to essential workers. The 
COVID-19 spread to dockworkers at the Port of Los Angeles is 
concerning, and we have come close to having to shut down.
    Ten percent of our longshore workers are quarantined, while 
more than 30 ships are lined up waiting to unload all the goods 
Americans are ordering online and getting shipped to their 
doorstep. This is unheard of at our port complex.
    Port truckdrivers, the men and women who haul containers 
from our Nation's seaports to warehouses, distribution centers, 
and rail yards, are also essential workers, transporting the 
necessities like food and medical supplies, like PPE, to make 
sure that we all can survive this pandemic.
    But because they are misclassified as independent 
contractors, they don't receive sick leave and are not offered 
any protections to guard against the virus. This situation 
leaves drivers to fend for themselves against the pandemic, 
placing their lives at risk and threatening our supply chain 
that provides over 40 percent of goods to the country.
    It is clear a stronger connection is needed between FEMA 
declarations during a pandemic, DHS definitions of essential 
workers, and then access to PPE for our essential workers. We 
cannot have a Wild West PPE procurement strategy. From 
profiteering to seizures, it was a mess, and it cost us more. 
We must do better.
    Finally, the Federal Government can directly partner with 
local governments to support workers effectively. The National 
League of Cities recommends passing additional COVID relief, 
using a formula like the one in H.R. 199 by Representatives 
Delgado, Katko, and Zeldin, and keeping our transit moving.
    FEMA can be a more reliable partner, and we thank President 
Biden and FEMA for ensuring that COVID relief will be 100 
percent federally matched.
    We ask this committee to support our transportation workers 
across all modes by working with us and to help us bridge the 
last gap between now and substantial vaccine distribution. 
Members, colleagues, we must act with urgency, but we must all 
be prepared to tackle the important rebuilding that is ahead of 
us.
    Mr. Chairman, thank you, sir.
    [Mr. Buscaino's prepared statement follows:]

                                 
  Prepared Statement of Hon. Joe Buscaino, President Pro Tempore, Los 
 Angeles City Council, testifying on behalf of the National League of 
                                 Cities
    Good morning, Chair DeFazio, Ranking Member Graves and Members of 
the Committee:
    I am Joe Buscaino, President Pro Tempore of the Los Angeles, 
California, City Council, and I am here today on behalf of the National 
League of Cities (NLC), the nation's oldest and largest network of 
cities, towns, and villages across America. While I happen to represent 
one of the biggest cities in the U.S. with one of the nation's largest 
ports in my district's backyard, I am proud to serve alongside great 
elected city leaders from Lexington, SC; Union City, GA; Bozeman, MT; 
Easton, PA, and so many other cities and towns of all sizes across the 
country. NLC is the collective voice of every town in America working 
with Congress on local priorities, and we are proud to be a part of 
each and every one of your Districts. NLC looks forward to working with 
you to strengthen our federal programs and policies and providing 
innovative solutions that can serve all our communities in COVID-19 
relief and infrastructure legislation this year.
            Supporting Essential Workers in America's Cities
    The nation's cities are on the front lines of the COVID-19 
response, and it is clear that the health and economic crisis is not 
over. Together, Congress and America's communities must keep up the 
pace this year to respond, recover and rebuild from the COVID-19 
pandemic and the economic challenges that have arrived with such a 
prolonged and devastating pandemic. Local governments have been the 
first line of defense in responding and organizing against the virus 
since the first cases were reported. Whether it was mask wearing 
policies, keeping essential workers moving, or supporting local 
restaurants and businesses with sidewalk and street access, we have 
tried to tackle each challenge head on. But COVID-19 at the local level 
has not been one single challenge. The ripple effect of shutdowns and 
devastating health impacts has docked almost every budget line in our 
city. Even with our best efforts, we have already lost far too many 
friends, family members, and local workers to this pandemic. 
Vaccinations cannot come quickly enough for essential workers who must 
stay on the job like our transportation workers, police, firefighters, 
and many others.
    In my hometown of Los Angeles, we are doing everything we can to 
fight the rapid spread of the virus. My fellow city leaders across the 
nation also responded with urgency to protect the health of residents 
while also trying to keep as much of our essential businesses and 
services as open as possible. Yet, as we reach one year after the 
crisis began, Los Angeles has one of the highest concentration of cases 
in the country despite our efforts to combat COVID-19. To put this more 
starkly, one in every nine residents of L.A. County has tested 
positive. Now, we are reaching the end of our fiscal reserves, even 
while COVID cases surged in L.A. in the winter.
    To pay for the COVID response essentials and services, we have 
exhausted our budget and typically dependable revenues are off 
substantially. One clear and unavoidable example is the $92 million 
economic loss to Los Angeles' economy of a cancelled 2020 cruise season 
out of the Port, and the loss in 2021 may be equally severe. The City 
Administrative Officer has projected that General Fund revenues are 
likely to fall short of the 2020-21 Budget by $600 million. Closing 
this gap will deplete the entire $259 million Contingency Reserve 
Account and Budget Stabilization Funds, created in the wake of the last 
recession, by the end of the fiscal year. Compounding the problem, the 
City already borrowed $75 million from the Public Works Trust Fund, in 
order to meet immediate, emergency expenditures related to COVID, such 
as setting up the nation's largest testing site at Dodger Stadium and 
providing meal delivery for our seniors. This loan must be repaid by 
July 1, 2021, according to the City Charter. Congress chose not to 
include local aid in their December COVID response package, and we do 
not expect FEMA reimbursements before then. Your support in the next 
COVID package will make a difference as we continue to respond to every 
911 call, provide housing assistance programs like Project Room Key, 
and keep vaccine sites like Dodger Stadium running at full pace.
    Cities and towns of every size and in every state have reached out 
to Congress to tell you clearly--local budgets in the fiscal 2021 
budget year are short by at least $90 billion, and we have depleted our 
strategic reserves throughout 2020. Two-thirds of America's cities 
indicated in an NLC survey that they are delaying or completely 
cancelling capital outlays and infrastructure projects. Six out of ten 
cities are cancelling equipment purchases. Cities in the middle like 
Duluth, Minnesota, were projecting a $25 million budget hit to its $93 
million general fund, had to lay off over 50 workers and institute a 
hiring freeze. Kansas City, Missouri, now anticipates a $50-million 
deficit during this fiscal year despite freezes and cuts. Cities and 
towns have slashed programs, positions, and postponed local 
infrastructure projects, and the strain on keeping essential services 
and workers protected is nearing a breaking point. The U.S. has lost 
1.3 million jobs connected to local and state government in the last 
year, leaving many positions unfilled and many workers doing overtime 
to fill in the ranks.
    We need Congress to understand the urgency of the situation at home 
in our communities. Those cities like ours who were lucky enough to 
receive direct CARES Act funding have put that Congressional support to 
use swiftly and prudently. The City of Los Angeles has committed 96% of 
our Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF) to eligible tasks, programs, and 
equipment, and the remainder of the funds will soon be expended. Those 
smaller cities and counties who received a small portion of what their 
states shared are moving quickly to use it on personal protective 
equipment (PPE) and gaps in basic needs for their residents like food, 
housing, and utilities. Places like North Kansas City, Missouri, used 
the majority of their funds for small business grants, and the 
remainder for rental and utility assistance as well as PPE and physical 
distancing supplies.
    However, in most places, the CARES Act CRF funds are not equal to 
the need even with additional city resources. In Los Angeles, we 
dedicated $100 million for rental assistance, and in less than three 
weeks we stopped accepting applications for the program due to the huge 
demand and limited funding. In many ways our cities are more directly 
and quickly reaching the pressing needs of residents. The City of 
Phoenix, Arizona, used CRF to provide $30 million in rental assistance 
compared to the state which only stood up a $5 million rental 
assistance fund. As Congress negotiates the next response bill, we 
implore Congress to pass additional COVID economic relief that can be 
quickly and efficiently delivered everywhere it is needed to combat the 
scale of this challenge. To fight this, we must lead together, with 
urgency. This crisis continues to eat away at our communities and our 
economic competitiveness, and we cannot wait until there is nothing 
left to appropriately respond. The time to act is now, and only then 
will we all be prepared to tackle the important rebuilding that is 
ahead of us.
    America's communities are proud to have a dedicated and resilient 
workforce of professionals who have kept everything running during 
these unprecedented challenges. We ask this Committee to support our 
transportation workers across all modes. They have been essential 
workers since the beginning of the pandemic, and they have kept our 
transportation systems for people and goods moving. Unfortunately, far 
too many have fallen ill or have lost their lives to protect others 
from the virus. Today, I'd like to highlight two groupings of local 
workers: those who are part of our national supply chain--like the 
family, friends, and neighbors in my hometown community of San Pedro 
that work down on the docks at the Port of Los Angeles, and those that 
provide transportation to our communities--and some specific actions 
this Committee can take to protect and support them as they earn their 
livelihood.
   Supporting Transportation Supply Chain Essential Workers and Safe 
                               Operations
    America's transportation supply chain is a national resource, but 
it all starts and ends in local areas like my District which includes 
the Port in Los Angeles. The Port of Los Angeles is the busiest 
container port in the nation and supports more than 144,000 jobs (about 
1 in 13 jobs) in the City of Los Angeles and 517,000 jobs (1 in 17 
jobs) in the five-county Southern California region, and 1.6 million 
jobs nationally. These include 15,000 members of our longshore 
workforce, 18,000 truckers, in addition to railroad, warehouse, and 
other logistics service providers. The City has worked consistently to 
support essential workers across the supply chain by donating masks and 
personal protective equipment (PPE) procured through a whole-of-city 
effort called Logistics Victory Los Angeles, as well as providing the 
Port a supply of industrial grade bleach from our Department of Water 
and Power to dilute for cleaning of terminals. The Port, in turn, 
worked with restaurant supply companies to provide these supplies to 
other essential workers as well.
    The COVID-19 spread at the Port of Los Angeles is concerning. Two-
thirds of all imports into our local ports make their way across the 
country brought by the port drivers and train operators who are 
delivering these goods. Almost 700 dockworkers at the Los Angeles and 
Long Beach port facilities alone have confirmed they contracted COVID-
19, and around 10% of the longshore workforce is in quarantine. 
Logistics and transportation workers have seen their mortality rates 
increase 28% due to COVID, second only to food and agriculture workers 
(39%). One of the port's largest container terminals was close to 
shutting down over the holidays. They were able to remain open only by 
adopting enhanced protocols--including remote dispatching, temperature 
checks for workers, and more rigorous testing. However, even with 
current protocols in place for cleaning and social distancing, COVID 
transmissions are increasing.
    Port longshore workers and drivers are also staring at over 32 
arriving container ships that are backed up on our shoreline--a clear 
visual reminder of how the pandemic is affecting our economic well-
being as well as our health and the need to quickly vaccinate this 
essential and at-risk group of transportation workers. While COVID-19 
cases have surged locally and transportation workers are trying to be 
careful, the port is very busy and likely will continue to be. While 
Americans were not taking flights or going to sporting events, they are 
shopping from their phones and getting everything delivered to their 
doorstep which all comes through the national and localized 
transportation network. If a large number of longshore workers are 
unavailable to work, or if terminals need to shut down, the waiting 
time to unload will increase causing a ripple through the national 
supply chain.
      Supporting Local Transportation Workers and Essential Rides
    Local transportation workers range from construction crews to bus 
drivers to maintenance specialists and so many more. Transportation is 
particularly sensitive to demand, and one of the immediate clear signs 
of an effective healthy stay-at-home order was that far less people 
were using transportation. Through shutdowns and uncertainty, COVID-19 
has greatly impacted the 435,000 transportation and workers and transit 
agencies, like the Los Angeles Metro, as well as all the businesses 
they work with and riders across the nation. With the shift in demand, 
transit agencies and providers, like transportation network companies 
and scooter and bike rentals, have shifted as well with many 
reevaluating their routes and services and how to best protect their 
workers as well as the public.
    For many transit providers, the stay-home orders gave a very clear 
view of the essential rides they were providing for essential workers. 
For many low-wage essential workers in Los Angeles--such as grocery 
store workers and hospital janitorial and maintenance staff--public 
transit is likely their primary way to get to work, and we now have 
insight on how to serve them. This is also true with rural and small-
urban transit providers, as recent analysis by Community Transportation 
Association of America shows that ridership held steady during COVID-19 
at half their normal ridership, indicating these trips are for 
essential workers or essential functions. For a larger system like 
Metro which adjusted service levels during Los Angeles' Safer at Home 
restrictions, April ridership was about 31 percent, and by September, 
Metro was up to 55 percent of its normal ridership.
    Transit providers, including Los Angeles' Metro, worked 
collectively with the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) 
to commit to actively communicate with riders and to show exactly what 
transit agencies are doing to help keep their service as safe as 
possible and slow the spread of COVID-19. For workers, the necessary 
PPE continues to be distributed and procured as safety of employees is 
one of Metro's top priorities. For customers, mask requirements and 
cleaning have been a visual and robust reinforcement of the commitment 
to reduce the spread. Metro mandated the use of operator safety 
barriers on all buses to ensure the separation of bus operators from 
customers. To spread out passengers and avoid frequent contact with bus 
drivers and the public, many systems implemented rear door boarding and 
alighting, with the exception of our ADA passengers requiring the use 
of wheelchair lifts to safely board buses.
    For those required to work at Metro locations, masks are required 
for all employees, vendors and customers; self-symptom self-checks are 
required prior to entering Metro facilities and locations; social 
distancing requirements are posted and monitored by management; and 
hand sanitizers are installed at locations and stations. Metro 
continues to issue trainings, communications, and written guidance to 
employees regarding safety and social distancing requirements. The 
agency has issued daily communications to all employees regarding COVID 
updates, leave requirements, emergency telecommuting, deaths and 
positive case counts, and revenue service updates. For all 
administrative staff, Metro has expanded its telecommuting policy to 
allow for emergency telecommuting for all positions whose jobs can be 
performed remotely. This has significantly reduced onsite workforce and 
has resulted in the use of modified work schedules to allow for 
telecommuting where practicable.
    While we are arriving at the one-year anniversary of COVID, only 
this week has a comprehensive national mask mandate while traveling 
across modes been in place with the executive action of the President 
and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Cities 
welcome this support as one of the most effective ways to keep everyone 
across the transportation chain safer as they work. As COVID cases and 
deaths increase in communities, transportation workers are at risk as 
their jobs are often performed by necessity in the public sphere and in 
close proximity to the public or with colleagues. Masks and social 
distancing are key to stopping transmission so much so that some 
transportation service providers went as far as to pause all fare 
collection temporarily to limit interaction time with drivers. In Los 
Angeles, Metro's transit drivers confirmed COVID cases track with 
community spread, but as with most skilled transportation workers, the 
pool of qualified workers is limited, sometimes leading to more 
overtime hours and therefore, more transmission risks just from time 
spent on the job.
    As the vaccine rollout begins, urban and rural transportation 
services will be essential to getting at-risk populations to vaccine 
sites. Forty-four percent of rural transit system responders reported 
they are already engaging with public health officials at the local 
level to assist in a variety of ways with vaccine distribution. Private 
transportation providers are also stepping up their advertisements and 
support for this as well. Transit has benefited from previous 
Congressional COVID packages, but the financial limits to providing 
service with limited passengers and farebox revenue is challenging many 
of the largest systems. As vaccinations increase, the CDC guidance and 
federal and state strategies must continue to take into account the 
critical interaction of essential workers who serve the public daily.
           COVID-19 Lessons Learned That Congress Can Act On
1. Share Essential Supplies with Essential Workers
    Locally, we ensured that all local and state emergency orders 
recognized workers across the supply chain as ``essential,'' as defined 
by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and 
Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). As we reflect on the gaps for 
port and supply chain workers, their delineation as ``essential 
workers'' by CISA did not provide them any minimum guarantees of 
protective equipment by the federal government, and in fact, it 
increased their risk. Essential workers were encouraged to go to work 
even without access to PPE, and in some cases, such as port drivers who 
are identified as independent contractors, their employers did not have 
to provide them PPE. The City and our Port made every effort to fill 
these gaps. Since a larger percentage of the nation's essential worker 
jobs are held by people of color, it is concerning that the risks of 
our policies are being passed on disproportionately. From a national 
legislative perspective, a stronger connection between FEMA 
declarations during a pandemic and CISA definitions of essential 
workers would establish a clearer process to procure essential 
protection items for essential workers.
2. Improve the National Pandemic Procurement Strategy
    Unfortunately, the federal government's lack of national 
procurement strategy of PPE led to higher prices for local and state 
governments, health care workers, and essential workforces. Many 
suppliers were profiteering middlemen that sold at highly inflated 
prices, set unacceptable terms, or offered shipments of goods that 
could not be verified as legitimate, medical grade PPE. During that 
period, L.A. competed with other government agencies to procure N95 
masks; in another, a shipment targeted by L.A. for potential 
procurement was seized by the federal government. In a pandemic, local 
governments should have insight into how their mask and PPE 
acquisitions would be aligned with national procurement as well as the 
number of essential CISA workers in their cities. The federal 
government may learn from Los Angeles' whole-of-city effort, Logistics 
Victory Los Angeles.
3. Provide More Transportation Workforce Testing and Targeted 
        Vaccinations
    Each state is providing vaccinations to essential workers 
differently, and some have prioritized transportation workers more than 
others. In my role with the City of Los Angeles, I have led a 
resolution in Council to ask our state legislature and administration 
to support the Port's essential waterfront workers and prioritize 
distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine for essential waterfront workers. 
The need for both prioritized vaccination and available testing for 
essential workers is clear. Scaled up and more frequent testing is 
necessary to get a more accurate assessment of positivity rates. The 
Los Angeles Port is working with stakeholders to identify a location 
for large scale testing and vaccination of the workforce.
4. Direct Funding Is the Quickest Delivery of Emergency Relief
    Local officials are distinctly positioned to protect the health and 
safety of America's residents and to provide reassurance in times of 
crisis. In the future, NLC recommends that all pandemic emergency 
funding should use an allocation formula based on the Community 
Development Block Grant program (CDBG) as approved by the House in the 
HEROES Act and now H.R.199. Relying on a CDBG framework would eliminate 
the time-consuming need to stand up a completely new administrative or 
regulatory framework as was required by the CARES Act Coronavirus 
Relief Fund (CRF). CDBG is also the most familiar revenue sharing 
mechanism for states and localities. Additionally, entanglement of 
state and local funding should be minimized. A lack of clarity burdened 
communities trying to responsibly use the CARES CRF from the start, 
resulting in confusion, delays, and infighting among primary and 
secondary grant recipients.
    Federal transit support in Congressional COVID relief bills has 
been incredibly effective and efficient using existing and dependable 
formulas to support local transit agencies. We urge you to consider the 
level of service reliability that may be jeopardized if draconian cuts 
must be made to transit service and workers. APTA has recommended a 
funding level of an additional $39.3 billion in additional COVID-19 
emergency funding to help public transit agencies continue to provide a 
critical lifeline to essential workers and to help our communities 
begin to rebuild our economy. Unfortunately, the ability of cities to 
fill gaps in local transit budgets are now limited by our financial 
challenges from COVID, and depending on action by Congress, the ability 
to support additional service may be limited.
5. FEMA Must Be Reliable, Relief Must be Accessible and Available 
        Quickly in the Future
    The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is responsible for 
assisting communities in disaster, but the level of support is 
dependent on quick Congressional action or Presidential Executive 
Order. Congress and this Committee introduced H.R. 8266, the FEMA 
Assistance Relief Act of 2020, adjusting the FEMA cost-share for all 
COVID-19 related Emergency and Major Disaster declarations to 100 
percent, and while it did not pass, President Biden's recent executive 
order has unlocked future FEMA support at 100 percent. However, a gap 
remains that Congress could fill now and provide some relief to 
communities who still have to meet the matching requirements for last 
year after their budgets have been depleted by COVID-related expenses. 
Congress must pass legislation that would consistently provide 100 
percent federal support under all COVID FEMA emergency designations 
rather than only some.
    We would also strongly encourage legislation to confirm that 
communities could be reimbursed for certain expenses including PPE for 
public transit, public utilities and other government buildings and 
services, and for FEMA to rescind their prior policy guidance which 
does not allow for essential workers to receive essential protective 
equipment. NLC also strongly encourages all action to expedite FEMA 
repayment so that communities do not have to float costs over budget 
cycles. Cities and towns across this country employ thousands of 
dedicated police officers, firefighters and transportation workers that 
courageously serve the public and keep our communities moving, even in 
the most challenging times. They rely on the cities and towns across 
this country to meet their biweekly or monthly payroll obligations. 
Delayed FEMA repayments will result in layoffs of critical frontline 
workers. Lastly, we also urge action to limit the amount and standards 
for FEMA to claw back reimbursements that were approved.
6. Broadband Remains a Pandemic Gap and Future Transportation Demand
    Connectivity became an essential utility for workers and students 
during the pandemic as much as water and electricity, and with 
connected vehicles, signals and other infrastructure, transportation is 
poised to benefit from a reliable broadband ``highway'' nationally. A 
serious national connectivity effort is needed to meet the demands of 
business and our transportation future. However, local investment has 
been hampered by state and federal preemption, digital redlining, and 
monopolistic practices by incumbent providers. Congress should 
prioritize rectifying these mistakes and invest in broadband as a 
national priority as part of any recovery or infrastructure effort. 
This Committee could allow for broadband buildout alongside all 
federally funded transportation projects. Regrettably, cities in half 
of the U.S. states are prohibited from building, owning, or operating 
broadband service that is essential to our residents. Congress could 
include the Community Broadband Act in future legislation to free 
cities from these state limitations, at no cost to the federal 
government. The Protecting Community Television Act and Accelerating 
Broadband Development by Empowering Local Communities Act would provide 
communities with needed flexibility and more substantial support to 
protect residents and promote digital equity, again at no cost to the 
federal government.
              Congress Can Partner With Local Governments
    America's cities, towns and villages need urgent support from 
Congress to keep essential services and workers moving locally, and we 
remain fully committed to being the federal government's partner in 
fighting this pandemic and solving the challenges we are confronted 
with. It cannot be overstated that U.S. transportation patterns and 
revenues changed overnight, and cities, states, and this Committee must 
analyze what is fundamentally changed, along with what is temporarily 
changed yet extremely difficult, and, finally, what advantages and 
disadvantages exist as we rebuild and reimagine our current assets and 
goals for transportation. The National League of Cities looks forward 
to the discussions to come to address this and how to improve and 
innovate across the nation's transportation systems.
                                appendix
    [The 22-page appendix is retained in committee files and is 
available online at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/PW/PW00/20210204/
111128/HHRG-117-PW00-Wstate-BuscainoJ-20210204-SD001.pdf.]

    Mr. DeFazio. All right. I thank the gentleman for his 
testimony.
    We want to move on to Member questions. Each Member will be 
recognized for 5 minutes. I will start by recognizing myself.
    What is that? Oh, sorry.
    I ask unanimous consent to insert into the hearing record 
the statement from the National Safety Council.
    Without objection, so ordered. Thank you. All right.
    [The information follows:]

                                 
 Statement of the National Safety Council, Submitted for the Record by 
                         Hon. Peter A. DeFazio
    Thank you for holding this hearing on the important steps that need 
to be taken to protect all transportation users from COVID-19, and for 
allowing the National Safety Council (NSC) to submit these comments for 
the record.
    NSC is America's leading nonprofit safety advocate and has been for 
over 100 years. As a mission-based organization, we work to eliminate 
the leading causes of preventable death and injury, focusing our 
efforts on the workplace, roadway and impairment. We create a culture 
of safety to keep people safer at work and beyond so they can live 
their fullest lives. Our more than 15,500 member companies represent 7 
million employees at nearly 50,000 U.S. worksites.
    These are times like no other, with the coronavirus impacting all 
aspects of our lives, including our mobility systems. To help tackle 
some of these issues, NSC launched the Safe Actions for Employee 
Returns (SAFER) initiative with large and small companies, nonprofits, 
legal experts, public health and medical professionals and government 
agency representatives.\1\ SAFER includes a transportation sub-group 
focused on many of the key transportation and COVID-19 safety issues 
you will undoubtedly examine during this hearing. The SAFER initiative 
also produced a free online playbook \2\ specifically focused on 
transportation considerations.
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    \1\ www.nsc.org/safer
    \2\ https://www.nsc.org/getmedia/6fa9f7e9-166d-476c-9fdb-
9f9f97a2dbae/transpotation-considerations.pdf.aspx
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Transportation is one sector that has largely continued operations 
during the pandemic, placing transportation workers on the front lines. 
They have been essential to providing critical transportation for 
healthcare and other essential workers, as well as food, medicine, and 
other goods necessary to keeping the economy going. Through SAFER, NSC 
has provided the transportation and other sectors with factual, 
scientific information for employees to keep them safe and healthy. 
Some of the recommendations we have made for months include basics such 
as wearing face masks, social distancing, and hand washing, which we 
know must continue even as people are being vaccinated. These basic 
steps have been proven effective at limiting the spread of the virus. 
NSC supports the executive actions of the new Biden Administration and 
subsequent CDC guidance requiring masking on domestic transportation 
systems. This is a simple step to keep people safe and the economy 
moving.
    Regarding vaccinations, NSC calls on employers to be leaders in 
helping educate their employees on the fact that the coronavirus 
vaccine is safe and effective, and by taking the vaccine once it is 
available to them, they are keeping their families and the most 
vulnerable safe. Employers should also lead by providing factual, 
science-based information to counter vaccine misinformation. Many of 
the vaccination recommendations are centered around occupations, 
underscoring required employer leadership and education, and we urge 
state and federal policymakers to communicate clearly with employers on 
which personnel are eligible for vaccinations. The CDC developed an 
occupational guidance document to assist.\3\ NSC likewise supports the 
call from President Biden to provide paid time off for employees and 
contractors to be vaccinated due to how critical vaccine uptake is for 
addressing the pandemic and continuing our economic recovery.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/categories-essential-
workers.html
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    On January 29, NSC was also pleased to see the U.S. Department of 
Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issue new 
guidance to help employers mitigate the risk and prevent the spread of 
COVID-19.\4\ We support this guidance, and we urge widespread sharing 
of this information and updates as they are available with all 
industries.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/safework
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    Another transportation safety issue this committee should address 
is the declining state of roadway safety during the pandemic. Roadway 
fatality rates and numbers have increased at an alarming rate. Emptier 
roads have led to dangerous driver behavior such as operating at 
excessive speeds, being impaired or distracted behind the wheel, and 
not wearing seat belts. From January-November 2019, 35,879 people died 
on our roads. For the same period in 2020 (January-November), 38,370 
people died on the roads. Preliminary estimates show a 9% increase in 
motor vehicle deaths for November 2020, up from last year, despite an 
11.1% decrease in the number miles driven. Transportation incidents are 
still the leading cause of workplace deaths.\5\ There is much more we 
can and must do to end these preventable deaths, and NSC looks forward 
to working with you to address our roadway fatality epidemic as well.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf
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    Transportation workers are heroically meeting the many logistical 
challenges to ensuring the distribution of supplies, including 
vaccines, head-on. However, the alarming increase in roadway fatalities 
indicate that we must continue to double down on proven roadway safety 
practices rather than loosen regulations which could lead to more 
deaths on the road. For example, NSC supports maintaining the existing 
requirement for interstate commercial motor vehicle drivers to be at 
least 21 years old. Data shows that motor vehicle crashes are the 
leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year olds, and drivers 21 and 
younger have the highest fatal crash rates of any age group.\6\ Many 
teens lack the maturity and ability to respond quickly to hazards, 
struggle at driving the appropriate speed for conditions, have trouble 
driving at night and are easily distracted by young passengers.\7\ We 
remain concerned about a pilot program proposed by the Federal Motor 
Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) \8\ to allow 18-20 year olds to 
operate commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) across state lines.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/overview/age-of-
driver/
    \7\ The Anatomy of Crashes Involving Teens, http://
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9672/
    \8\ Docket No. FMCSA-2018-0346
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Employers and their workforces, including in the transportation 
sector, have been grappling with one of the worst workplace safety 
challenges in history. Continuing to promote basic safety precautions 
for employees and users alike will ensure that our transportation 
system continues to operate safely, while ensuring widespread vaccine 
access to communities across the U.S. NSC looks forward to working with 
this committee to protect the workers and users of our national 
transportation system, on which so many of us depend.

    Mr. DeFazio. OK. I am going to move to, in the sense this 
is potentially looming, the issue of mandatory COVID testing 
before people get on airplanes, what that would do potentially 
to the industry, what it would mean for diverting COVID tests 
from other needed places, et cetera. So I'll first start with 
Ms. Nelson.
    Ms. Nelson. Thank you, Chairman DeFazio. Let's just 
recognize that this would be devastating to the airline 
industry. We cannot do cosmetic things that won't actually 
contain, kill the virus, and make sure that we are eradicating 
it. We do not have the tests to be able to perform this.
    Isolating the airline industry and not doing the same thing 
for mass transit or doing this at grocery stores or restaurants 
doesn't make any sense as we have community spread. So this 
would really be more about targeting the airline industry and 
the workers who would suffer from this policy without having 
something that we can actually do that is effective.
    We really need to focus our efforts on effective methods of 
containing the virus and keeping us all safe.
    Mr. DeFazio. OK. Thank you. Would one of our two healthcare 
experts like to comment on the problems and/or potential for 
such a measure?
    Mr. Michaels. Certainly, Mr. Chairman. I agree with Sara 
Nelson. I think while testing can be useful, I actually don't 
think it adds much. I think we know how to protect workers and 
passengers on planes. Masking, improved ventilation, 
filtration, and distancing has been shown to be very effective, 
and I think if you give people tests, given the possibility of 
false negatives, you actually could provide a sort of false 
security that we don't really want to have. So, given the cost 
and the imposition of it, I would oppose that as well.
    Mr. DeFazio. You raised the issue of distancing. If I could 
just get into that, some analysis I have read said it is not so 
much the actual physical distance because you can't get that 
far away from anybody in a plane, but the fact that you are 
limiting in total the capacity of the plane, which lessens the 
likelihood of a severely infected person transmitting on the 
plane. Is that your understanding of how we would deal with 
this in aviation? Because I am only aware of one airline that 
has totally continued that policy at this point.
    Mr. Michaels. You know, I think it is a combination of 
factors. Certainly you want to limit distance. The improved 
ventilation system will help you more than probably anything 
else. But my understanding is that airflow is key, and you got 
to watch exactly where the air goes and test that.
    But you also want to limit the people who are sitting right 
next to each other because people don't have their masks on all 
the time. They take masks off for eating and for other reasons, 
and that should happen in a minimal way, but it still does 
happen. So I think we have got to really focus on this from a 
public health point of view. Get everybody together and say, 
OK, what is the way to ensure that these planes can be as safe 
as possible.
    Mr. DeFazio. So, since planes have the capability of more 
or less when in flight, it does cut into fuel mileage, if they 
run the packs on full. They should be running the packs on full 
at all times.
    Mr. Michaels. You know, I don't know much about fuel 
economy and fuel usage in airplanes. I am going to pass on 
commenting on that.
    Mr. DeFazio. Well, what I am saying is, we know we can get 
more air circulation, but they are going to burn a little more 
fuel.
    Mr. Michaels. Yes.
    Mr. DeFazio. I think the trade-off would be beneficial. 
Thank you.
    Mr. Michaels. That is unfortunately the case. You know, 
look, with COVID-19 everybody has got to make sacrifices. We 
have got to make sure people are safe.
    Mr. DeFazio. OK. And then Mr. Rivera, you talked about the 
problems. I mean, I can see enforcement and how we are going to 
do enforcement at the airport and on the airplanes, but how are 
we going to do enforcement and give you folks some help on the 
buses when you are all just so dispersed?
    Mr. Rivera. Well, on the bus side, we would have to get 
more kinds of PPE, better PPE, and get some kind of 
enforcement, law enforcement, get all the resources to help us 
on the ground. That is all I can say at the moment.
    Mr. DeFazio. OK. All right. Thank you. My time has expired.
    Mr. Rivera. Thank you.
    Mr. DeFazio. I would now recognize first on the Republican 
side the Honorable Rodney Davis.
    Mr. Davis. Mr. Chair, did you miss me? He didn't even say 
yes.
    Mr. DeFazio. He said no. I had my microphone off.
    Mr. Davis. You know, Mr. Chairman, I did miss you, and I 
missed all of our colleagues. And I am wondering if there is a 
camera above me or there might be a bug, but you took my 
question on the CDC testing. But it is an excellent question, 
and I agree with you; it is something that needs to be 
addressed.
    And, Sara, you had great comments. I was going to ask you 
to offer the same comments as Chairman DeFazio did, and I think 
your answer and the other responses were spot on. This is an 
issue that can punish this industry and stop it at its most 
critical time from being able to overcome what we have all gone 
through, and especially the aviation industry over the last 
year.
    Most of us in this room utilize your industry, and we see 
the devastating effects that have taken place with a lack of 
passengers and a lack of ability to continue to operate in a 
very high-cost environment. And I want to thank you and your 
members too for the hard work they have done to keep passengers 
safe and also keep our aviation industry going.
    I do have a second question and, again, agree 
wholeheartedly with what the chairman said about this 
discussion of mandatory CDC testing and agree wholeheartedly 
with you also, Sara. But there is another issue I know that the 
chair and the ranking member and those of us on this committee 
have been working on, and that is trying to figure out the--and 
you mentioned it in your testimony--the need for additional PSP 
dollars. How bad will it get for the aviation industry if both 
the PSP is not extended and the CDC implements a testing 
mandate?
    Ms. Nelson. Well, let's be clear, the furloughs that we saw 
in October would be dwarfed by the furloughs that we would see 
if we had a testing mandate that we can't effectively run. We 
would see many, many more furloughs, and without the extension 
of PSP, which also requires the airlines not to furlough and 
continue to support that payroll that they simply can't support 
in this kind of environment where revenue is down 80 percent, 
it would be devastating.
    And in that situation, we wouldn't just be talking about 
lost jobs. We would also likely be talking about airline 
bankruptcies. So that is how devastating it would be.
    I just want to note one thing, air travel, through the work 
of airlines working with unions, there is more we can do still, 
but it is one of the most controlled environments in the 
country for public health.
    And we need to focus on those controlled environments, 
focus on the mask policies, using those properly, single touch 
on service, no alcohol being served, which makes people take 
those masks off, and all the other things that we have been 
doing in layers of safety to keep this a controlled 
environment.
    Those are the things we need to focus on with the continued 
payroll support to make this work and be able to lift the 
economy again.
    And just one other note, the airline industry employees are 
part of the infrastructure that this country counts on, and 
when we lose our jobs, we lose our qualifications. And it takes 
a long time for the airlines to get back up and running again 
and have the airlines in place to be able to support vaccine 
distribution and everything else that our communities count on 
and then be able to lift the economy again. So it would be 
devastating not only for us but for the whole country if PSP is 
not continued.
    Mr. Davis. I appreciate your comments, Sara, and it is 
great to see you, even if it is via video. I think the last 
time we saw each other, we were at a bipartisan press 
conference talking about the importance of PSP last fall. And 
thankfully we came together in a bipartisan way to get those 
dollars to an industry that needed it.
    And it is great to see you teaming with the aviation 
industry and your members' employers, to be able to work 
together on solutions. That is what we need to do here, and I 
appreciate your voice and the chairman's voice and the ranking 
member's voice, and all our voices, in urging President Biden 
to include an additional round of PSP funding in any 
coronavirus package that is going to be debated, be it 
reconciliation or hopefully via a bipartisan agreement.
    So, Sara, it is great to see you again. Thank you all for 
your testimony.
    Mr. Chairman, great to see you, my friend, I missed you, 
and I will yield back.
    Ms. Nelson. Thank you, Congressman.
    Mr. DeFazio. I do have a few decent beers upstairs in the 
chairman's office. We will get caught up sometime.
    Mr. Davis. Can we do it now?
    Mr. DeFazio. The sun isn't--well, it is over the yardarm--
but we are not.
    Anyway, Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, you are 
recognized.
    Ms. Norton. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I very 
much appreciate this hearing. Just the issues discussed here, 
transportation issues, have disproportionate effects on our 
Nation's Capital which I represent.
    Ms. Nelson of the Association of Flight Attendants, your 
testimony was very moving, and of course your members are put 
in a disproportionate position. So let me ask you this 
question. As far as one of your members sees a passenger not 
following the public health guidelines like wearing a mask, can 
you kind of take us through, walk us through, how your members 
respond? How are they trained to handle this difficult 
situation, and what are the potential repercussions they weigh 
when determining how to intervene? I am just trying to find 
ways Congress can be helpful to you.
    Ms. Nelson. Thank you, Congresswoman Norton. I appreciate 
that very much, and we are trained in deescalation tactics. We 
are trained in how to make sure that people are complying with 
the rules because there are rules in aviation, and there has to 
be the spirit of we are all in it together, to do things that 
are maybe a little bit uncomfortable so that we can all safely 
fly.
    Now, today, that absolutely includes the mask requirement. 
And so on the front end, making it clear to people with 
notifications from the airlines, that they will absolutely 
acknowledge that they will wear that mask, they will wear it 
the right way, announcements from the airlines to help people 
understand you have got to wear that over your nose and mouth, 
if you are going to sip a sip, make sure that the crews are a 
few rows away----
    Ms. Norton. Ms. Nelson, have you encountered people who 
simply refuse to wear masks? I am trying to find out what 
position that puts a flight attendant in.
    Ms. Nelson. Yes, we have. And it is one thing to say that 
someone is not used to doing this and reminding them, but the 
problems that we encounter are when people come to the door of 
the airplane or come into the airport, and they have been told 
that this is a political issue rather than a public health 
issue, and they are confrontational.
    We have websites out there that instruct people about how 
to avoid wearing the masks the whole time. Just this past week, 
we had a family of four sucking on lollipops the whole time and 
thinking that that was going to be their excuse for not wearing 
the masks. Those people are being banned from that aircraft 
now.
    But we are trained in deescalation and helping to advise 
people, so we know, flight attendants know, when we approach 
someone who maybe just forgot to put that mask back on and we 
are reminding them, as opposed to someone who is absolutely 
refusing to do that.
    And the refusal can either be trying to avoid it and coming 
up with sneaky ways to do that, or it can be outright 
confrontational where we have had flight attendants even 
assaulted. This has been confrontations on the plane over the 
past year that have been very difficult for our members, and we 
are very grateful now for the FAA, with the backing of the 
Biden administration, stepping up and making it very clear 
there is going to be clear fines for anyone who is not 
complying.
    Ms. Norton. Well, I wish you would keep us in touch with 
whether those fines are working because the testimony was 
important for us to hear.
    Mr. Rivera, I am particularly interested in what is 
happening with respect to our busdrivers and those in your 
union. You mentioned a series of CDC recommendations for 
transit systems that had been watered down by the prior 
administration. In particular, I am interested in the areas of 
airflow, and the sterilization and filters that busdrivers may 
be concerned about.
    We know now that COVID is spread through the air as we 
learn more and more about it, and indeed, we are hearing the 
notion that people should double-mask, which scares me. What 
steps would you like to see taken for busdrivers who face this 
airflow issue with people on the bus and filters that may be of 
concern to busdrivers?
    Mr. Rivera. Well, thank you for the question.
    Mr. DeFazio. Be very brief because her time is expired, but 
answer quickly.
    Mr. Rivera. OK. They need better ventilation because 
everything that goes on in the buses, the bus operator gets it 
at front, and we are constantly getting all the customers 
boarding the buses and they're trying to have conversations and 
ask us questions without the masks. So they need better 
sterilizing of the bus, the air filters have to be much better, 
and the flow itself has to be--they have to do a greater job 
than they are doing now.
    Ms. Norton. Thank you very much.
    Mr. Rivera. Thank you.
    Mr. DeFazio. Thank you. I now recognize Representative 
Webster for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Webster. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to 
direct my questions to Dr. Bahnfleth, and I thank you that 
ASHRAE has brought up air quality and the idea of using 
mechanical means to clear the air, as opposed to inoculate 
somebody from getting the disease. This keeps the disease from 
getting to them, and I am grateful for that.
    A couple of the other recommendations I actually gave to 
the engineer of the Capitol over a year ago, and one was just 
increasing the fresh air. The other, though, is: I have one of 
these on [indicating]. I don't know if you can see it or not. 
It is an ionizer. It produces about 2 million ions a second and 
basically takes down viruses and germs and so forth, down to 
the ground and attaches themselves to them and takes them down.
    And my question is: I noticed that you had recommended UV 
lights, which is a great thing, and then also there are these 
ionizers. Have you done any tests on them, not this particular 
one, but I am talking about ones that would be fitted in duct 
systems and so forth, have you done any tests on those also?
    Mr. Bahnfleth. Thank you for the question. The short answer 
is, no, I have not, but there is some literature on ionizers 
and also a lot of laboratory reports produced by the 
manufacturers. And the reason that ASHRAE, and in fact CDC as 
well, does not make an affirmative statement about ionizers is 
because the evidence base for them is simply not as strong as 
for UV.
    UV has been in use since the 1930s. It is approved by CDC 
for tuberculosis control. We don't have the same basis in peer-
reviewed evidence for ionizers, either for effectiveness or 
safety that we do for UV.
    But that said, there is some evidence that indicates it can 
be effective. On the other hand, some evidence that indicates 
that there may be some hazards associated with it. So I think 
one of our clear needs is to do the research to determine what 
the characteristics of that technology actually are and develop 
standards so that we can have certified products that we can 
apply confidently.
    Mr. Webster. Maybe I am frying my brain, I don't know. But 
the other question is, though, UV lights work, but you can't 
hang them around your neck. Basically they will blind you, or 
they will burn your skin. But I have heard--and maybe you could 
say something about this, because I don't know enough about 
it--aren't there some studies or development of UV lights that 
may be a shorter wavelength than--I think the usual ones are 
about 254 nanometers, but they would be shorter, and they can 
be exposed to the skin, exposed to your eyes, and not bring any 
harm. So it can be kind of like the lights in here, you could 
just screw them into the--and clean the air. Do you know 
anything about the development of that?
    Mr. Bahnfleth. Yes, I do. Thank you. You have done your 
homework, obviously, Congressman. We are talking about what is 
called far-UVC, and that is currently being produced by sources 
that make 222-nanometer UV. And because of the shorter 
wavelength, it penetrates the skin to a much smaller depth, and 
there have been animal studies and one human study that I know 
of, that shows that it doesn't cause skin irritations. So that 
would open up new applications where you could use UV on an 
entire room.
    I should say, though, that 254-nanometer UV, produced by 
mercury vapor lamps, essentially fluorescent lamps, is highly 
effective, but you do have to keep it in the upper room, away 
from the occupants.
    Mr. Webster. So, anyways, appreciate that. I had one other 
thought. I noticed that you had in there that a six or eight 
MERV filter, which is standard but kind of minimal but still 
quite a bit effective, more than just a--something else. These 
little masks here, I don't think, have the filter of even them, 
and it says that that particular MERV efficiency is not very 
effective. You need to get to about 13, which is a pretty thick 
filter, maybe around 6, 7, 8 inches or something in thickness. 
What do you think of masks?
    Mr. Bahnfleth. Thank you. Another great question. Masks of 
the type that you might be wearing, a cloth mask, are most 
effective at blocking aerosol emissions. They are indeed not as 
effective as an N95 respirator at protecting the wearer but by 
stopping coughs and sneezes from traveling long distances, and 
by substantially reducing the amount of infectious material 
that gets into the air, it actually greatly reduces risk. So if 
everyone is wearing even cloth masks indoors, it makes a big 
difference in the amount of airborne risk that everyone is 
subjected to.
    Mr. Webster. Thank you very much. I yield back.
    Mr. DeFazio. Thank you, Webster. Representative Larsen? I 
left out the ``Mr.''
    Mr. Larsen. Thank you, Mr. Chair. My first question is for 
Ms. Nelson. Since 2015, I and many others have called for a 
national aviation preparedness plan to ensure all levels of 
Government, airlines, airports, and frontline aviation workers 
are better equipped for public health crises like we have. We 
have learned some lessons over the last year about being not 
prepared.
    What priorities would you include in a future national 
aviation preparedness plan?
    Ms. Nelson. So thank you very much for the question, 
Chairman Larsen. We actually learned a lot during the Ebola 
crisis, and we had an interface with CDC on lessons learned in 
our occupational space, how the best CDC guidelines can be 
applied to our workspace.
    The first thing that I would say is that it was very 
quickly a problem that we did not have a proper supply chain on 
the proper PPE for the people on the front lines. We did not 
have access. Airlines did not have access to get the proper PPE 
to protect crew and keep us safe.
    In addition to that, we finally got OSHA training on blood-
borne pathogens on board. I would say that crewmembers were at 
an advantage because we had training in the first place to be 
able to stop the spread or take actions that would limit the 
risk of a spread.
    First and foremost, though, we really need to make sure 
that we are coordinating immediately. We can stop the spread of 
communicable disease at transportation's door, if we are doing 
the things that we need to do, about identifying where these 
outbreaks may be taking place in the rest of the world, how we 
can get resources to be able to target that and try to contain 
that where those breakouts exist, getting information to 
transportation workers so that we know what to look out for, 
and getting that proper PPE on the lines to be able to protect 
ourselves and make sure that we are not carriers ourselves, and 
also doing screenings at the airports and all the agencies 
involved at the airports about screening and making sure that 
we are keeping problems on the ground.
    So those are the first and most important steps, but it 
really does require good information, coordination between 
unions, industry, and Government. And we have seen it work 
before. It can work even better now with the lessons that we 
have learned.
    Mr. Larsen. OK. Well, tomorrow, I will be introducing the 
National Aviation Preparedness Plan bill, and I would encourage 
Members to sign on to that.
    Ms. Nelson. Thank you.
    Mr. Larsen. Again, Ms. Nelson, Reuters reported that a 
major U.S. carrier instructed some of its flight attendants--
this was in December--whose coworkers tested positive to 
continue flying and just monitor their symptoms. Have you heard 
of any similar situations from your members since?
    Ms. Nelson. Yes. This is a problem that we see across the 
industry, and it is because of the very narrow definition of 
what exposure is. So CDC is defining exposure as 15 minutes in 
close contact with someone who has tested positive. And 
crewmembers are told to continue to monitor themselves and keep 
working and come in contact with thousands of people and cross 
State lines.
    We think this is a very narrow definition that needs to be 
expanded because of the kind of contacts that crewmembers have 
with people, in close contact in our workspace, but also 
serving people food, picking up their trash. So we need to be 
much more attentive to when those contacts have been made and 
the cases where we have found that someone has contracted the 
virus and make sure that we are getting those crewmembers 
notified and into quarantine and supported with pay during that 
time.
    Mr. Larsen. Thank you. Professor Bahnfleth, I apologize if 
I am mispronouncing, but in your presentation, in the backup 
material on guidance for air operators, you say, for various 
reasons, modifications to aircraft ECS are not recommended as a 
short-term response to COVID-19 concerns, and emphasis 
therefore on operation measures should be the focus.
    Can you explain that recommendation, and are you arguing or 
is ASHRAE recommending that we think longer term about the ECS 
systems in aircraft?
    Mr. Bahnfleth. Yeah, thank you, Congressman, for the 
opportunity to clarify that point. I think when I say that, it 
is in the context that I have already indicated that we believe 
that aircraft are generally the safest transportation 
environments available because of the high air circulation 
rates, the large ventilation rates, and the fact that air is 
recirculated through HEPA filters. So the point is that I think 
we have airborne transmission covered about as well as 
possible.
    And so what is left is close-contact transmission which is 
not really affected by the ECS and contaminated surfaces to the 
extent that there might be fomite transmission. So that is why 
I think that in that particular mode of transport, that is 
probably the place to focus rather than further enhancements to 
technology.
    Although, I would certainly be happy to see evidence that 
improving ECS would make further improvements in risk.
    Mr. Larsen. All right.
    All right, thank you.
    Mr. DeFazio. Representative Perry?
    Mr. Perry. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank all our 
guests for their time and testimony today. My conversation and 
question will eventually be to the president pro tem of the Los 
Angeles City Council.
    Joe, in your testimony, you highlight the impact of the 
COVID-19 response on local budgets and revenue streams, 
particularly your experience in Los Angeles, and as you 
acknowledge, the economic harm was not uniform across the 
Nation. ``Some parts of the country may be ready to move 
forward post-virus more quickly, growing revenues and expanding 
the local economy, while others take longer''--and that is a 
quote.
    There are obvious reasons for these economic disparities 
that need to be addressed so that calls for State and local 
bailouts are put in the proper context. Certain States like 
California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and the Commonwealth 
of Pennsylvania, where I reside, imposed prolonged, widespread 
lockdowns on their economies that killed economic activity, 
gravely restricted their citizens' personal liberties, and 
eliminated their tax bases. These five Democrat-governed States 
shed almost one-quarter of a million jobs in December 2020 
alone.
    Other States, like Texas, Georgia, and Florida, among 
others, kept their economies open to a much greater degree, 
allowing businesses to safely remain open and citizens to 
participate in the economy in a safe manner. And not 
surprisingly, these States are already recovering economically. 
Fifteen States saw job growth in December 2020, despite the 
virus resurgence.
    Importantly, numerous studies have demonstrated that 
lockdowns have no significant effect on the spread of COVID in 
a community relative to less restrictive approaches. This fact 
is demonstrated by the situation in Los Angeles, which has some 
of the strictest lockdowns in the Nation, and yet L.A. County 
has the most cases in the Nation, over 1 million infections, 
more than the next 2 highest counties combined.
    So, given this context, can you please explain to us why 
the tax dollars of the constituents I represent should be used 
to subsidize ineffective, economically destructive restrictions 
on their personal liberties and create a moral hazard that will 
incentivize similar lockdown orders in the future?
    Mr. Buscaino. Thank you, Representative, for your question. 
Let's be mindful that COVID can care less what color skin, how 
you pray, how you love, what size city you live in. COVID is 
deadly. It is a pandemic, and it is real.
    Here in Los Angeles, as you mentioned, sir, we do live in a 
global city. It is a dense city. And that comes with 
challenges. The truth is that last week I attended a funeral of 
a 41-year-old friend, David Lopez, who died of COVID. We bonded 
together over Dodgers and French bulldogs. He came out of East 
Los Angeles to become a very successful man, raising a 
beautiful family. He was an asset to our city, his family, to 
our culture, to our workforce. He had an entire lifetime ahead. 
He should be here with us today, prospering in the richest 
country in the world.
    The fact of the matter is, cities are crying for help, 
regardless if you live in a city of 5,000 population or 5 
million population. We are on the ground zero of this pandemic.
    We are proud that we are home to the largest inoculation 
site in the country, Dodger Stadium. We are supposed to be 
vaccinating 20,000 people a day, and that is not happening. 
Herein comes the local Federal partnership that we are 
thirsting for. Bring the vaccinations to the city, so that we 
can get back to the recovery and get the American people back 
to work.
    Mr. Perry. Well, thank you, sir. I appreciate your answer 
which, quite honestly, wasn't much of one. And while I lament 
the loss of your friends and my friends and everybody's friends 
throughout this circumstance, you can't just go on failing to 
acknowledge there is a difference in the approaches and the 
effect of those approaches and require citizens from across the 
country to pay for inefficient, ineffective approaches that 
neither save lives, nor save jobs, nor save taxpayer revenue. 
And I wish somebody would acknowledge that.
    We understand your plight, we are concerned for you and all 
American citizens. Actually, we are concerned with all the 
world's citizens that are under this circumstance, but there is 
a better way of doing it, and simply being willing to pay over 
and over again for ineffective nonsolutions doesn't seem a 
solution to me.
    And, with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Mr. DeFazio. I thank the gentleman. I would refer him to an 
article today--it was either the New York Times or the 
Washington Post, I know that is fake news, but--documenting 
what went on in South Dakota with Governor Noem, a former 
Member of Congress--I think on this committee, I can't 
remember--who took zero steps, and they have one of the highest 
death rates in America.
    With that, I would turn to Representative Napolitano.
    Mrs. Napolitano. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank our 
witnesses and transportation workers who are risking their 
individual health and lives to keep our Nation moving during 
this pandemic.
    Council Member Buscaino, you talk about the port, over 30 
ships outside waiting to be unloaded. The current challenge 
facing your workers, what is being done to prevent the spread 
since a lot of them have been contaminated, and how is it 
impacting the efficiency of the ports and our greater economy?
    Mr. Buscaino. Thank you, Representative Napolitano. Let's 
be mindful, as I mentioned, that 10 percent of our longshore 
workforce are out ill today because of COVID. Nearly 700 of our 
dockworkers are out sick. Coupled with the fact that there is 
such a high demand, this is why we see over--and you have 
recognized this too, ma'am--we see over 30 ships waiting to 
come in to the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach.
    Tests and vaccines, we need to prioritize. I am working 
alongside the leadership of ILWU here on the west coast. The 
Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved prioritizing 
vaccinations to our longshore workforce, our truckdrivers that 
come in and out of our port complex.
    Mrs. Napolitano. But you don't have enough vaccines, right?
    Mr. Buscaino. We just need the vaccines, ma'am, absolutely. 
We stand ready, we have the infrastructure in place. The fact 
that we are using transportation hubs, can you just imagine a 
longshore worker coming in to check in, get vaccinated, a 
truckdriver coming into the port, getting vaccinated. They are 
already here working. Let's move on the vaccinations. We just 
need them and we need them with urgency.
    Mrs. Napolitano. All right. Thank you very much.
    Mr. Rivera, I introduced the Transit Worker and Pedestrian 
Protection Act in H.R. 2 last Congress which required buses to 
install bus shields to protect the drivers. What are your 
thoughts on it, and how necessary is the bill for the 
protection of the drivers?
    Mr. Rivera. Well, thank you for that question. I believe 
they need to build a better workstation for all the operators, 
including the shield, with better filters, with UV lighting so 
that the circulation of the air can flow a lot better and safer 
environment for everyone, including the operators.
    Mrs. Napolitano. OK. My suggestion, I don't know how many 
of you can speak on this, but to ask the manufacturer of the 
buses to incorporate what is put forth by Professor Bahnfleth, 
the ventilation systems, the air distribution systems, the 
filtration, and the air cleaners into the buses as well as the 
shields. Can anybody opine on that?
    Mr. Rivera. Well, is that question for me?
    Mrs. Napolitano. Anybody.
    Mr. Rivera. OK. Well, right now, what we have is, you know, 
the airflow, we get everything. I don't see them sanitizing 
these buses where they have these special machines where they 
do it on a daily basis. They do it periodically. So right now 
they just wipe down the buses. They sweep them. They mop them, 
but----
    Mrs. Napolitano. What would you say of having the 
manufacturers do the new buses as they are purchased to 
incorporate all of these things?
    Mr. Rivera. Yes, we would definitely be on board with 
something like that. And have our own workstation. They have 
buses like that at the airport--at Orlando Airport they had 
them--where they just kind of close off to the public, and we 
are secluded in our own workstation altogether.
    Mrs. Napolitano. Mr. Bahnfleth, Professor, we are looking 
at a virus that is mutating, and there are going to be new 
viruses coming forth. What do you suggest that we should be 
looking at for the future? In fact, they are saying that we may 
get control of this virus sometime this year maybe, but since 
there are new viruses coming, what can we do to protect our 
workers?
    Mr. Bahnfleth. Thank you for the question, Congresswoman. I 
think the thing I don't like to point out is that all of the 
types of control I mentioned will work on a mutation of the 
virus just as well as it works on the current strains.
    The real question is how virulent, how infective, are these 
new strains going to be, and are the levels of protection that 
we have now that may be appropriate for the current strain of 
SARS-CoV-2 going to work on one that is 30 percent or 50 
percent more infective, and I think we have to go back to the 
drawing board and look at whether further levels of protection, 
whether it is ventilation or filtration, are necessary in that 
case.
    Mrs. Napolitano. Well, that leads us to the N95s and 
whether they are effective enough or going to be effective 
enough in the future.
    Thank you, Mr. Chair. I yield back.
    Mr. DeFazio. I thank the Representative.
    Representative Babin?
    Dr. Babin. Yes, sir, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    In the early days of the pandemic, freight rates in the 
trucking industry reached historic lows, and while these rates 
are dictated by market forces, there are Federal transparency 
regulations that require brokers to disclose certain 
documentation to the carriers that they work with.
    With the goal of transparency in mind, I want to ensure 
that these requirements are enforced by DOT and not evaded, 
ignored, or too burdensome for a carrier to comply with. 
Currently, FMCSA has opened up a variety of regulatory dockets 
to gather public comments regarding this issue.
    So, with that, I will direct my question to Mr. Pugh.
    Mr. Pugh, I know that this might sound like an obscure 
issue to most folks, but could you tell us a little more about 
the issues that your members have had in accessing transaction 
records when they are working with freight brokers?
    I understand that these are regulations that are supposed 
to provide trucking companies the right to see these documents. 
But from what you mentioned in your testimony, it doesn't sound 
like that is happening right now.
    And more importantly, how does this tie into our discussion 
today about addressing the needs of workers during the 
coronavirus pandemic? Mr. Pugh?
    Mr. Pugh. Yes, thank you for your question, Representative 
Babin, it is much appreciated. And yes, you are correct. I am 
sure many of you that were in Washington working last year 
remember the truckers all coming to Washington and--because 
these freight rates, well, they just went completely in the 
toilet, I guess, for lack of better terms. Drivers were being 
paid [inaudible] per mile. This brought to light, in the 
FMCSRs, which are the rules that all truckers must follow and 
you can't exempt yourself from, brokers, there is a rule in 
there that brokers, 371.3, that they have truckers and all 
people part of the transaction, are allowed to see what people 
are paid.
    So, in essence, the trucker can ask the broker what they 
were paid by the shipper. That is the long and short of it. 
This isn't happening. Unfortunately, a lot of brokers put right 
in their contract that they are exempted from this regulation 
and a trucker can't. Those who do not, they tell you that you 
have to come to their office, which doesn't work very well in 
trucking, because I may be hauling a load from Ohio to New 
York, may live in Ohio, but the broker I received the load from 
is in California. For me to drive from Ohio to California just 
to look at this paperwork is really impossible. Especially on a 
load that pays maybe $1,000.
    We put a petition for this to FMCSA. We said that this 
could be done electronically. Broker carrier agreements are 
sent electronically, contracts are sent electronically in this 
age that we are in now. So there is no reason this information 
cannot be sent.
    Dr. Babin. OK.
    Mr. Pugh. Pardon me. Just one quick thing, the one thing 
that brokers always say is that they sign nondisclosure 
agreements with their shippers. Well, they could easily have 
the trucker or the motor carrier sign these same nondisclosure 
agreements so they cannot discuss what these rates are as well.
    Dr. Babin. Thank you so very much, Mr. Pugh. And let me 
just also say that I commend the work that OOIDA has done 
throughout the pandemic, the fight for your drivers. And while 
many Americans, including some in this room, worked from home 
last year, truckers continue to crisscross this Nation to pick 
up and deliver items that we all need, including life-saving 
PPE and millions of doses of the COVID vaccines.
    And we would not be moving toward reopening this country, I 
think, if it wasn't for the essential work of your members, and 
I hope that you will pass along our gratitude for their 
perseverance and dedication to their jobs, and I hope this 
committee will work with you in a serious, good-faith effort to 
help provide our truckers with the resources they need in a 
timely manner. So thank you so much.
    I will yield back, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Garamendi [presiding]. Thank you, Mr. Babin.
    Mr. Cohen, you are next.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The problem with safety 
procedures in public transit has been going on since the 
coronavirus was detected in our country. I think it was as far 
back as March, no later than April, but I think it was March 
that the chairman and others, including, of course, myself, 
started writing the airlines and the administration urging a 
mask requirement.
    The first couple of flights I went on in March, there was 
not only a no-mask requirement of the flight attendant, but 
they were talking right in our faces. They were talking without 
any regard for masks. And there were people doing the same. The 
airlines finally kind of came around, but the Trump 
administration never did. And I commend President Biden and our 
new administration for putting this mandate in place. It is 
necessary for the protection of the public.
    When I got on my flight to come home after the insurrection 
at the Capitol on the 6th of January, I heard people getting on 
the plane, when offered tissues for protection, say--take it, 
put it back on the plate that it came out of, and say ``COVID 
hoax.''
    I heard people walking down the aisle, going, I guess we 
need to be 6 feet apart or we will get in trouble. And none of 
the people who had Trump material on wore masks in the waiting 
area. So I don't know who can answer for the airports, but I 
know Ms. Nelson can answer for the flight attendants.
    Can you give me some examples of problems that the flight 
attendants have had with the people who refuse to wear masks, 
who refuse to accept [inaudible] the tissues--the cleansing and 
any [inaudible] about the airport. I was shocked at BNA, they 
made an announcement that we are supposed to wear a mask in the 
waiting area, but nobody got up and said a word to anybody. I 
could not find a seat in the waiting area without being next to 
somebody who was exposed to the coronavirus.
    Ms. Nelson, if you could respond, and I appreciate your 
efforts and your work. And everything Rodney Davis said, I say 
double.
    Ms. Nelson. Thank you, Representative Cohen. The days 
immediately preceding the insurrection and right after were 
some of the scariest times that we have ever experienced in 
aviation. This was a new safety and security threat that we 
have never experienced.
    And typically when someone is acting out in an airport, 
swearing at other people, refusing to comply with rules, acting 
belligerent, and even delusional, they are denied the freedom 
of flight.
    We were very clear that anyone who attacked our Nation's 
Capitol and our democracy should be denied the freedom of 
flight. And we were right, because what we saw in the airports 
was: we were not really prepared to deal with this. This was a 
bit of a mob mentality that took over.
    We are trained to deescalate. We are actually trained to 
ask other passengers to help us contain any problems if we are 
not able to peacefully deescalate the problem, but when there 
are so many people acting out, we didn't have the training or 
the resources to deal with this on our planes, and everyone was 
at risk.
    We had a situation on one flight--there are many, many 
stories, but--where the flight attendants called the pilots, 
begged them not to open the door because they were fearful of 
people entering the cockpit and taking over.
    We had people who were yelling at other passengers, a group 
of passengers berating a Black woman and her baby on the plane, 
and people who were not complying.
    And the mask policies were a big part of this. Enforcing 
the mask policies did two things. One, we understood that there 
was a concerted effort not to wear these masks, believe that 
this is part of the political effort to push back. People 
thought this was about their personal liberties.
    I would relate this to the smoking ban when people said 
that they wouldn't be able to last for 5 minutes without a 
cigarette. They didn't get to have exemptions because it was 
going to put the rest of us at risk.
    So we had to very, very quickly clamp down on these mask 
policies. We were just not prepared for what we experienced in 
our airports. I am sorry that you went through that. The crews 
that I represent went through very scary times on board.
    Mr. Cohen. Sara, I am about out of time. I would like to 
get one other issue in for you----
    Ms. Nelson. Go ahead.
    Mr. Cohen [continuing]. And that is the middle seat issue. 
It is very discomforting to sit next to somebody in the--what 
you used to call [inaudible] I guess. I don't know if it's 
called [inaudible] steerage--to sit next to somebody who 
doesn't wear a mask. Should the airlines not keep those seats 
open regardless of cost?
    Ms. Nelson. Well, first and foremost, everyone must wear a 
mask, and you are absolutely right. Secondly, we can't properly 
socially distance on a plane, so, while a middle seat provides 
some additional comfort, and as Chairman DeFazio noted, 
controlling how many people are on board will help with the 
number of people who are spreading the virus.
    But what some of the airlines have done, instead of 
blocking the middle seat, is they have put more airplanes up in 
the air, so that the load factors are lower overall. You are 
not really experiencing that on the flights to DC because 
oftentimes those are the ones that are the highest capacity, 
highest demand, but there is more capacity in the airline 
industry that hopefully will give us some room to work with 
there.
    Mr. Garamendi. Thank you, Ms. Nelson.
    Mr. Cohen, your time is expired.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you.
    Mr. Garamendi. We now turn to Mr. Graves.
    Mr. Graves of Louisiana. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. 
Chairman, first of all, there was a letter that was originally 
sent by Airlines for America and many other organizations 
indicating strong concerns, I think, with this concept that we 
are going to be testing all of the domestic airline passengers 
and just indicated that airline travel has very low 
transmission rates, and it suggested that this was unwarranted.
    So, Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask unanimous consent 
that this letter from A4A, as well as Ms. Nelson's group and 
others, be included in the record for the hearing.
    Secondly----
    Mr. Garamendi. Without objection.
    [The information follows:]

                                 
Letter of January 29, 2021, from Airlines for America et al., Submitted 
           for the Record by Hon. Garret Graves of Louisiana
                                                  January 29, 2021.
Mr. Jeffrey Zients,
COVID-19 Recovery Team Coordinator,
The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20500.
    Dear Mr. Zients:
    Thank you for your work on the Executive Order Promoting COVID-19 
Safety in Domestic and International Travel. As representatives of 
America's aviation, travel and tourism industries, we share President 
Biden's commitment to saving lives and allowing all Americans to travel 
and work safely. We believe the only way to achieve these goals is 
through data-driven, risk-based and feasible public health measures 
that reduce COVID-19 transmissions and allow travel and economic growth 
to safely resume. Our continuing partnership with relevant Federal 
agencies has played a critical role in developing and implementing 
policies that enhance the safety of flying. The aviation industry is 
committed to partnering with the COVID-19 response team, and we urge 
you to work together with us to continue these efforts and to continue 
providing industry an opportunity to participate meaningfully in 
discussions about transportation and travel restrictions.
    To that end, we strongly support many aspects of the Executive 
Order, such as the Federal mask mandate for interstate travel and pre-
departure testing for international arriving passengers. However, we 
are concerned by recent media reports that the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention (CDC) is considering a pre-departure testing 
requirement for domestic air travel. The industry remains committed to 
supporting risk-based, scientific approaches to contagion mitigation.
    Since the beginning of this pandemic, the health and safety of 
workers and traveling public have been the aviation and travel 
industries' top priority. In April, representatives across the entire 
travel ecosystem partnered with public health officials to develop 
uniform health and safety guidance to reduce the risk of COVID-19 
transmission throughout the travel process.\1\ This science-driven, 
layered approach aligns with CDC's own guidance and includes 
recommendations on universal mask wearing, physical distancing, 
enhanced sanitization and more. U.S. airlines have implemented multiple 
layers of protection to prevent virus transmission onboard the 
aircraft, including strict face covering requirements, pre-flight 
health forms, enhanced disinfection protocols, hospital-grade 
filtration systems and air exchanges that remove viruses. Likewise, 
airports have augmented efforts to clean and sanitize their facilities, 
upgraded their air filtration systems, promoted physical distancing, 
provided facial coverings for those in need and expanded touchless 
technology options to reduce the likelihood of the virus being 
transmitted to travelers or workers in these facilities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ https://www.ustravel.org/toolkit/industry-guidance-promoting-
health-and-safety-all-travelers
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    According to a growing body of rigorous scientific research, these 
health and safety protections have significantly reduced the risk of 
COVID-19 transmission onboard an aircraft. In November, a Harvard 
Aviation Public Health Initiative study found that air travel is as 
safe as--or substantially safer than--other routine activities, such as 
eating out and grocery shopping.\2\ Similarly, US TRANSCOM \3\ 
conducted 300 tests over six months with mannequins to reproduce 
breathing and coughing to determine how particles moved within the 
cabin when a mask was on or off. The study concluded that when masks 
are worn, there is a 0.003 percent chance that particles exhaled by a 
passenger can enter the breathing space of passengers sitting next to 
them. Therefore, it's not surprising that data published by the 
International Air Transport Association (IATA) shows that, of the 1.2 
billion airline passengers who traveled since the beginning of 2020, 
only 44 cases of in-flight COVID-19 transmission have been reported. 
And the vast majority of cases occurred before face covering were 
universally required.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ See https://npli.sph.Harvard.edu/resources-2.
    \3\ See https://www.ustranscom.mil/cmd/
panewsreader.cfm?ID=C0EC1D60-CB57-C6ED-90DEDA
305CE7459D&yr=2020
    \4\ See https://www.iata.org/contentassets/
a1a361594bb440b1b7ebb632355373d1/iata-cabin-safe.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Given the strong scientific evidence that the risk of COVID-19 
transmission onboard an aircraft is very low, we believe that a testing 
requirement for domestic air travel is unwarranted. Further, public 
health and economic data indicate that this policy would 
disproportionately prevent low-income travelers and rural Americans in 
small communities from travel. They may have less access to testing 
facilities, which could cause further job loss and economic harm to the 
most devastated sectors of the economy, who will need air service to 
take part in recovery. Therefore, the costs and consequences of a 
testing requirement for domestic air travel would far outweigh any 
potential benefits.
    In fact, a pre-departure testing mandate for domestic air travel 
would divert testing and financial resources away from more pressing 
public health priorities. For example, based on January 2021 data, a 
testing requirement for domestic air travel would necessitate a 42 
percent increase in daily testing capacity nationwide.\5\ Although 
testing production is expected to increase, there is no question that a 
mandate of this magnitude would syphon public health resources away 
from more vulnerable populations such as nursing homes, medical 
facilities and schools. Singling out air travel also would not 
effectively capture movement from state to state since travelers are 
likely to simply drive, take a bus or a train, all conveyances which do 
not have the measures in place that make air travel uniquely safe. Both 
the WHO and European CDC have noted that when community spread is as 
prevalent as it is now these types of restrictions and mandates simply 
aren't that effective. As a country we need to focus on the behaviors 
and activities that are driving transmissions and double down on mask 
wearing, social distancing and hand washing.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ Data compares TSA throughout for January 2021 and daily 
reported COVID-19 tests for January 2021: https://www.tsa.gov/
coronavirus/passenger-throughput and https://covidtracking.com/data/
charts/us-daily-tests
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    We look forward to continuing our partnership with COVID-19 
response team and relevant Federal agencies to develop and implement 
risk-based, data-driven public health measures that enhance the safety 
of flying. We urge you to seek input from aviation and travel 
stakeholders before implementing any additional measures to ensure that 
implementation will be feasible and effective for defeating the health 
and economic consequences of the virus.
    Again, thank you for your focus on protecting the United States 
from the health and economic damage inflicted by COVID-19. We look 
forward to continuing our work together to safely and responsibly 
restore domestic and international air travel.
                        Air Line Pilots Association, International,
                                  Aerospace Industries Association,
                                              Airlines for America,
                          Airline Passenger Experience Association,
                      Airport Council International--North America,
                        American Association of Airport Executives,
                            American Hotel and Lodging Association,
                               American Society of Travel Advisors,
                           Asian American Hotel Owners Association,
                             Association of Flight Attendants--CWA,
                                        Cargo Airlines Association,
                                Global Business Travel Association,
                           International Air Transport Association,
                         International Flight Services Association,
                                          Latino Hotel Association,
                                  National Air Carrier Association,
National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators & Developers,
                        Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics,
                           Regional Air Cargo Carriers Association,
                                      Regional Airline Association,
                                     Travel Technology Association,
                                                  Travelers United,
                                           U.S. Travel Association.

    Mr. Graves of Louisiana. Thank you. I have another UC, 
Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport director, which I am going to 
refer to his letter later, but I would like to also ask that 
Mike Edwards, director of Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, his 
letter, be included in the record, similar sentiment, as well, 
as others.
    Mr. Garamendi. Without objection, so ordered.
    [The information follows:]

                                 
      Letter from Mike Edwards, Director of Aviation, Baton Rouge 
Metropolitan Airport, Submitted for the Record by Hon. Garret Graves of 
                               Louisiana
Congressman Garret Graves,
2402 Rayburn House Office Building,
Washington, DC 20515.
    Congressman Graves,
    On February 4, 2021, the full House Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure will be meeting to discuss the topic of ``Protecting 
Transportation Workers and Passengers from COVID: Gaps in Safety, 
Lessons Learned, and Next Steps.'' In anticipation of said hearing, I 
would like to raise some concerns that have been raised by the aviation 
industry and internally here at the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport 
(BTR). As always, your support and advice are greatly appreciated.
    First, on January 31, 2021, the Transportation Security 
Administration (TSA) issued Security Directive (SD) 1542-21-01: 
Security Measures--Face Mask Requirements. (Attached). This SD covers 
airport operators such as BTR and went into effect February 1, 2021 at 
11:59 pm EST. Most measures directed by the TSA were already in place 
at BTR because of our own actions, actions of the Airlines, and 
Governor Edwards' Executive Orders. However, there are some areas of 
concern that may be difficult to ensure compliance and enforcement. We 
need further clarification on the SD and modification to the wording.
    Section B of the SD places the requirement that the airport 
operator ``must require that individuals in or on the airport to wear 
face masks. This requirement is written so broad that it renders it 
impractical. As you are aware, BTR is comprised of hundreds of acres of 
land. There is no way the current staff of BTR can patrol the entirety 
of airport property. Airport property is not only the terminal, but 
also warehouses, parking garages, private hangars, an industrial park 
containing private non-aeronautical businesses and tenant, and public 
offices (Federal, State, and Local) etc. A strict reading of the SD 
would require airport employees to spot check or inspect the premises 
of Coca-Cola or All Star Automotive to verify masks are being worn, 
especially in isolated offices. This can't be the intent of the SD. It 
is our belief that the intent of the SD is to take action to implement 
President Biden's Executive Order promoting safety in public 
transportation, specifically traveling passengers. Of course, BTR, in 
partnership with the airlines and concessionaires, will continue to do 
its best to advise passengers as to the mask requirements, provide 
complimentary masks when necessary, and enforce the SD within the 
passenger terminal building.
    Additionally, the SD goes beyond the CDC recommendations. As an 
example, Section D(2) provides for an exception to mask wearing, 
``while eating, drinking, or taking oral medication for brief 
periods.'' This language is consistent with the CDC Order. However, TSA 
went further to state that masks must be worn between bites and sips, 
while ``prolonged'' eating or drinking. How is this even enforceable 
unless the airport stations employees at restaurants, common areas, and 
gates?
    Next, it is my understanding that discussions are taking place 
concerning adding COVID testing for those traveling domestically. BTR 
understands and does not oppose the requirement for international 
travel. However, a domestic testing requirement will place a great 
burden and obstacle that will have a significant impact on air travel. 
While COVID testing can enhance the safety of the traveling public, the 
implementation of a testing requirement is a challenge for any airport 
no matter the size or location. Further, there is strong scientific 
evidence that the risk of COVID-19 transmission onboard an aircraft is 
very low. As such, BTR believes that a testing requirement for domestic 
air travel is unwarranted at this time. Attached is a letter sent to 
the White House COVID-19 Recovery Team Coordinator that raised concerns 
about the possibility of a pre-departure testing requirement for 
domestic air travel.
    A domestic testing mandate would impact airports by reducing 
passenger traffic, which is already at significantly low levels 
compared to pre-pandemic, even further. The public may opt to drive or 
not travel at all, in lieu of taking a flight, due to availability, 
time, risk, or cost associated with obtaining a COVID test either at 
home or at the destination before returning. Further, such a mandate 
would divert testing and financial resources away from more pressing 
public health priorities and vulnerable populations. An additional 
concern stems from the fact that some individuals travel on a weekly 
basis and could be required to have multiple COVID tests each week in 
different locales across the country. This is quite a burden to place 
on interstate travel. Before implementing a testing requirement, BTR 
urges the Biden Administration, TSA, CDC, and other relevant Federal 
agencies to seek input from the aviation and travel industry 
stakeholders before implementing any additional measures to ensure that 
these measures are feasible and effective. The decision to implement a 
domestic test requirement should be a data-driven, risk-based, and 
feasible approach to public health measures.
    Safety is extremely important at the Baton Rouge Metropolitan 
Airport. It is our first priority. BTR, as with most airports, took 
significant efforts since the beginning of the pandemic to ensure the 
health and safety of our employees and the traveling public. Additional 
regular cleaning, sanitization, social distancing measures, and 
providing complimentary masks are just some of the efforts taken. 
However, measures that are mandated by Federal, State and Local 
government agencies should be reasonable, practical, feasible, 
enforceable, and data driven. Most importantly mandates should be 
narrow and clear to ensure compliance. Perhaps, these are questions and 
issues that can be addressed at the full committee hearing or through 
your role in with the Aviation Subcommittee.
        Best Regards,
                                              Mike Edwards,
           Director of Aviation, Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, 
                                                    www.flybtr.com.

    Mr. Graves of Louisiana. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Ms. Nelson, I would like to ask you a question. So, if you 
look at this suggestion that at some point you may have 
domestic travelers being required to, before they can get on a 
plane, to be COVID tested, do you believe that that is going to 
result in basically an inconvenience that would result in 
higher costs, disproportionate impact on those of lower income, 
and potentially even pushing some of those travelers to other 
modes of transportation like bus and rail that don't require 
testing, which ultimately would be less safe?
    Ms. Nelson. I believe that that will absolutely be the 
result. We are not set up to do this in a way that can be 
convenient for everyone in order--and be effective. So it would 
be a cosmetic change that would hurt the airline business and 
actually make us less safe because of what you are talking 
about in pushing them to other modes of transportation.
    Mr. Graves of Louisiana. And likely so we would be making 
decisions that were less safe, at the same time, probably 
increasing the demand for PSP support, so additional taxpayer 
dollars going out to try and provide assistance. Is that fair 
to say?
    Ms. Nelson. You are 100 percent correct, and as I said 
earlier, if this is in place, the furloughs that we have seen 
so far would be dwarfed by what would happen if this policy 
went into effect without us being able to properly make it 
work.
    Mr. Graves of Louisiana. OK. Thank you, Ms. Nelson.
    Mr. Pugh, I would like to ask you a question. I know that 
some of these smaller independent operators were unable to 
access the Paycheck Protection Program assistance, the program 
under the SBA and Treasury that offered assistance directly to 
small businesses to cover payroll.
    Last year, there was legislation that was going to require 
increasing the minimum insurance coverage for trucks, even 
though I believe it was less than 99--excuse me--less than 1 
percent of the actual accidents hit the cap already, there was 
an effort to increase it.
    Do you believe that in these times when truckers are unable 
to access PPP, suffering extraordinary economic injury as a 
result of the pandemic, that putting additional insurance 
requirements that, according to statistics, clearly aren't 
needed, would complement the economic recovery and 
sustainability for the trucking industry, or do you believe 
that that would cause harm?
    Mr. Pugh. I think it would cause lots and lots of harm. 
Thank you for your question, Congressman. Yes, you are correct, 
there are all kinds of studies that show there is no 
correlation in safety and increased insurance.
    In fact, we feel that it will have an opposite effect 
because most small carriers, they don't have the borrowing 
power as the big carriers. But they own the truck. They own the 
trailer. They are some of the safest people out there. By doing 
this, you are going to drive them out of business.
    Trucking is a penny-profit business. No one is getting rich 
in the trucking business that owns a truck and trailer. It is a 
very, very tight profit margin business. These guys are already 
paying $10,000 to $20,000. If they put these increases and we 
have no idea even what the charges will go to, they could 
double, maybe more. We figure the availability for insurance 
will go away. There will be less carriers willing to write 
these policies, you know, so who knows. It eliminates 
competition. So, yes, this would be a detrimental effect on 
small business carriers and on safety for the highway, in our 
opinion.
    Mr. Graves of Louisiana. Thank you, Mr. Pugh. I appreciate 
y'all in terms of providing feedback and helping guide us as we 
move forward.
    Last quick question here. Mr. Chairman, perhaps one of the 
Ph.D.s. Under President Biden's Executive order on the mask 
requirement, it is unclear, particularly in section B, where it 
makes reference to airports being required to enforce the mask 
mandate on airport property. For example, in my hometown 
airport, they own lots of open land. They actually even have 
tenants that have very little to do with the airport. Do you 
believe that enforcing mask mandates on open land when folks 
are not surrounded by other people or in private businesses 
that are not aviation-related, necessarily, makes sense and 
should be part of this order as strictly interpreted? If you 
could quickly answer.
    Mr. Garamendi. I think that will be a yes-or-no answer, and 
we will move on.
    Mr. Bahnfleth. Yes.
    Mr. Garamendi. So that was a yes. All right.
    Heads up, everybody. Mr. Sires is next, then Mr. Bost, and 
myself and then LaMalfa, so get ready for your questions.
    Mr. Sires.
    Mr. Sires. Can you hear me?
    Mr. Garamendi. Yes, we can.
    Mr. Sires. I represent a district that is one big 
transportation hub. I represent Hoboken, New Jersey, which is 1 
square mile, and it has about 52,000 people. Every kind of 
transportation system you can think of is in my district from 
the ferry to the buses, jitney buses that don't pay attention 
to the local rules. You name it, we use it, because we are, by 
far, the most densely populated square mile in the country.
    I had the opportunity to visit one of the garages of the 
ATU, and the stories that I heard broke my heart, how people 
just don't pay attention to wearing a mask and doing the right 
thing. I don't know what kind of technology we can use to 
protect these drivers and these people that are performing such 
a vital service because if we didn't have transportation in my 
district, I mean, it will come to a standstill.
    And my concern is, what actually works for these people? I 
know we talked about a shield. We talked about the air. We talk 
about it, but they are not comfortable with that. And I don't 
know how we make them comfortable to do their job.
    Anybody want to take a shot at that?
    Mr. Bahnfleth. Well, Congressman, an important point, and I 
would be happy to say a couple words. I think Dr. Michaels 
talked about the hierarchy of controls, and then what that 
illustrates is that we have layers of protection, and they all 
add to one another. So what I would hope to see is that 
everyone does everything reasonable they can to reduce risk, 
and that is going to give us the best result.
    Honestly, we are in a situation of imperfect knowledge, but 
we know all of these things that are being recommended do 
something to reduce risk, and I think it is helpful to do as 
much of that as we can. We need everyone to do their part.
    Mr. Sires. Does the National League of Cities, are they 
able to provide us with information on how many cities with 
public buses have protective shields installed in the buses?
    Mr. Buscaino. Congress Member, thank you for the question. 
Here in Los Angeles and the L.A. Metro, we do have 
installation. We have installed shields in our bus fleet. As 
far as data is concerned with National League of Cities, we 
don't have that specific data now, but we will be more than 
happy to provide a written report for you, sir.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you.
    You know, I rode Amtrak coming here this week. I have to 
tell you: I was one of two people in the car. And my concern is 
once we hopefully get this pandemic under control, how are we 
going to get people back into trains? That is so important, 
especially in this corridor that I travel in. I don't know how 
we get people confident to go back. It will take a long time. I 
think Amtrak is losing something like $200 million a month, 
some ridiculous number. But, you know, you cannot do without 
this kind of transportation. And I think part of our job as 
Congress is to find a way to bring back that confidence of 
people to ride the train, to ride the buses. [Inaudible] The 
questions have been answered that I wanted to ask, but my 
concern is the confidence that we are going to be able to 
install for people to go back to using public transportation. 
Like I said, my district is nothing more than a transportation 
hub.
    Mr. Michaels. Congressman, if I can respond, I think that 
the first thing the country really needs to do is to change the 
culture around masks. The number one effective tool is to make 
sure everyone is masked. And if we want people to be able to 
get back on trains, on buses and planes, they have to have 
confidence that they will be safe. And, you know, in other 
countries, they issue tickets like a traffic ticket if you 
don't wear a mask. We think it is just voluntary here, but it 
is not voluntary to ride the bus without paying. There are 
certain responsibilities we all have. And certainly masking in 
public is absolutely a responsibility, and I think it is 
irresponsible to tell people, well, masking is just voluntary. 
It is something you can do if you want to. It is a public 
health concern. You are not masking to protect yourself. I have 
heard people say ``I don't need to wear a mask because I don't 
care if I get sick.'' That is not what it is about. You are 
wearing a mask because you respect other people. You want to 
make sure other people don't get sick. And that is what we need 
to be talking about. I think everybody needs to get behind that 
message and make it strong.
    Mr. Sires. Well, I agree with you 100 percent. Now we have 
people that, after two shots of the vaccine, they feel they 
don't have to wear the mask.
    Mr. Garamendi. Mr. Sires, could you please wrap up? Your 
time has expired.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you.
    Mr. Rivera. Mr. Chairman, if I can answer his question 
really quick.
    Mr. Garamendi. Yes. Go ahead quickly.
    Mr. Rivera. I think the industry needs to rebuild the buses 
and perhaps work with unions and help redesign them so we can 
have a better feeling and understanding of what needs to be 
done. Thank you so much. And, thank you, Congressman Sires.
    Mr. Garamendi. Thank you.
    I will now turn to Mr. Bost.
    Mr. Bost. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    You know, recently the Federal Highway Administration 
released results of a 2019 Jason's Law survey, which examines 
truck park shortages nationwide. This was an update from the 
FHWA's 2015 report on the same issue. And it was confirmed that 
the truck parking shortages are still a major problem in every 
State and region. In fact, some States, including Illinois, now 
have fewer public parking spaces than they did 5 years ago.
    That being said, Mr. Pugh, as a trucker and with firsthand 
experience out on the road, could you talk a little bit more 
about the safety challenges that the parking shortages created 
for drivers, especially during this COVID-19 crisis?
    Mr. Pugh. Yes. Thank you, Representative Bost, and thank 
you again to yourself and Representative Craig for going across 
party lines to come out with such a good bipartisan bill to 
help truckers get some parking. So thank you very much. We 
appreciate that from both you and Congresswoman Craig.
    But, yes, you are correct. I have been traveling to 
Washington, DC, personally since 2005 attending meetings, 
hearings, surveys, discussions, and everything about parking. 
Since 2005 until now, the only thing I've seen is less parking 
than what there was in 2005. So the Jason's Law survey of 2019 
is no surprise that there is less than there was in 2014, and 
this is still an issue.
    Myself, personally, I can speak. I have had to park in 
places where my truck has been hit, where someone tried to 
break into my truck, where I have been harassed. I used to 
always carry a Collie dog with me, to give me some company but 
mainly for protection. I have parked in places where I have had 
my tire shot out.
    One of the worst ones I can relate to you. You know, when 
you hear all of the time the trucking--the truckstop industry 
can handle all this. That isn't true. I was going to Boston one 
time, was getting sleepy, still had plenty of time, but I was 
getting tired. So coming into Connecticut on I-84, I started 
looking for a place to lay down and take a nap. This is later 
evening, probably 9, 10 o'clock at night. I stopped at every 
truckstop in Connecticut on I-85, which at the time, I think, 
was two or three, ran through every rest area, there was no 
park, places to park. Got into Mass., same instance. Before I 
got on the Mass. Pike, there was a couple truckstops. Nowhere 
to park. Finally, I got on the Mass. Turnpike, got to the first 
service plaza. By now, it is probably close to midnight, pulled 
in there to see if I could find a place to safely rest.
    The truck side was full. There was some parking on the car 
side. And there were a couple trucks parked there back in the 
back. I personally backed in there and parked with those other 
trucks. At 4 o'clock in the morning, I was awakened by 
Massachusetts Highway Patrol, given a parking ticket, and told 
they weren't concerned that I was going to run out of hours. 
They sent me down the road and told me to get on out of there. 
So this is a real problem that continuously gets worse and 
worse and worse.
    During COVID, Pennsylvania shut their rest areas down. We 
had to get the Federal Highway Administration and some involved 
to get the rest areas back open. There are just not enough 
places to park. There are so many trucks, and with ELDs and all 
the hours of service and flexibility, it is just--everything's 
maxed out. Government has to get involved. Government, 
Congress, you have to help by passing something like 
Representative Bost's bill.
    Mr. Bost. Well, thank you for that, but also, you just--and 
we have only got a minute, but you brought up something that is 
vitally important that our committee needs to know and 
understand, especially those that have never been in the 
trucking business, and that is it is the hours of service, and 
it is the electronic logbooks that are putting us in 
situations. And then you have police officers, God bless them 
for what they do, but maybe a local community police officer 
that doesn't understand that, when you say you have got to shut 
that truck down, you have got to shut the truck down according 
to Federal laws. And then the local laws will say, no, you 
can't park here because you are violating the law by parking 
here, but you don't have any more hours to go anyplace else. It 
is a real problem that people need to know and understand, so 
thank you for bringing that up.
    Mr. Pugh. And if I could add, it's not only a problem with 
the law; it is also a problem with these shippers and 
receivers. Some of these huge shippers and receivers have huge 
parking lots, plenty of space, but they make you leave, and 
when they have tied you up for 4 or 5 hours waiting to load 
when they should have loaded you in an hour and got you down 
the road.
    Mr. Bost. Right. That is correct.
    With that, I yield back. Thank you.
    Mr. Garamendi. Thank you, Mr. Bost.
    Heads up. The next three witnesses or questioners will be 
Garamendi, LaMalfa, and then Hank Johnson. So I will turn to 
myself for the next few moments.
    Like Chairman DeFazio, I have the pleasure of living on the 
west coast. I also have the pleasure of spending 5 hours going 
either east or west in an airplane. So the question of air 
quality on the plane is of utmost interest to those of us. And 
I see our friend from Hawaii here, and he gets to add another 5 
hours to that trip either way. So air quality becomes very, 
very important. Last year, we introduced legislation on air 
quality. It was specifically for toxins. We now deal with 
viruses.
    And so my question goes to Ms. Nelson--is legislation 
useful and necessary to mandate that the airlines provide 
airplanes that have systems to make their air safe from toxins 
as well as from viruses or other pathogens? The same question 
will go to Mr. Bahnfleth.
    Ms. Nelson. Yes. So we do need legislation on sensors and 
filters to make sure that we are not circulating toxins into 
the cabin air, but I do want to note that the HEPA filtration 
on board, not all aircraft, but many aircraft and certainly on 
Boeing aircraft, is helpful because it does at least filter out 
those virus particles. Now, that is not a complete protection. 
We have to have all the layers of safety, but air circulation 
and air filtration is a key part of keeping people healthy and 
safe on board.
    Mr. Garamendi. Thank you. I will look forward to your 
continued support of the legislation.
    Mr. Bahnfleth.
    Ms. Nelson. Thank you.
    Mr. Bahnfleth. Yeah. Thank you for the question. And I have 
to say that as a representative of the technical society, it is 
not really, I think, my place to say how things should get 
done, but I do believe that our standards should continue to 
improve. And I would like to see standards like ASHRAE Standard 
161 that relate specifically to aircraft air quality is adopted 
as the basis for design of the aircraft in the future to the 
extent that it is not already being used. So I believe in 
standards produced by consensus bodies being widely adopted.
    Mr. Garamendi. Thank you. I would appreciate from your 
organization specific recommendations on HEPA filters, UV, and 
other kinds of filters and systems that might be used on 
aircraft and also on other modes of transportation. So we have 
talked a lot about buses and trains here. So what can be done 
to improve the air quality?
    I will also note that, in this building, the Architect of 
the Capitol decided that they ought to put in windows, new 
windows, that we cannot open, without the proper ventilation 
also, but that is a problem here. So if you would do that, sir, 
I would appreciate it.
    With that, I have completed my questions, and I am going to 
turn to Mr. LaMalfa. Mr. LaMalfa, if you are still there. If 
you are not, we will go to Mr. Stauber.
    Mr. Stauber. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
    And I do want to thank the witnesses, and I also want to 
thank the industries who are testifying, our flight attendants, 
owner-operator truckers, and our public bus operators. And I 
appreciate this hearing today because I think it really has 
been the American worker who has proven to be more resilient 
than any virus could, and I have personally seen some of the 
best of humanity in the American worker since the beginning of 
this pandemic.
    I agree that we must protect workers from COVID by ensuring 
that they have proper PPE and proper policies in place to 
ensure that people are safe. But protecting workers from COVID 
not only means protecting them from the virus; it also means 
protecting their jobs and their ability to make a living.
    Mr. Pugh, how important is it to your industry that the 
businesses that drivers deliver to, the restaurants, the 
retailers, the supply chain partners, remain open for business 
and consumers who patronize these businesses?
    Mr. Pugh. Yes. Thank you for the question, Representative. 
And, yes, you are correct. It is very important. I hate to say 
it is life and death, but when you are in a truck, and you are 
out on the road, I can speak for myself. You leave your home on 
Sunday or Monday morning, and you don't get back until Friday. 
Maybe you don't get back for multiple weeks, you know. A lot of 
guys--some guys can fix things, you know, microwaves and stuff 
like that in their truck. But, you know, you ride around in a 
box that is 6 by 6 or something and spend your whole time in 
there, it is nice to be able to get out and go in somewhere and 
not only wash your hands and stuff but be able to sit down in 
something that doesn't move and eat a good meal, get a good 
square meal, not something you have to heat up in a microwave.
    You know, fortunately, thank God, I was here in this 
office, and I didn't have to go through all the things that our 
men and women driving trucks are going through, have been going 
through, and are still going through. Like, when I went back to 
Ohio from Missouri this spring, we stopped in Effingham, which 
is a big trucking hub. None of the truckstops had their 
restaurants open. I had my pickup truck, and so we actually 
walked to a fast food restaurant. They handed us food out the 
door, you know. It is cold. It was raining. That is the real 
thing that drivers have gone through and are still going 
through in some cases. A lot of places are still not opening. 
You can't park a tractor-trailer at just any little restaurant 
that may be open and----
    Mr. Stauber. Yeah. Mr. Pugh, if I may, just another 
question. So when you have individual Governors unilaterally 
shutting down their States, what does that do to the owner-
operator trucker and their bottom line?
    Mr. Pugh. Well, it kills their bottom line because once you 
shut them down, not only do they not have a place to stop or 
get a good meal or a safe place to be. It also shuts down 
freight that some of them haul, so they are not moving anything 
or hauling anything. They put tighter demands and stress on the 
other freight that is out there and that other operators are 
doing which drives down costs for everyone--or pay, I should 
say, not costs.
    Mr. Stauber. Right. Well, thank you, Mr. Pugh. You know, we 
currently have an economic environment that is very fragile. 
Every day, businesses fear that the whim of a Governor could 
shut them down for an indefinite amount of time, making it 
illegal to make a living, thereby again, laying off employees 
and forcing American workers on to unemployment.
    In northern Minnesota, we also have the economic and 
personal safety of American workers in jeopardy due to 
protesters on the line 3 pipeline replacement project. Just 
earlier this week, there was a protester who put people's 
safety at risk when he jumped onto a piece of pipe as it was 
being lowered into a water trench. Also, earlier this week, 
more than 50 protesters climbed onto and under pipeline 
construction equipment, further endangering worker safety. Last 
month, protesters actually climbed inside portions of that 
pipe.
    More must be done to protect worker safety. I agree that 
the safety of the American worker must be paramount, whether it 
be from COVID, from shutdowns of small businesses, or dangerous 
protesters.
    Mr. Chair, I yield back.
    Mr. DeFazio [presiding]. I thank the gentleman. I am going 
to, at this point, do something a little unusual. I am going to 
ask that unless senior Members have a pressing question that 
hasn't already been answered two or three times, to forgo your 
questions because we have a list that would go quite long, but 
we are going to have a series of two votes, which is a minimum 
of 2 hours. I will wait until the end of the first vote to go 
vote, but after that, I am not going to call the committee back 
into session.
    Mr. Johnson of South Dakota. Mr. Chairman, Dusty Johnson, 
South Dakota, sir. I would like a couple minutes to respond to 
something you said earlier, if I could.
    Mr. DeFazio. Well, I just explained this problem. So, when 
your time is up for a question and you are up there, you can 
use it however you want. So, with that, let's go to Mr. 
Johnson--excuse me--Hank Johnson. Actually, the rules don't 
preclude ``Mr.'' We can use ``Mr.'', so Mr. Johnson.
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Pugh, I want to thank you for being here today and for 
your work representing small, independent trucking businesses 
and independent truckers. They catch a raw deal from the 
middleman, trying to set the rates and get a fair amount of 
money for the work that they do, and I am committed to working 
to level the playing field for you guys out there, so I look 
forward to working with you.
    In your written testimony, you express some frustration at 
this committee's efforts last Congress to raise minimum 
trucking liability insurance standards to $1.25 million, but 
you acknowledge that many carriers are already insured for $1 
million or more. How much would it cost for an average carrier 
to purchase insurance coverage from $1 million to $2 million 
per truck?
    Mr. Pugh. Yes. Thank you for your question, and I 
appreciate it. Yes. I need to be clear, and I think you are 
correct. They want to raise it $1.25 million; $750,000 is the 
minimum now. They want to raise it to $2 million.
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. And my question is how much would 
it cost the average trucker?
    Mr. Pugh. Probably--we would guess that it would probably 
close to double. Average truckers----
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. How much is that?
    Mr. Pugh. That would be--probably $10,000 to $15,000, but 
there is no solid way to know because we are sure that there 
will be insurance carriers that will drop out of this market. 
Commercial truck liability has been losing money for 10 years 
overall.
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Well, now, that may be true, but 
now, you must admit that there has been an increase in trucking 
wrecks and injuries and deaths caused by them, and the basic 
$750,000 basement level has not been raised in decades.
    Mr. Pugh. That is correct, but most drivers----
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. So let me ask you this question. If 
there was no raise in [inaudible] On their families to 
adequately recover for their losses due to injury and death 
caused in trucking wrecks?
    Mr. DeFazio. Representative Johnson, you are freezing up.
    Mr. Pugh. I think I can answer some of this, Mr. Chair.
    Yes, you are correct, there have been accidents that have 
gone up. But there have also been studies that have shown by 
FMCSA that limits or the average accident in trucks is $18,000. 
Right now, we are right around $18,000; 99.4 percent of all 
truck accidents, the limits take care of and cover. Seven 
hundred fifty thousand dollars is the required amount, but most 
carriers, due to markets, are already carrying $1 million. So, 
again, it has been shown that these accidents, these 
catastrophic accidents, there isn't anyone who could supply 
enough insurance to cover them, unfortunately. But, again, 
right now, 99.4 percent of all accidents are covered. This 
raising the insurance minimums is completely driven by trial 
attorneys and wanting to get more money, you know, because they 
get 30 to 40 percent or more when those cases come.
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Mr. Pugh, I would like for you to 
allow me to move on, if I could.
    Mr. Pugh. Yes.
    Mr. DeFazio. I am not hearing Representative Johnson. I 
think we lost the Representative. Representative Johnson.
    We will move on to Representative Fitzpatrick.
    Mr. Fitzpatrick. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for convening the 
hearing today.
    Thank you to our panelists.
    And my first question is for Ms. Nelson. I do want to share 
with my colleagues. As I am sure many of you have, I dealt with 
a lot of our Nation's labor leaders since the inception of the 
COVID-19 pandemic. And I can tell you that Ms. Nelson was so 
engaged from day one with me and my staff and so many of my 
colleagues looking after the people that she represents and all 
people working across the country, including our flight 
attendants, including the airlines themselves, and I want to 
thank her for her service.
    So, Ms. Nelson, if you are still with us, I have been a 
strong supporter of the Payroll Support Program, and I wanted 
you, if you could, to share with the committee here what would 
have happened to the airline industry if Congress had not 
provided that relief. I think that is important for everyone to 
hear given the need for ongoing support.
    Ms. Nelson. Congressman Fitzpatrick, thank you so much.
    In March, if this had not been put in place, the airline 
industry simply would have collapsed. We would have seen many 
airlines going out of business. The dropoff in demand was so 
severe, 97 percent dropoff, that many airlines were in jeopardy 
of not meeting payroll within a couple weeks, if not within a 
couple months. So they saved the airlines and the ability to 
continue to provide this service for the American public and 
these jobs. But in addition to that, the Payroll Support 
Program that we put in place was specifically a workers first 
program and supported only those workers' jobs, made sure that 
there was no cuts to hourly rates, made sure that we continued 
service to all the communities, and we did the opposite of what 
a normal corporate bailout would do. We capped executive 
compensation and banned stock buybacks. So it was workers first 
all the way around. It saved jobs, kept us connected to our 
healthcare and all of the things that we need to continue for 
the rest of our working lives, Social Security contributions, 
contributions to our retirement and pensions, and these are 
things that we are not going to have to burden the rest of the 
public with because Congress acted in a bipartisan fashion to 
put this workers first program in place.
    Mr. Fitzpatrick. Yeah. I will say I strongly believe PSP 
needs to be extended to give workers some stability during a 
really uncertain time. Ms. Nelson, if you could share with us 
what more can be done aside from extending the PSP and 
supporting those who work in the aviation sector.
    Ms. Nelson. We can make sure, actually, that we are 
implementing the 2018 FAA reauthorization bill and that we are 
making sure that airline workers have proper access to PPE. So, 
for example, flight attendants fill the two-person rule in the 
cockpit when one of the pilots needs to come out. We also need 
those secondary barriers to keep us safe during this time, but 
we need to make sure that the flight attendants who are 
fulfilling that secondary person in the cockpit are able to 
have an N95 mask because the pilots cannot always wear masks in 
the cockpit in order to properly communicate with ATC. So that 
is another thing that could be done, and that is a hole right 
now that needs to be filled.
    Mr. Fitzpatrick. Thank you, Ms. Nelson. Thank you for all 
of your support for the workers across America. You are a 
champion for them.
    If I could ask a question for Councilman Buscaino. Sir, 
what effects will we see in towns and cities across the country 
if we do not provide the revenue necessary to stem the loss of 
revenue that you have experienced?
    Mr. Buscaino. Thank you, Congress Member, for the question. 
We are dipping into our reserves here in Los Angeles, something 
that we built up over the years since the last recession. We 
have also had to dip into our public works trust fund that we 
need to pay back, as I mentioned earlier, by July 1st, per our 
city charter, and this is just the city of Los Angeles.
    If we don't move on a relief package for cities, towns, and 
villages across the country, we are going to start furloughing 
or laying off our essential city employees from firefighters, 
police officers, to sanitation workers. Again, and I appreciate 
the question because the cities are ground zero in this 
pandemic. We heavily rely on revenues, our revenues are not 
coming in because of stay-at-home orders. Additional aid to 
local governments cannot come soon enough, sir. So many of our 
municipalities are facing devastating consequences because of 
the pandemic.
    Mr. Fitzpatrick. Thank you, Councilman.
    Thank you, Ms. Nelson.
    Thank you both for your service.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Mr. DeFazio. OK. Now Representative Johnson.
    Mr. Johnson of South Dakota. Thanks very much, Mr. 
Chairman. And I think we understand how critically important 
accurate and fair information is when we talk about COVID-19. 
And so I do want to take just a couple of minutes, I think, to 
set the record straight with some of the comments that you 
made, sir, against your former colleague, Kristi Noem, my 
friend, and the Governor of South Dakota.
    It was stated that zero steps had been taken by South 
Dakota to address COVID-19, and that is simply not the case. I 
would note that in the earliest days of the pandemic, Governor 
Noem and our healthcare system stepped up and made substantial 
investments in healthcare and in COVID response. And, in fact, 
today South Dakota leads the Nation in hospital bed capacity 
per capita.
    Secondly, I would note that South Dakota has been a 
national leader week after week after week in vaccinations, 
routinely coming in as first, second, or third best in the 
country. The last time I checked, I believe South Dakota was 
fifth best per capita on vaccine deployment. For context, 
Oregon would be 20th. I would also note that South Dakota has a 
lower unemployment rate today than it did before the pandemic 
started.
    Now, so many of these concepts, vaccinations and healthcare 
capability, as well as employment, have been called out by our 
professional panelists today as critically important to how our 
Nation responds in the transportation space. Now, it may well 
be, Mr. Chairman, that the steps that Governor Noem has taken 
are not exactly the ones that you would take, but I think all 
reasonable people should be able to acknowledge that they are 
not zero steps.
    And so I have been told that this committee is one of 
strong bipartisanship and cooperation. I believe that to be 
true. It is one of the reasons that I am so proud to have this 
be one of my committee assignments. But I would just note that 
hyperbole and dramatic overstatement is not conducive to 
addressing COVID-19, it is not conducive to problem solving, 
and it is not conducive to the work of this Congress. And so I 
thank the committee for their indulgence as I make statements 
related, I think, to some previous hyperbole and overstatement.
    With the time I have left, I have some questions for Dr. 
Bahnfleth. And I did appreciate, sir, your focus on science and 
standards. You noted in your testimony some cases of infection 
that contact tracing suggested happened on commercial air 
flights, but I want to provide some context around that data. 
Do we have any reliable data related to how many people have 
contracted COVID-19, sir, in commercial air?
    Mr. Bahnfleth. Thank you for the question, Congressman. And 
that data may exist, but I do not have access to it myself at 
this moment. I would be happy to see if we can find that for 
you, or someone else on the panel may know.
    Mr. Johnson of South Dakota. So you note in your testimony 
that there is, quote, ``a significant risk of catching COVID-19 
on air travel.'' How could one make that statement absent any 
sort of a comprehensive review? And I would only note this, 
sir, because I think other resources that I have researched, a 
study that MIT did an analysis of indicated that it was, quote, 
``highly unlikely to get COVID-19 on commercial airline 
traffic.''
    A Reuters source that I looked up noted that air handling 
in office buildings is about four times an hour. You talked a 
fair amount in your testimony, sir, about the importance of air 
handling. A modern jet aircraft turns over the air 20 or 30 
times an hour. The World Health Organization, their 
recommendations for health facilities is that ventilation rates 
should be 6 to 12 times an hour. And so can you give me some 
sense of what data leads you to categorize the risk as you did?
    Mr. Bahnfleth. Yeah. Thank you. Happy to. I would 
categorize it that way because there are plenty of forensic 
studies on outbreaks associated with aircraft to document that 
it is possible to have significant transmission on an airplane. 
One that I mentioned but didn't go into any detail, I think 
there were 14 infections on that plane. I believe 12 of them 
were in the business-class cabin, all clustered around the 
index case, who was on the plane.
    Mr. Johnson of South Dakota. Sure.
    Mr. Bahnfleth. So I think that there is reason to believe 
that they are at risk.
    Mr. Johnson of South Dakota. Doctor, I apologize. My time 
has expired.
    Mr. Bahnfleth. Whether someone calls it large or small is a 
judgment.
    Mr. Johnson of South Dakota. Doctor, I apologize. My time 
has expired.
    Mr. DeFazio. I will give him an extra 30 seconds since you 
had to say something else at the beginning. Just finish your 
statement, sir.
    Mr. Johnson of South Dakota. Mr. Chairman, thank you for 
your indulgence.
    Mr. Bahnfleth. It is simply that these numbers about how 
many out of total travelers is one way of looking at it, but 
the other is what makes people confident enough to go on an 
airplane or a bus or a train when they see what has happened in 
some of these incidents. And I think we have to keep working 
towards making them as safe as possible in every way possible.
    Mr. Johnson of South Dakota. Very good, Doc. And I would 
just close by noting we had 1.8 billion passengers in 
commercial airlines last year. And I would call out Sara 
Nelson, I think, for her very good testimony, trying to balance 
the needs of that critical infrastructure with public safety. 
Thank you very much, sir.
    Mr. DeFazio. I thank the gentleman. I just inadvertently 
recognized two Republicans in a row, so now I am going to do 
two Democrats in a row. Then we will get back to regular order.
    However, I will indulge as the chair just for a moment. I 
apologize for the hyperbole about zero, but she did make a huge 
point of not wearing masks, and, you know, you do have the 
sixth worst death rate in the country followed by North Dakota, 
your sister State. And the other four States have massive urban 
areas which are, like, just hotbeds of infection.
    And then, on my State, yeah, they are doing a crappy job of 
vaccine distribution and other things. The unemployment 
department is dysfunctional. I am not going to apologize for 
those things, and I admit to that. They are doing better now. 
They are up to 20. They were down in the bottom. But, you know, 
we are 49th in terms of infections, and I think the same in 
deaths, and that is because we did a mask mandate, and 
Oregonians, for the most part, are compliant. Now, the only 
hotbeds in Oregon right now are eastern Oregon where the 
culture is more similar to South Dakota than it is to western 
Oregon, where people are ignoring the masking, and their rates 
are skyrocketing in these little, tiny counties. Masks work.
    With that, we will turn to Representative Titus.
    Ms. Titus. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    We have heard a lot this morning about making airlines 
safer and other modes of transportation, and I appreciate that, 
but 1 in 10 jobs in the country is based on tourism. Certainly 
the economy of my district is, so we need to make 
transportation safer. But this committee also looks at 
infrastructure, and let's not forget that part of our 
responsibility is oversight of 267,000 buildings in the Federal 
real estate portfolio. We need to worry about keeping them safe 
for the workers there as well as the clients who visit.
    On January 21st, the President issued an Executive order 
calling for Government agencies to develop some guidance 
regarding air filtration. I would ask our two professors who 
have talked about air filtration on planes to give us some of 
their recommendations, what do they expect to see, what do they 
hope to see coming out of this Executive order, and what other 
things can we do besides the air filtration system to make our 
public buildings safer?
    Mr. Bahnfleth. I was going to give Dr. Michaels a chance, 
but I will be happy to answer that question, Congresswoman.
    Mr. Michaels. I really defer to you and ASHRAE on air 
filtration. So why don't you go ahead, and I can always----
    Mr. Bahnfleth. Thank you.
    I think what we see happening is a recognition that filters 
that filter the air in buildings need to control particles that 
are known to have health effects, not just infectious particles 
as in the pandemic, but there is a huge health cost to inhaling 
a lot of PM2.5. And so these filter upgrades that we are 
talking about being good in terms of reducing infection risk 
are also good in terms of by having a very significant effect 
on other health impacts. So I foresee moving up, perhaps, as a 
standard to the MERV 13 in most buildings that ASHRAE is 
recommending now. It is already in title 24 in California.
    So I expect more filtration, but the other things that we 
can do, I think air cleaners are really a big part of the 
future of sustainable indoor air quality, and that is why I was 
so strong on the point that we need standards. I would love to 
see some of these technologies that are emerging be things that 
we use every day so that we don't have to rely on ventilation 
and filtration as much as we do.
    Mr. Michaels. If I can just add, I generally agree with 
everything Professor Bahnfleth has said. The investment that is 
required to improve ventilation and filtration, you know, is 
not just for COVID. I mean, we are going to be--first, we need 
to prepare for future pandemics, but also, certainly we are 
seeing this immense increase in wildfires, for example, 
throughout much of the country, which has led to all sorts of 
other toxic exposures where people who are wearing masks in 
public for reasons other than COVID for the first time. And so 
we have to think about this, how we are going to be protecting 
the lungs, not just of workers but everybody in the country, 
and this is, in some ways, a down payment for that.
    Ms. Titus. No suggestions about spacing or occupancy or 
anything like that in Federal buildings, distancing, shields?
    Mr. Bahnfleth. Well, certainly during the pandemic, masks 
and distancing are important. One would hope that we don't have 
to maintain that perpetually once the pandemic has subsided, 
but that is not HVAC. I think that Dr. Michaels is absolutely 
correct. Resilience with respect to quality events is 
important. ASHRAE actually has got a guideline committee now 
working on guidance related to wildfires. So that issue merges 
with the pandemic. What do you do when you have something that 
is really out of the ordinary happen, and certainly COVID-19 is 
one of those events. It is going to change the way we design 
systems, I am sure.
    Ms. Titus. We have to keep in mind the power bill too, 
because the U.S. Government is one of the biggest consumers of 
electricity out there.
    Mr. Bahnfleth. Ergo, the desire for air cleaners rather 
than more ventilation.
    Ms. Titus. Thank you. I yield my time back to the chairman.
    Mr. DeFazio. I thank the gentlelady. And, again, since we 
are going out of order because we went out of order on that 
side, Representative Wilson.
    OK. Representative Lowenthal. We will come back to Wilson.
    Mr. Lowenthal. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, first, I would 
like to ask unanimous consent to introduce a letter from the 
Pacific Maritime Association, the ILWU, the ILA, which is the 
International Longshoremen's Association, and the U.S. Maritime 
Alliance, urging the committee to protect maritime workers.
    Mr. DeFazio. Without objection.
    [The information follows:]

                                 
   Letter of February 2, 2021, from David F. Adam, Chairman and CEO, 
United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. et al., Submitted for the Record 
                       by Hon. Alan S. Lowenthal
                                                  February 2, 2021.
Hon. Peter A. DeFazio,
Chairman,
House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, U.S. House of 
        Representatives, Washington, DC 20510.
    Dear Mr. Chairman:
    We write as the leading representatives of America's frontline 
longshore workers and maritime employers to seek your assistance on a 
matter of urgent national importance: protecting our nation's economy 
and supply chain by prioritizing COVID-19 vaccinations for port 
workers. While our organizations represent a diversity of maritime 
interests in varying regions of the nation, we have come together to 
speak with one voice on this pressing and immediate priority.
    America's ports are the primary gateways for the goods and supplies 
Americans depend on, including food, medical supplies, personal 
protective equipment (PPE), sanitizer, and other items sustaining the 
country during this historic pandemic. Millions of jobs and a 
significant portion of America's GDP are directly tied to the health of 
our ports, which are vital to national industries including retail, 
manufacturing, agriculture, and more. But the reliable operation of 
port terminals could soon be in jeopardy due to the alarming increase 
in COVID-19 among frontline longshore workers nationwide. Prioritizing 
frontline port workers' eligibility for vaccination and ensuring 
adequate vaccine supply is the only sure way to safeguard the supply 
chain that drives our economy and connects America to the rest of the 
world.
    Since the start of the pandemic last year, America's maritime 
workforce has answered the call of duty to keep our ports open for 
business, and our warehouses and store shelves fully stocked. From 
Maine to California, their dedication and resilience has been nothing 
short of heroic. In recent weeks, however, COVID infections among 
frontline port workers have reached crisis levels in many locations.
    From March 2020 through January 25, 2021, the International 
Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and Pacific Maritime Association 
(PMA) reported 1,034 coronavirus infections among frontline port 
workers along the West Coast. Over the same period, the International 
Longshoremen's Association (ILA) reported 784 positive tests along the 
East Coast and Gulf Coast. And infection rates are rising rapidly. For 
example, at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, America's largest 
port complex, almost as many longshore workers tested positive in the 
first three weeks of 2021 as in the first 10 months of the pandemic, 
from March through December of 2020. Other port regions report similar, 
troubling increases.
    This wave of virus infections comes as ports nationwide contend 
with record-breaking tide of imports from Asia that shows no sign of 
relenting. Our ports require as many workers as possible to accommodate 
this unprecedented surge. Exacerbating the challenge, the virus poses 
the greatest threat to older workers, who often possess the specialized 
skills and experience that are most needed to keep port terminals 
operating smoothly.
    We recognize that state and local governments play a key role in 
administering the COVID-19 vaccination process. However, given the 
clear national interest in keeping our ports functioning smoothly--
protecting our economy, healthcare infrastructure, and national 
security--we respectfully ask your assistance in taking all possible 
steps to help speed the vaccination process for the men and women of 
our maritime workforce.
        Sincerely,
                                             David F. Adam,
            Chairman and CEO, United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd.
                                          William E. Adams,
    International President, International Longshore and Warehouse 
                                                             Union.
                                         Harold J. Daggett,
               President, International Longshoremen's Association.
                                          James C. McKenna,
                   President and CEO, Pacific Maritime Association.

    Mr. Lowenthal. Thank you. I would like to ask Council 
Member Buscaino. Joe, first of all, thank you for your clear 
testimony on the need to support our State and local partners 
during this crisis. It was very well stated. But I really do 
want to follow up on an issue that you raised and Congresswoman 
Napolitano raised, and that is about the tremendous rise in 
COVID-19 and testing positivity rates at both Ports of L.A. and 
Long Beach and what you can do.
    You have pointed out, and I think we know that State and 
local leaders have stepped up along with terminal operators, 
labor, port officials. I want to know what have they done at 
the local level to bring down this. And the second part is what 
should we be doing in Congress and also FEMA and the 
administration, what further steps to ensure that the critical 
operations of the port continue? So what has been done, and 
what can we do?
    Mr. Buscaino. Thank you, Congress Member. First and 
foremost, I appreciate your friendship and partnership over the 
years, you along with my Congress Member, Nanette Barragan. 
And, collectively, the both of you have elevated the importance 
of prioritizing vaccines for our maritime workers. We stand 
ready, as I mentioned earlier. We have a cruise terminal that 
sits vacant today, unfortunately, but can work to vaccinate our 
longshore workers, our truckdrivers. We stand ready for that.
    Let's be mindful, colleagues, that half of our goods come 
through the San Pedro Bay ports. Nearly half of our goods come 
through both the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. That is 
what is being threatened today. Additionally, we are thankful 
for President Biden in moving forward a couple days ago on 
agreeing to 100 percent reimbursement of FEMA, but cities and 
towns and villages across the country still have to front load 
those dollars in a time where our budgets are stretched thin.
    So the importance of moving forward and supporting another 
COVID relief package that includes dollars for vaccines will 
help cities, towns, and villages across the country to urgently 
deploy these vaccines, very similar to what we are doing in 
Dodger Stadium here in Los Angeles as you know, sir, and the 
news broke today, in this morning's L.A. Times, as two 
additional sites in L.A. County, particularly in the 
disadvantaged impacted communities of color where we will be 
deploying more vaccine sites, which is great. We have the 
infrastructure; we just need the vaccines.
    Please pass that bill so we can get the vaccines deployed 
to our cities, towns, and villages across the country.
    Mr. Lowenthal. Thank you, and I yield back.
    Mr. DeFazio. I thank the gentleman.
    Now, Representative Burchett.
    Mr. Burchett. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a pleasure 
serving on the committee with you, sir, and I look forward to 
the bipartisanship I hope we have here. I actually--when I was 
in the State legislature, I was in the State house on the 
Transportation Committee, and my friend, Steve Cohen, was a 
senator, and we partnered together to raise the speed limit in 
Tennessee to 70 miles an hour, actually. I believe I asked for 
85. In the art of negotiation, I took 70. But oddly enough, the 
week that I did that, the prior week I had brought Peyton 
Manning to the floor of the house of representatives, and he 
signed autographs for everyone. And, honestly, I think I could 
have passed communism that week in the State of Tennessee. So 
if you drive 70 miles an hour, you have Steve Cohen and Peyton 
Manning to thank as well.
    I have one question for all the folks. And I understand 
that COVID has resulted in significant health and economic 
challenges for transportation industries. But looking forward, 
what do y'all think the recovery would look like for you? And 
how can this committee support that in any way?
    Mr. Pugh. As for me and for trucking, moving forward, one 
thing Congress needs to do is, in working with FMCSA and 
probably FEMA, is we need to come up with a good way for 
truckers to get vaccinated, especially right now with there 
being the two-step vaccine. Truckers leave home. They are gone, 
you know. They don't know when they are going to be back, so it 
makes it tough to get that second one. There are [inaudible] or 
places like St. Christopher's Fund who set up flu vaccines in 
the past. We urge Congress to maybe work with some of them, 
work with some of these to set up places either in rest areas 
or truckstops or something like that. Hopefully this Johnson & 
Johnson shot will come available soon. It is my understanding 
that is a one shot. And as far as the trucking community, for 
those who want vaccinated, that would be the best thing for 
them to use.
    Mr. Buscaino. If I can add, Congress Member. On behalf of 
cities, towns, and villages across the country, we encourage 
our colleagues in Congress to pass the COVID Relief Act. Move 
on a long-term infrastructure bill that was promised by the 
previous administration but failed to do so. What better way to 
put Americans back to work in a time of a recession, in a time 
of pandemic, than to pass a long-term infrastructure bipartisan 
bill. Thank you.
    Ms. Nelson. Absolutely. We need that relief. And the 
continuation of the payroll support is so critical, not only 
for our financial security and to keep the airlines intact and 
people in their jobs connected to their safety and security 
credentials so that we can lift the economy again, but also so 
that people are staying on top of their bills, paying their 
taxes, and contributing to the economy in a way that supports 
our towns and cities is so critical. So I appreciate the 
bipartisan support from this committee so much, and I can't 
overstate how critical that is.
    I will also just reemphasize that a Federal plan to have 
vaccine distribution in our workplaces is going to be a much 
more effective program for crewmembers and other airline 
workers than trying to have this done through the States and 
have people haphazardly try to get appointments, so that would 
be very helpful. Thank you.
    Mr. Burchett. Ma'am, I would hope during anything that we 
do with the airlines that we would put some caveats in there 
that were not put in during the banking bailout. And I would 
hope that the--for lack of a better word, the bigshots in the 
airline would not be able to receive that money. It would go to 
the working folks like yourself and some of your colleagues.
    Ms. Nelson. So that is what we have done. And I have to say 
that being 80 percent unionized in the airline industry was 
very helpful because we had the power to make them sit down 
with us last March. They had to agree with us before they could 
come to you for a bailout, and it was truly workers first. It 
required that it only go to the workers. And on top of that, we 
capped their pay and banned stock buybacks. So this was the 
first ever workers first program that also puts these 
executives in check, and thank you so much for supporting that.
    Mr. Burchett. Yes, ma'am. And, also, from the trucking 
industry, I know Pilot Oil is headquartered in Knoxville, 
Tennessee, and they are all over the country, I guess, the 
largest diesel fuel movers in the country, and I will bring 
that up with them about the vaccinations. Mr. Haslam is a great 
citizen of our community, and I will bring that up with him. I 
spoke with him earlier today. I will speak with him later today 
and to bring that up with him as maybe a suggestion, so thank 
y'all.
    Mr. Chairman, thank you again, brother, and I yield back 
the 18 seconds remaining of my time.
    Mr. DeFazio. I thank the gentleman.
    Is Representative Wilson back? Nope.
    OK. Representative Lynch.
    Mr. Lynch. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    I want to thank all the witnesses.
    So, together with Congresswoman Pressley, we represent the 
Port of Boston, and we represent Logan Airport. So President 
Nelson, we appreciate your remarks on the airline industry. 
And, also, Mr. Buscaino, we appreciate your concern about the 
port, the maritime ports, and I associate myself with Mr. 
Lowenthal's remarks.
    The way that the Trump administration configured this COVID 
response was really that each State could sort of do their own 
thing, and that, in my opinion, has not been helpful. In my own 
State, for instance, on the list for vaccines, some people are 
in, some people are out. So we are going through a process 
right now where the postal workers who visit every home in 
America and business in America 6 days a week, they are not 
being vaccinated. They are not priority, and yet other workers 
are.
    So I was just wondering if there is something we could do, 
especially with Chairman DeFazio, to just unify the response 
here in a way that addresses the airline industry and the ports 
that are more global in nature? And is there a way that we 
might be able to send a message to these States, all 50 of 
them, that people in the transportation industry should be 
covered because of the nature of the risk that they face. Just 
like we are fighting this fight on behalf of the postal 
workers, is there a way that we do a resolution that would send 
a message to these Governors that we recognize the special 
vulnerability and the special role that our transportation 
workers embrace each and every day. So I am not sure if any of 
our witnesses would like to expound on that or share their own 
thoughts, but I would appreciate it. Thank you.
    Mr. Rivera. If I may, Ismael Rivera from Orlando. With that 
being said, we were asking by providing $39.3 billion for the 
transit preservation and service of PPE and quickly try to 
implement all essential workers to include bus operators to get 
the vaccine. But just like you stated, we deal with passengers 
coming on a bus every day, all day long, and they too, like 
postal workers, take things back home and visit every household 
in America, and they could possibly pass it on. So that would 
be my recommendation.
    Mr. Lynch. Thank you, Ismael.
    Mr. Buscaino. If I may, Joe Buscaino here. From the east 
coast to the west coast, when we talk about the supply chain, 
the goods moving that comes through the Port of Los Angeles and 
Long Beach, they hit every congressional district. So common 
guidance moving forward from the Federal Government would be 
helpful on protections for vaccines and transportation workers. 
It is a global supply chain that goes across all State lines. 
That will be very helpful.
    I would also recognize my colleague, Congress Member 
Lowenthal. I would take a page out of his playbook, and my 
Congress Member, Nanette Barragan, to motivate and encourage 
the Federal Government to prioritize the vaccinations for 
maritime frontline workers. Thank you.
    Mr. Michaels. Congressman, if I could add to that as well. 
In addition to obviously giving the States and local 
communities more funding to do this vaccination because they 
are desperately underfunded, I think we have to recognize that 
workers involved in interstate or global transportation and 
commerce don't necessarily stay in one location for very long. 
And saying to Massachusetts, for example, that every seafarer 
who stops in the Port of Boston should be vaccinated based on 
Massachusetts' allocation may not be just. And so I think that 
you have heard from several of us is there probably needs to be 
a special overall program in ports and airports and other 
places that reaches out and vaccinates transportation workers 
in an efficient way in the limited time they are in that port 
or in that hub to get them vaccinated. And that is probably--
that vaccination allocation has to be taken off the top and 
used by the Federal Government.
    Ms. Nelson. I will just add on to that very quickly, and 
thank you so much, Congressman Lynch, for your support on this. 
But there are flight attendants who have finally gotten their 
date to go get their vaccine. It happens to be the date that 
they are working, and there is no way to get off work, so they 
have to let that time pass by. So the Federal plan would be 
better, but we also appreciate your efforts with the States to 
get them to prioritize that. That is all helpful.
    Mr. DeFazio. The time has run out. Thank you, Congressman 
Lynch.
    Mr. Lynch. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
    Mr. DeFazio. Next on the list is Congress Member Guest.
    Mr. Guest. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Pugh, in my home State of Mississippi, the trucking 
industry is extremely important to our local economy where 1 in 
12 jobs is directly linked to the trucking industry. We have 
over 5,800 trucking companies, primarily small, locally owned 
and operated businesses. Those businesses were among those 
unable to access PPP and other resources that you described in 
your testimony.
    In your testimony, you discussed the limited amount of PPEs 
and the necessary resources your industry was afforded during 
the early stages of the pandemic as haulers across our country 
carried the needed supplies to frontline workers who themselves 
were left without. You also mentioned the challenge your 
industry now faces with access to testing and vaccine. On pages 
8 and 9 of your testimony, you say ``truckers face distinct 
challenges when it comes to accessing testing for COVID-19. 
Most of the time, our members are out on the road, away from 
home, often for hundreds of nights a year. It is not easy for 
them to drop into their doctor's office for a COVID test if 
they are feeling sick . . . Similarly, truckers are now 
concerned about how they will access vaccinations while 
continuing to work. For professional drivers, who often spend 
several consecutive weeks or even months on the road to make 
ends meet, accessing vaccinations can be logistically difficult 
and economically disruptive. Few truckers know precisely where 
they will be from week to week.''
    Mr. Pugh, I would ask you if you could, one, expand on 
these issues that you talk about in your testimony and then 
also answer for me how we, as the Federal Government, can help 
smaller trucking companies best address getting vaccines out to 
our constantly moving haulers.
    Mr. Pugh. Yes, thank you for your question. Yes, that is 
correct. Trucking is probably one of the, if not the most, 
transit profession there is. Guys not only don't know where 
they will be week to week; they don't know where they will be 
sometimes day from day. Truckers are around different people at 
different times. A lot of times you don't even know who you are 
around.
    So that is why in the early stages of this would have 
been--it was so important for truckers to be able to get this 
PPE so they don't spread because by the time they did find out 
they had it, they might have been five States away 3 days ago, 
and who knows how many paths they crossed then. And there is no 
way to even figure that out.
    The other big issue in the early stages of this was if a 
trucker did get COVID, one, like you said, it was very hard for 
them to get tested; two, and if he did test positive, what did 
he do? I mean, are we going to trap a guy in a truck for 2 
weeks to make him quarantine where there is no food, maybe no 
restroom, no nothing? You can't do that. It is impossible. And 
maybe he is too sick to drive home.
    So these are things that we have to think about federally 
because I don't think as States--we have this patchwork of 
States all over. Going forward, like I said earlier, we need to 
work with, whether it is truckstop chains, with the States' 
rest areas, transportation, or whatever, to set up places where 
drivers can stop and get these vaccinations that they need to 
be safe, to be healthy. Like I said, truckers can't just stop 
anywhere. This Johnson & Johnson vaccine would be great.
    And one thing I would like to remind people, I am not 
saying a trucker is a frontline worker, but they are right 
there behind the frontline workers, supplying them with all the 
things that they need. So truckers don't stop. So they should 
be moved, elevated up to be right behind these frontline 
workers to get this vaccination.
    Mr. Guest. Thank you. And Mr. Pugh and Mr. Chairman, I 
yield back.
    Mr. Stanton [presiding]. Thank you very much, Congress 
Member Guest.
    I am the next person to ask questions, and I want to 
address my questions to President Sara Nelson. President 
Nelson, you gave some very powerful testimony at the very 
beginning of today's hearing, and I didn't want to lose sight 
of that.
    You told the important and tragic story of a flight 
attendant who, because of furloughs as a result of the lapsing 
of the PSP program, because of furloughs, she didn't get 
furloughed, but she had to work extra, and she had to move her 
base of operations from Phoenix, Arizona, which is in my 
district--I am the former mayor of Phoenix--to Philadelphia. 
And so she had to spend a lot more time on planes, putting 
herself at risk.
    And, tragically, as you mentioned, she died from COVID last 
week. So, first, on behalf of myself and all members of this 
committee, please pass on our deepest sympathies and 
condolences to the family of that hero, that flight attendant 
that passed away because of COVID.
    But I wanted you to maybe talk a little bit more about 
that, because we think of the PSP program as a program to help 
the American economy, to help American workers. It is 
particularly critically important American industry, the 
airline industry. We think of it as a way to--it affects so 
many employees, and we want to support those employees to the 
best of our ability.
    But you brought up another angle on it that many of us 
don't think about--frankly I hadn't thought about enough--and 
that is, if we let this lapse again, not only are many 
employees going to lose their jobs and be furloughed, but many 
will be put in positions of greater risk to their own safety, 
and maybe you could just take it from there and expound upon 
that, how the support for the PSP program is not just about the 
economy, but it is about people's health as well. President 
Nelson?
    Ms. Nelson. Yes. I really appreciate that. You got me a 
little choked up too. This is very hard. Because when you get 
into a time of cost-cutting--and we had the lapse in the 
Payroll Support Program starting October 1st--we saw a great 
turn to cost-cutting so that the airlines can try to cut as 
many costs because they are still losing--major airlines are 
still losing $30 million a day. So what that does is it puts 
stress and strain on the workers on the front lines, and you 
see that through all kinds of public health decisions that have 
that cost-cutting strain.
    And then you have business decisions, like the one in 
Phoenix, to downsize the base because there wasn't enough 
demand there, and that pushes workers out to other stations.
    You also have situations where the furloughs cause a ripple 
effect across the workforce, and in order to keep a job, it 
means moving your family several States away, or commuting more 
because you can't take your kids out of school or move them 
away from their communities or from your family base that makes 
everything work because you have got parents or aunts or uncles 
who help out.
    So this, absolutely, the stress and strain of not having 
the payroll support for the workers who remain on the job puts 
their health at greater risk and makes them have to actually 
shoulder a greater burden of cost when they have to make these 
decisions to move to other States to keep their job. So there 
is a ripple effect that hurts the entire workforce and puts 
them at greater risk for their personal health and what they 
bring home to their families.
    Mr. Stanton. Well, we owe you a debt of gratitude for 
bringing tragic stories like that to the American people's 
attention, because we need to continue to build support for 
PSP, and your particular involvement, your leadership, I think, 
has helped build confidence, on both sides of the aisle, that 
support for that critically important program is essential, not 
just for the American economy but for the safety of the 
workforce involved.
    And we know that the current round will end soon. American 
Airlines has already announced they are looking at furloughs 
shortly after it would lapse. And so we look forward to working 
closely with you to make sure that we continue to ensure that 
this industry stays strong, but more importantly, the people 
who work in the industry stay safe.
    Ms. Nelson. Thank you. And I just want to add one other 
point----
    Mr. Stanton. Please.
    Ms. Nelson [continuing]. On that because it will lapse on 
March 31st, but airlines schedule 2 months in advance. So the 
uncertainty is beginning now. The mental health strain and 
stress on the workers who don't know what this is going to mean 
for them if Congress doesn't act soon to extend this, they are 
feeling that right now. They are feeling that uncertainty right 
now, and we have an increase in mental health issues and calls 
to our EAP, and we have people who have taken their lives.
    So the extent to which this affects people on the front 
lines and the timing of getting this in place right now is so 
critically important for health, not just with COVID but for 
every other reason as well.
    Mr. Stanton. All right. Thank you, President Nelson, for 
that clarion call, critically important.
    I will yield back the rest of my time and now go to 
Congress Member Van Drew.
    Mr. Van Drew. Thank you, Chairman. I am honored to join all 
of you today on this House Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure, and I look forward to working with you. I did 
want to mention before I start some other points how much I 
feel for the small trucking companies. These are men and women 
who work so hard, day in, day out, breaking their back, 
transporting the goods and services and everything we need 
across this country.
    Without them, we would be nowhere, and they need to be 
lauded sometimes and thanked for what they do. They may not be 
considered a frontline worker, but they are darn close to it, 
and the challenges they have aren't only COVID. They have 
challenges, health challenges, life challenges, in the kind of 
work that they do and the kind of existence they have to have. 
So I am proud to know some of them, and I am proud of what they 
do.
    South Jersey, where I am from, has a tremendous need for 
infrastructure improvements--from roads, bridges, airports, to 
coastal resilience projects. My district is also home to the 
William J. Hughes FAA Technical Center and the U.S. Coast 
Guard's Training Center, Cape May, the accession point for all 
enlisted--all enlisted--that are going into the Coast Guard. 
Both facilities are authorized through this committee.
    I look forward to working with my colleagues to modernize 
the infrastructure of south Jersey and the United States, both 
for the FAA and the Coast Guard.
    For this hearing, I wanted to specifically focus on how 
COVID affects air travel. COVID presents safety concerns for 
both passengers and air travel workers and threatens tens of 
thousands of good jobs and lifestyles. The solution to this 
problem is to embrace the American spirit of innovation and 
adapt to change.
    So I want to take this opportunity to advocate for my own 
legislation, the Health Smart Air Travel Act. My bill creates a 
program to develop and standardize technologies to mitigate 
COVID in airports and passenger aircraft.
    This bill has broad industry support, including Airlines 
for America, the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations, the 
National Air Carrier Association, the Aerospace Industries 
Association, Airports Council International, and U.S. Travel 
Association.
    The Health Smart Travel Act is bold. It is innovative. It 
is active. Our country needs to adapt and to overcome COVID. It 
will create a safer air travel environment for workers and for 
passengers across the United States, and I sure hope this 
committee takes it under very serious consideration.
    I direct my questions to Ms. Nelson and Dr. Bahnfleth, and 
I think I know the answers, but I would like to hear them 
again.
    Does COVID itself create a need to adapt a new novel, 
different air travel infrastructure with new technology?
    Ms. Nelson. Congressman, I will just say yes, and it 
requires innovation from this country. We have led on aviation 
around the world since its inception, and we look forward to 
working with you to make sure that anything that is put in 
place takes into consideration how it will affect the 
workforce.
    Mr. Van Drew. And I appreciate your support for the bill as 
well.
    Ms. Nelson. Thank you.
    Mr. Bahnfleth. Yeah. Thank you, Congressman.
    I absolutely support the need for innovation, but at the 
same time, noting that there is a lot of existing technology 
that isn't utilized yet and also that air travel safety starts 
on the ground. And so it is ground facilities, it is the 
planes, it is the transportation that gets you to the airport. 
So I think we really need to look at this comprehensively.
    Mr. Van Drew. Thank you. Should the Federal Government work 
with stakeholders to stimulate the development and 
implementation of such technologies and identify best practices 
to set national standards? And the reason I ask these 
questions, because--and it was just alluded to a moment ago by 
Ms. Nelson--America is--she didn't quite say it this way, but I 
am going to say it this way--America has always been number 
one. We are number one in everything, we should be number one 
in everything. We need to be number one with this, and we 
really need to go forward and remedy this situation.
    And it is complicated. It is complicated when people are 
waiting to board an aircraft. It is complicated in the 
aircraft. It is a situation that I don't have to tell any of 
you doesn't lend itself easily to a cure. But I ask real 
quickly, do you think we should work together to identify best 
practices to set national standards?
    Mr. Stanton. All right. We are out of time. That is a yes 
or no question.
    Ms. Nelson. Yes.
    Mr. Stanton. Yes, all right, thank you very much.
    Mr. Van Drew. And if I could have the response for the 
record, I would appreciate it.
    Mr. Stanton. Thank you very much, Congress Member.
    The next will be Congress Member Wilson.
    Ms. Wilson. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair, thank you so 
much, and thank you to our witnesses for your testimonies 
today. It is imperative to me that we recognize and thank 
transportation workers across our country, across the Nation. 
In the face of a devastating pandemic, they have been at the 
forefront of efforts to keep our economy going, and we thank 
them.
    Congress must ensure that our transportation workers are 
empowered to safely perform their duties. So I am committed to 
working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to 
achieve this goal. With that, I will begin my questions.
    Mr. Rivera and Ms. Nelson, I want to personally commend you 
and your fellow transportation workers for their service during 
this devastating pandemic. In your testimonies, you highlighted 
the dangers that transportation workers face enforcing mask 
mandates, including physical violence and verbal altercations. 
This has been apparent in my own community when a Miami-Dade 
busdriver was spat on by a passenger.
    It is impossible to effectively manage this pandemic if 
workers feel unsafe enforcing COVID protocols. From your 
viewpoint--and I am speaking to both of you--what steps should 
be taken by Congress and other Government entities so that 
transportation workers feel empowered to enforce safety 
protocols?
    Mr. Rivera. Well, thank you for that question. And you are 
correct, that did happen in Miami. I was aware of that as well. 
We would say that here in Orlando--I can only speak for Orlando 
and other ATU agencies that I am aware of--we need the 
resources so that they can support us like in the airlines 
before, make constant announcements over and over. And not only 
that, but implement even at the local level. I can give an 
example. Speaking to an officer here in Orlando, he stated that 
before he can enforce and arrest anybody for not wearing a 
mask, he would turn in his badge.
    I tend to disagree. So, if certain individuals can't do 
their job and help us implement it, then we have a lot on our 
hands. So I would say, give us all the resources, including law 
enforcement, to go out there and hope that they implement and 
strictly enforce these to make our job a lot easier. Thank you.
    Ms. Nelson. Absolutely. I want to echo that. And we need to 
make sure that when we are calling when we have problems, that 
law enforcement is responding, but we can start with directives 
from the FAA, from DOT, for signage everywhere, for 
announcements in the airports. After 9/11, we had Janet Reno 
saying over and over again in the airports, if you see 
something, say something. And everyone got the word.
    So we need to have that coming from leadership, and we are 
so glad that we have this leadership now from President Biden, 
from Administrator Dickson, and now from Secretary Buttigieg. 
But we also need to have this echoed in our airports and very 
clear for everyone everywhere, and then instructions to law 
enforcement that they must take this seriously too and conclude 
the chain, so that people know that there are severe 
consequences if they are interfering with the workers' ability 
to do our jobs to keep everyone safe, and certainly if they are 
committing physical violence, that needs to have harsh 
repercussions.
    Ms. Wilson. Thank you. And Janet Reno is from Miami too, so 
thank you. Acknowledgment.
    Ms. Nelson. Celebrate Miami.
    Ms. Wilson. Would you both support legislation that would 
expand or strengthen OSHA's role in protecting transportation 
workers from hazards like COVID-19 or workplace violence?
    Ms. Nelson. Let me just say yes.
    Mr. Rivera. Yes.
    Ms. Wilson. OK. Mr. Michaels, as you noted in your remarks, 
an infection plan cannot be imposed by fiat. It must be 
continuously evaluated with the input and collaboration of the 
workers. If not, the plan is less likely to succeed.
    In my opening statement, I highlighted the importance of 
transportation workers feeling empowered to effectively perform 
their duties. Please highlight some examples of the 
implementation of an effective infection plan, either at the 
State and local levels or internationally with workers' buy-in 
that Congress should use as a model?
    Mr. Michaels. Congresswoman Wilson, you made a very 
important point, and there are plenty of examples around the 
country of unions that have gotten together with their 
employers and worked out a plan so that we are all in this 
together, we are going to make sure that they work. And I can--
you know, I can send some of those examples in.
    I know we don't have that much time, but I wanted to also 
return to your last point, that, you know, the reason I think 
OSHA needs to play a larger role in this happening is that the 
transportation safety agencies--Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, et cetera--
don't really have the ability to either regulate or enforce 
these protections against COVID-19.
    The FAA has limited ones, and they actually agreed to let 
OSHA take those on, that President Nelson talked about a few 
minutes ago in terms of the protections from blood-borne 
pathogens and dealing with Ebola. So I think what this 
committee needs to do is really encourage those agencies to 
think about how they can issue regulations and enforce them 
jointly with OSHA, which has a great deal more authority in 
this area.
    Ms. Wilson. OK. Thank you so much.
    Mr. Buscaino--I hope I pronounced your name correctly.
    Mr. Buscaino. Buscaino. Buscaino, ma'am. Now you are half 
Italian. See that. Fantastic.
    Ms. Wilson. Thank you for your testimony----
    Mr. Buscaino. Yes, ma'am.
    Ms. Wilson [continuing]. Highlighting the challenges that 
cities face as the first line of defense in dealing with the 
pandemic. There is a balance that cities find between----
    Mr. DeFazio [presiding]. Excuse me.
    Ms. Wilson [continuing]. Protecting essential workers and 
sustaining their economies. In my district, the Port of Miami 
is an important economic driver for south Florida. And its most 
effective measures, in addition to other safety [inaudible] we 
need to vaccinate port workers, busdrivers, flight attendants, 
essential transit----
    Mr. DeFazio. I am trying. The gentlelady is way over her 
time. Thank you.
    Ms. Wilson. OK. Thank you.
    Mr. DeFazio. Thank you.
    Ms. Wilson. I yield back.
    Mr. Buscaino. Congress Member, we would be more than happy 
to answer questions offline.
    Ms. Wilson. Thank you.
    Mr. Buscaino. You are welcome, ma'am.
    Mr. DeFazio. Representative Steel?
    Mrs. Steel. Thank you very much. Chairman DeFazio, Ranking 
Member Graves, and members of the committee, it is an honor to 
serve with you on the Transportation and Infrastructure 
Committee. I look forward to working with you to ensure that 
our constituents have a reliable mode of transportation and 
modern infrastructure and both safe and clean waterways.
    As a former chairwoman of the Orange County Board of 
Supervisors--by the way, we have 3.2 million residents living 
in Orange County--I helped manage our local freeways, buses, 
and wastewater infrastructure. During the height of COVID-19, I 
worked with State and local officials to make sure that our 
communities and transit systems had the resources they needed 
to keep people safe and healthy, like hand sanitizers on public 
transit.
    I also know how important it is during these uncertain 
times to support small businesses in preventing further 
increases to unemployment.
    I have a unique point of view on this committee as I come 
from a background dealing with the pandemic and transportation 
issues on a local level, and I am excited to keep this dialogue 
going.
    I just have one question for Mr. Pugh. You mentioned in 
your testimony that Congress could temporarily suspend the 
Federal diesel tax. What would happen to the trucking industry 
during the pandemic if Congress increased the Federal diesel 
tax, and how would that affect distributing items to our local 
community, that local community has been suffering so much for 
almost a year now?
    Mr. Pugh. Yes, ma'am. We would like to see the diesel tax 
cut during this. When the rates dropped and everything 
happened, we recommended a temporary doing away with that for 
the time so that we gave truckers a break. OOIDA, I mean, as 
far as supporting an increase in diesel tax, has always been in 
favor of that when it is needed because that is the fairest, 
most equitable way to fund for highways.
    We understand that the Highway Trust Fund is going broke, 
and the money has to be increased, and, you know, we would like 
to see it via fuel tax, not via some of these other things that 
we see, such as tolling, the VMTs, and some other issues like 
that.
    Again, fuel tax is already set up. It works. It is 
collected at the pumps. So it is a very good system, and it is 
fair and equitable. If it was to be increased either here after 
COVID is dying off or in the future, the only thing we ask, 
that it is raised fair and equitably between diesel and 
gasoline.
    Mrs. Steel. On a separate note, which States besides 
Missouri denied truckers to eat hot meals at the rest stop? Is 
this still an ongoing issue?
    Mr. Pugh. Yes, it is still a current issue. I would venture 
to say there is probably more States than less that didn't 
allow this. I can have my staff--I don't know the exact number 
of States, but I can have my staff follow up with you on this 
and this issue and some of our concerns with that. But I mean, 
we were pretty much told by DOT here in Missouri that they were 
not going to allow this, and those are due to--because 
truckstops don't want this to happen.
    Mrs. Steel. Thank you very much.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. DeFazio. I thank the gentlelady.
    Representative Garcia?
    Mr. Garcia of Illinois. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Staying 
true to your suggestion, I will skip the opening remarks.
    Mr. Rivera and Ms. Nelson, given the job responsibilities 
that you already have, is it reasonable to ask you and other 
frontline workers to also enforce the mask mandate? And what 
additional resources are needed to ensure that passengers and 
workers are safe in our transit systems?
    Mr. Rivera. Well, good afternoon, Mr. Congressman. I would 
say, my recommendation would give the resources so that we have 
those officers or additional, perhaps, supervisors who can 
ride, you know, we have a big great area, have more supervision 
on routes so that when we call dispatch, and we have some 
confrontation or any issues on the buses, that, you know, the 
company is always coming back and saying, it is due to lack of 
funding.
    So--but it puts us in the front line, and again, we are not 
the police officers. I have to look at my surroundings. I have 
to look at my rearview mirror to see if customers have their 
masks on. And it just gets a little stressful driving that bus 
down the road.
    So giving the resources to the authorities so that they can 
implement and perhaps get more involved in supervision, police, 
whatever they need to be doing to enforce this mandate.
    Ms. Nelson. We find that any new policies are best met when 
people understand clearly what is expected of them and what the 
consequences are if they don't comply. So, as we step this up 
and we have law enforcement responding, that is very helpful, 
but we always say in aviation that the best way to keep us safe 
and secure is to keep problems on the ground.
    So it is very important to have clear signage in the 
airports, communications to passengers when they start at the 
ticket-buying process, and then communications all the way 
through their travel experience, right up to the airplane door. 
That would include also the consequences for not complying with 
that.
    When we have all of that backing and then we have, on the 
back end, a response from law enforcement that is very swift 
and sure, people get the message, and people get the message 
and it helps deter any issues where we are caught in the middle 
of trying to enforce this on board without any backing. So 
thank you very much for the question and the backing.
    Mr. Garcia of Illinois. Thank you, Ms. Nelson.
    Dr. Michaels, on vaccines, there have been a lot of 
different approaches across the country to getting frontline 
workers vaccinated against COVID. I know that many of the 
transportation workers in my district are worried about getting 
COVID at work and then bringing it home to their families, 
which is why I am glad to see the CDC has recommended that 
transportation workers be among the first people to access the 
vaccine everywhere, putting transit workers at the same level 
as grocery store and teachers.
    Everyone on this committee understands a decision without a 
healthy transportation workforce, we will never get out of this 
pandemic.
    Dr. Michaels, can you please speak to the reasoning behind 
the CDC's decision to prioritize transportation workers and the 
need to ensure that frontline workers are among the first 
people vaccinated, briefly?
    Mr. Michaels. Congressman, that is a really important 
question. The CDC, as well as several other organizations--the 
National Academy of Sciences--have all said frontline workers 
need to be prioritized because, first of all, they are the ones 
who need to go outside to get to work. They can't stay at home, 
like some of us, and do their work on Zoom.
    They are at much greater risk of exposure. They can then 
expose others. They can bring the disease home to their 
families and to their communities. Many of them live in 
multigenerational homes and, therefore, exposing older people 
who are at great risk.
    The challenge we have right now is the States--many States 
haven't figured out how to do this. States have said, well, we 
are prioritizing grocery store workers, transportation workers, 
but they still have to line up the same way, which means they 
have got to be able to get on the computer systems or phone 
systems to get into appointments. They have got to get, as you 
heard from President Nelson, time off to get the appointments.
    They have to be fast typists. If you go on these programs 
when there are limited times they are open, if you are not 
there at the right time getting the information in quickly, you 
are just shut out.
    So I think what needs to happen is States have to step in 
and say, it is not just that we are saying these workers--meat-
packing workers, farm workers, grocery store workers, 
transportation workers, busdrivers--it is not just that they 
are in the front of the line, but we have to go and find them. 
We have to make sure we get the vaccine to them where they are, 
maybe at work, and then we should involve their employers and 
their unions, or in their communities.
    Because right now, it is not working. You know, the people 
who can get vaccines are White, middle-class, upper-class 
people who know how to work the computer system. And this is a 
real problem.
    Mr. Garcia of Illinois. Thank you, Dr. Michaels.
    Mr. Chairman, I was going to ask another question about 
insurance and trucking, but I have run out of time. I yield 
back.
    Mr. DeFazio. I am sorry. The gentleman's time has expired.
    Representative Pappas?
    OK. He may not be on right now.
    Representative Lamb?
    Not on?
    Representative Bordeaux?
    Representative Kahele? Turn on your mic. There you go.
    Mr. Kahele. All right, show time. Thank you, Chair, and it 
is an honor to be on the Transportation and Infrastructure 
Committee and to join you in the 117th Congress.
    You know, we started off this hearing and this hearing room 
was pretty full, and I can see now why seniority has its 
privileges. And, you know, I have decided to sit here through 
almost 3 hours of this hearing because I not only sit here 
representing the Second Congressional District in Hawaii, but I 
also sit here representing 810 Hawaiian Airlines employees who 
all received warning involuntary furlough notices just a few 
days ago, of which 647 flight attendants and their families and 
99 pilots and their families both received those same 
involuntary notices. American Airlines will be issuing 13,000 
involuntary furlough notices beginning tomorrow. And so this is 
something that I am deeply concerned about.
    My question is for Sara Nelson of the Association of Flight 
Attendants, and I mahalo her for being here today and for 
selecting her choice of background, and reminding the Nation 
that COVID-19 is a deadly pandemic that has taken over 400,000 
lives, of which is Mr. Paul Frishkorn, the first flight 
attendant in the Nation to die from COVID. And we send our 
thoughts and prayers to his family.
    My question is in regard to the Payroll Support Program 
because although we have discussed a lot of things today, this 
is what is most urgently on my mind. In 55 days, on the 1st of 
April, thousands of airline employees across this Nation will 
lose their jobs, will be involuntarily furloughed.
    We saw how the country and the Congress supported the 
airline industry with $25 billion last March, and the result of 
not extending the PSP past the 1st of October resulted in 
32,000 of those airline employees being furloughed.
    Congress in the 116th Congress appropriated $15 billion but 
not until December, and that PSP will expire on the 31st of 
March, in 55 days. So my question is for Ms. Nelson. The number 
we have come up with is something that is being debated here in 
Congress, and there are colleagues of mine that do not want to 
extend up to $15 billion of PSP to the airline industry.
    So my question is, what would be the ramifications of not 
meeting that number of $15 billion? How did the industry come 
up with that number, and how important is it for Congress to 
extend that $15 billion PSP in this next package and do it as 
quickly as possible?
    Because, like you said, thousands of families and pilots 
and airline workers and frontline workers are experiencing 
anxiety and all the stress that they have as they await this 
potential involuntary furlough notice. So we need to avoid 
that. We need to act with a sense of urgency, and we need to 
get this done before the 31st of March. So I ask my question to 
Ms. Nelson.
    Ms. Nelson. Representative Kahele, first of all, welcome, 
congratulations. So glad that you are on the Transportation and 
Infrastructure Committee and the Aviation Subcommittee with 
your expertise.
    It is urgent that we get this done, and it is urgent that 
we get this done before March 1st because people are going to 
be making life-changing decisions based on whether or not they 
have a job and whether or not there are furloughs, because 
there is a ripple effect for the people who are still at work 
trying to make ends meet, having to move to other locations to 
keep their job and the like.
    And the furlough numbers only start to tell the harm. It is 
also unpaid leaves that are forced on people to keep their 
healthcare.
    But what is also the ramification, the ramification is that 
Congress has to come up with more funds to support these 
workers. Because the Payroll Support Program pays a portion of 
the payroll. It is down from the $25 billion for 6 months that 
we had in March. We are talking about now $15 billion to 
continue that funding--or actually $14 billion because $1 
billion is for the contractors, for 6 months this time.
    And if we don't supply this support for these workers, what 
we are going to do is push them to the unemployment lines. Then 
we will be talking about trying to provide support for COBRA 
benefits, and we are going to be talking about the problems 
that this creates because we have lost that tax revenue for our 
cities and our locals, and that is going to have a ramification 
for our jobs in sanitation and education and postal workers and 
everything else.
    So then we are going to have to try to make up for the lost 
contributions to Social Security and the strain that that will 
put. This program has to continue for the people that this 
directly affects and the stress and strain that they are under 
right now, and the transportation system that we count on and 
the infrastructure that remains in place when we have this 
program.
    But we also need to do this because if we don't do this, we 
are going to have a bigger bill for Americans to pay later. 
This is the best use of Americans' tax dollars to keep these 
people in their jobs with continued benefits, and it is the 
only workers first program in all of COVID relief.
    Mr. Kahele. Thank you, Chair.
    Mr. DeFazio. I thank the lady and the gentleman.
    Ms. Nelson. Mahalo.
    Mr. DeFazio. There was just a little blurb on Reuters. 
Apparently, the White House Press Secretary enumerated the 
overarching priorities of President Biden in terms of COVID 
relief package. She was not detailed. And no one should take--
you know, Congress is an independent entity. So we are going to 
accomplish his goals and some of our own.
    And for some reason, the Reuters reporter, David 
Shepardson, if he is listening, I have not endorsed. I have 
been very vocal on the need for an extension of PSP, as well as 
aid to transit, as well as aid to private bus companies, as 
well as aid to the airports, as well as aid to contractors, as 
well as aid to concessionaires at airports except for the 
national chains. So, with that, I have clarified the record. We 
will move on.
    Representative Strickland?
    Nope. You are on, we can see you, but we are not hearing 
you. Hello? Unmute. Unmute.
    OK. We will come back to her.
    Representative Strickland, you are muted. Muted.
    Well, you are having an audio problem then, so we will move 
on.
    Representative Malinowski?
    We will move on to Representative----
    Ms. Strickland. Am I muted now?
    Mr. DeFazio. OK. Start over, start the clock over. You were 
not audible. Thank you.
    Ms. Strickland. Sorry about that. Hi, this is 
Representative Strickland, representing Washington State's 10th 
Congressional District. Thank you, Chair DeFazio and Ranking 
Member Graves, for allowing me to be here today.
    And as a former mayor and a former board member of two 
regional transportation organizations, I know how vital 
transportation is to our economy, and I know that these 
transportation agencies don't work without the dedicated 
employees. And we must make sure that they are protected during 
and after this pandemic.
    So I will talk about three things today--the need for local 
funding, equity, and what we can do with a national mandate.
    So I would like to start directly with Council Member 
Buscaino, who is a city council member. Could you please talk 
about how direct assistance and 100 percent----
    Mr. DeFazio. Can you hear me? Hello? Keep going. Keep 
going.
    Ms. Strickland. OK. So this is for the council member. 
Could you please tell us how direct assistance to cities and 
100 percent FEMA cost-sharing will affect essential workers in 
your community and across the country?
    Mr. Buscaino. Thank you, Congress Member. I speak on 
behalf, of course, of the National League of Cities, and one of 
your mayors, Mayor Victoria Woodards, is one of our officers, a 
second vice president, representing Tacoma. And I appreciate 
the question.
    We are ecstatic and pleased as cities, towns, and villages 
to have that 100 percent reimbursement from FEMA. If we didn't, 
cities would be faced with furloughing of the cities' essential 
workers, such as sanitation workers, public works workers, 
those who pave our streets and patch our potholes.
    For us, knowing that we would get that reimbursement, we 
would avoid 6 months' worth of layoffs and furloughs. And keep 
in mind, cities, towns, and villages, we don't print money. We 
are forced to balance budgets every single fiscal year, and 
that is, you know, what we need to do moving forward.
    Without a COVID relief package, we are going to be dipping 
into reserves that we already have been, and cities, towns, and 
villages already aren't seeing the revenue streams coming in. 
We heavily rely on tourism and trade, particularly here in the 
southern California region. Both tourism and trade equate to 
one in nine jobs.
    And when we can't get the ships unloaded quick enough, when 
we are not--it poses an economic issue. When we are not filling 
our hotel rooms, that poses an economic issue for cities, 
towns, and villages, because we can't move on our transit 
occupancy tax, or TOT tax. So then we are forced to turn to 
layoffs and/or furloughing our most city-essential workers like 
police, fire, sanitation.
    Ms. Strickland. Well, thank you very much.
    I now want to switch to the conversation about equity, and 
I want to make clear that the virus is ravaging marginalized 
communities and disproportionately affecting communities of 
color. And according to findings by the Urban Institute, more 
than half of all Black, Native American, and Latino workers 
have essential or nonessential jobs that have to be done in 
person, and they often have to use public transit to get there.
    There is a separate finding that also says that one in six 
Asian-American workers fear receiving substandard healthcare 
because of their race if they become seriously ill.
    So for both Dr. Michaels and the council member and anyone 
else who wants to answer, what safeguards do you recommend we 
put in place to protect workers of color in underserved 
communities? Thank you.
    Mr. Buscaino. Well, I feel we need to pay them more. The 
Heroes Pay that you are seeing cities advance, that $4 more an 
hour, for at least 160 days, they are clearly essential 
workers. And I say those who are on the front lines, those 
people of color who are doing--factory workers, janitors who 
are cleaning our hospitals, even more so our grocery workers--
they need to be paid more.
    In addition, we are seeing inequities in the vaccine 
deployment. A recent New York Times article proved that there 
are more affluent communities in Los Angeles County who are 
getting vaccinated at a higher rate than communities of color. 
This is why we have partnered with our counties as well as the 
Federal Government to now expand our vaccination sites in 
disadvantaged communities, and we are proud of that. And this 
is what cities are thirsting for and demanding in every part of 
the country.
    Mr. Michaels. And I would add, beyond vaccinations, what is 
badly needed is a very strong workplace safety standard put out 
by OSHA, but I don't think it should just be the one that OSHA 
may be working on now. Congress needs to pass a law--and that 
was something that the House passed in the last session, needs 
to revisit--to expand it.
    OSHA doesn't cover all workers. There are millions of 
public sector workers in much of the country, not Washington 
State but much of the country, who have no OSHA coverage. And 
transportation workers also are in sort of OSHA-free zones.
    So Congress needs to essentially pass a law requiring the 
Federal Government to issue strong enforceable standards to 
cover all workers.
    Ms. Strickland. Thank you.
    Mr. Buscaino. Can I recognize, Mr. Chairman? I do want to 
recognize this committee who is--we have a number of former 
local elected officials like Congress Member Strickland and 
others. You understand where we are coming from, and local 
leaders make great national leaders, for the record. Thank you.
    Ms. Strickland. Thank you.
    Ms. Newman [presiding]. Well, thank you all for your 
remarks today. Much appreciated your--all of the witnesses have 
been incredibly articulate.
    I now recognize myself, Congresswoman Marie Newman, for 5 
minutes.
    So today little bit of a long day, so I have a couple of 
comments and then a very easy question for our witnesses. And I 
would agree with all of our witnesses truly on safety issues, 
safe parking for trucks, safety on buses, safety of our 
workers, furloughs issues, and credentials issues, air quality, 
and our cost issues and our economy. I am largely in agreement 
with all of you.
    And interestingly--because I have done my monthly round of 
calls with ATU and CWA, all of our Federal and local 
transportation agencies, as well as some of our private 
employer partners, so very familiar--interestingly, just in the 
last week with all of these issues, including safe parking for 
independent truckers.
    So, at the end of the day, I just have one question for all 
six of our witnesses. So, in addition to all of the, I would 
say, proactive, reactive, and remedy ideas that you have shared 
today, which I largely agree with, would you also agree that at 
the root of all this, in addition to what you have said, is 
getting vaccinations to as many people as we can, as quickly as 
we can, and, therefore, supporting our cities, counties, and 
States, critically important? And then I will just ask all of 
you to say yes or no. So I will let the witnesses speak. We 
will start with Ms. Nelson.
    Ms. Nelson. Yes. The problem is the pandemic. We've got to 
get rid of it.
    Ms. Newman. Thank you. And then now go to Mr. Pugh.
    Mr. Pugh. Yes. We have to be able to take care of these 
people and get them the vaccines they need to get rid of the 
pandemic.
    Ms. Newman. Thank you, sir. And then Mr. Rivera?
    Mr. Rivera. Yes. We need the vaccines as quickly as 
possible, and we are easy to locate. Thank you.
    Ms. Newman. Great. Thank you. And Professor?
    Mr. Michaels. Yes. We need to make sure that the cities and 
States and counties have enough funding and support to get 
these vaccines out to the people who need them most.
    Ms. Newman. Great. And then I believe it is Councilman 
Buscaino.
    Mr. Buscaino. Yes, ma'am. Vaccines, as soon as possible, 
let's deploy. We stand ready as cities, towns, and villages, 
yes, ma'am.
    Ms. Newman. So let's just be on record that largely all of 
these incredibly knowledgeable witnesses and this body writ 
large agrees that the most important thing is to get money to 
cities, towns, States, and counties so that we can distribute 
this vaccine more widely.
    And those are my comments for today, and I am going to go 
to recognizing Mr. Payne for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Payne. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    Professor Michaels, a permanent national vaccine 
distribution program depends on the central transportation 
workers remaining healthy and being able to conduct their jobs 
safely.
    While I am pleased to see the Biden administration take 
steps to protect workers with transportation mask mandates, 
what other actions could be done to protect the health and 
safety of vaccine distribution personnel?
    Mr. Michaels. Thank you for that question, Congressman 
Payne. You know, it is the same issues that need to be 
protecting every sort of worker out there on the front lines. 
We know how to stop exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19. 
And you need, before you are vaccinated and even after you are 
vaccinated, you need to take a lot of steps.
    Masking is fundamentally important, distance is important, 
filtration and ventilation, disinfection. You know, this should 
be what everybody in the country is doing right now.
    Vaccines, people who get the vaccine everywhere are the 
same people who are moving buses, who are moving airplanes, 
that all that need that protection, and that is what we have to 
be focused on. The whole country has to make this the number 
one priority because only by making sure all of these workers 
are safe can we stop the pandemic and get the economy back to 
running again in a normal way.
    Mr. Payne. Thank you.
    Ms. Nelson, our vaccine distribution system could not 
function without vaccines being shipped by aviation workers 
across the Nation. In your testimony, you describe the need for 
a Federal vaccine prioritization program that prioritizes 
frontline aviation workers. How would vaccine prioritization 
for frontline airline workers help to ensure a smooth operation 
of the vaccine distribution system?
    Ms. Nelson. Well, first of all, keeping us in our jobs. We 
are part of the infrastructure that helps get the planes up in 
the air to get the vaccine distributed across the country to 
anyone who has those orders on file. So we are a part of making 
that happen.
    But, secondly, having a Federal program, where we can have 
transportation workers vaccinated and certainly crewmembers who 
are crossing State lines, will help to cut down the number of 
people who are most likely to be coming into contact with other 
people and spreading the virus.
    So we are starting to contain, starting to do contact 
tracing by doing that, and taking the priorities of the people 
who are most likely to come in contact with other people, 
either contracting the virus or spreading the virus ourselves.
    Mr. Payne. Thank you very much.
    Professor Michaels, unfortunately, there has been at least 
one incident of an employee that handles vaccines purposely 
allowing a batch to spoil. While this was an isolated incident 
and there have been no such reported incidents involving 
transportation workers, there is a potential for this threat to 
distribution networks as well.
    How would vetting these vaccination distribution workers 
protect other workers and the distribution system as a whole?
    Mr. Michaels. Well, Congressman, I am not a law enforcement 
expert, but this is clearly a law enforcement issue. These 
vaccines are lifesaving drugs. There is--you know, there is no 
question that destroying a lot of 50 or 500 of these means they 
are putting people at much greater risk for illness.
    And this is a significant law enforcement question, and I 
think we need to have Federal law enforcement step in, in these 
situations, and that will obviously protect this country. We 
need this badly.
    Mr. Payne. Thank you.
    Madam Chair, I yield back.
    Ms. Newman. Thank you, Mr. Payne. So now I would like to 
recognize Ms. Bourdeaux for 5 minutes.
    Ms. Bourdeaux. Thank you so much, and I know it has been a 
long day. Thanks to all of you for testifying about how we keep 
our transportation workers safe.
    In my district, which is the northeastern suburbs of 
Atlanta, we have a very modest transit system, but nonetheless, 
we have lost transit workers to COVID. I know the ATU lost over 
120 of its members since the start of the pandemic.
    In my district, a busdriver with the Gwinnett County 
Transit service died of this disease back in July of 2020, and 
his family believes that he contracted the disease while 
working because that was the only time he was really in contact 
with the public at large.
    After his death, ATU Local 732 advocated strongly for 
hazard pay, sick leave for transit employees, and a no mask/no 
ride policy to protect the transit workers and passengers. I am 
pleased to say that because of the CARES Act that Congress 
passed, the Gwinnett County Transit was able to implement a 
number of very important changes--retooling the buses and how 
they operated.
    That being said, we now face new challenges as we go into a 
new era of dealing with COVID. We have new strains and, you 
know, new concerns about how we protect our transportation 
workers. And in this case, one of the key areas of concern for 
me is the transit workers. So just a question for Mr. Rivera. 
Greatly appreciate you being here.
    How do we protect our transit workers? And in particular, 
this is a very small transit agency. It is not one of the big 
ones that I know a lot of you all here are involved in. What do 
we need to make sure it is included in the next COVID relief 
package to help them deal with the new strains of the disease 
and to continue to protect them in the days ahead?
    Mr. Rivera. Well, thank you for that question. Again, I 
will say we too are a big tourist area, and we get individuals 
coming from all over. We need to protect by getting us the 
vaccines. Make it a priority. We can easily be located. Just 
come to the hubs and have law enforcement monitor it, give the 
vaccines.
    I also had COVID, and it is scary that I go to work at 3:30 
in the morning, and I don't know whether I will come back home 
to my family. I don't know who is carrying this virus on the 
bus, coworkers. I don't know.
    Pass this bill and help us get all the resources that we 
need. We need to redesign these buses and protect everyone, 
from the air filters to the vents, whatever it needs to be done 
to protect not only the operators, but all essential employees 
as well as the passengers that take the buses every day, day 
in, day out. Thank you.
    Ms. Bourdeaux. Thank you so much, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.
    Ms. Newman. Thank you, Ms. Bourdeaux, and today I thank all 
of our witnesses. It was a bit of a long day, and you all 
answered admirably. We all learned things today. Your ideas are 
excellent, and we appreciate all the great work that you are 
doing out there.
    I would like to make one final comment before I close, and 
that is, I encourage all of our colleagues--Democrat, 
Independent, Republican--to think about what the root cause of 
everything is. It is the pandemic. And that if we can get more 
vaccinations out as quickly as we can, it only makes sense to 
support our cities, towns, States, and counties.
    So let's make sure that any bill we move forward has the 
remedies that our witnesses have suggested, along with support 
and funding.
    And, finally, I will close. I ask unanimous consent that 
the record of today's hearing remain open until such time as 
our witnesses have provided answers to any questions that may 
be submitted to them in writing.
    I also ask unanimous consent that the record remain open 
for 15 days for any additional comments and information 
submitted by Members or witnesses to be included in the record 
of today's hearing.
    Without objection, so ordered.
    The committee stands adjourned. Thank you, everyone.
    [Whereupon, at 3:04 p.m., the committee was adjourned.]

                                Appendix

                              ----------                              


  Questions from Hon. Salud O. Carbajal to Sara Nelson, International 
       President, Association of Flight Attendants--CWA, AFL-CIO

    Question 1. First, thank you and your colleagues for all your work 
to keep America running during this pandemic. I know these have been 
challenging times and in your testimony you mention ``the recovery of 
our nation's health and our economy are inextricably linked.'' I 
couldn't agree more.
    Can you speak further on how Congress can support workers during 
these times? What are some of the resources that would be most 
beneficial?
    Answer. We very much appreciate efforts by lawmakers to assist 
Flight Attendants and other aviation workers during this pandemic. The 
payroll support program has been a lifeline to individual workers--and 
to ensure this vital industry is in place to help us recover. The lapse 
in funding from October 2020-December 2020 resulted in deep cuts of 
personnel both with involuntary furloughs and voluntary furloughs. We 
have begun the process of recalling people to training, but COVID 
protocols and uncertainty beyond March when the funding lapses means 
return to service and certifications will take months and already may 
mean staffing shortages in the summer. It is critical that the 
Administration and Congress continue this program beyond the March 2021 
end date in order to ensure all workers are recalled and able to begin 
the process of requalification and security clearance process. Without 
this certainty for planning at the airlines, we will not have the 
people, planes, and routes in place to aid in the recovery as demand 
continues to return.
Communications
    1.  We encourage all members of Congress to use your own platform, 
and coordinate with state governments whenever possible, to help 
provide good information to the public about the status of the pandemic 
and how we must work together to end it.
    2.  Continue to back up and promote the federal mask mandate in 
transportation. Model use of the masks, lift up the seemingly 
effortless ways in which children have adapted to masks, and promote in 
both serious and fun ways the use of masks worn over our mouths and 
noses.
    3.  Lift up the FAA zero tolerance policy for passengers who are 
interfering with crewmember duties or assaulting crew or other 
passengers. Encourage airports and airlines to communicate consequences 
for refusing crew instructions to wear masks or comply with other 
safety regulations. Encourage positive confirmation at every point of 
ticket sale, check-in, arrival at airport, in the gate area, in 
jetbridges and with repeated announcements in the gate and on the 
plane.
Sick Leave, Health, and Vaccine Access
    1.  Flight Attendants have been on the frontlines of COVID-19 since 
before most Americans had even heard of the virus. However, we are not 
getting priority access to the vaccine--and the discrepancy across 
states is vast. Anything lawmakers can do to promote access to the 
vaccine for crewmembers would be helpful--including promoting clinics 
at airports in coordination with public health officials, airports, 
airlines, and unions.
    2.  Encourage airlines to continue to work with us on liberal sick 
leave policies so that workers are not reporting to work sick--and paid 
sick leave is provided to quarantine and/or time off to get vaccinated 
or recover from any side effects of the vaccine.
    3.  No airline should apply a disciplinary notation for use of sick 
leave. Over the past year we have had positive response from management 
on this issue but we are starting to see back tracking.
    4.  Take every step available to ensure all frontline workers have 
access to proper PPE--including ramping up production of this equipment 
in the United States.
    5.  Encourage DOT to implement the 10 hour minimum rest rule for 
Flight Attendants. The reduced flight schedule has resulted in longer 
days and shorter nights. More fatigue as our jobs are more stressful 
too. This implementation is already more than two years behind the 
directive from Congress. DOT must act now to put it in place.

    Questions from Hon. Seth Moulton to Sara Nelson, International 
       President, Association of Flight Attendants--CWA, AFL-CIO

    Question 1. Ms. Nelson, one day when I flew down to Washington to 
vote on Covid relief legislation early in the pandemic, half the flight 
attendants were wearing masks and the other half were not; same for the 
passengers. As they were leaning over us with drinks and snacks, I 
remember thinking, ``this is crazy!'' So I asked, and they said mask 
use was optional. Optional! For airline employees exhaling the same air 
as all of us passengers and their colleagues in a cramped, self-
contained aluminum tube 30,000 feet in the air! Do you think wearing a 
mask should be a political statement? Does it make your job more 
difficult if wearing a mask is a political statement? Does it make your 
job more dangerous if wearing a mask is a political statement?
    Answer. The conflicting messages from leaders across the country 
about the pandemic and the actions needed to mitigate, slow spread and 
ultimately eradicate the threat has been the greatest challenge. These 
are the areas where government can act to support Flight Attendants 
during current challenges--and in most cases the Administration has the 
ability to move on these issues, but backing from Congress is extremely 
helpful to encourage expeditious action and potentially mandate action 
as needed.
    Since a few days prior to January 6th we are experiencing a new 
kind of threat on our planes. Flight Attendants are skilled in de-
escalation, and most events do not rise to the level of physical 
aggression with a single ``unruly'' passenger. However, we are now 
experiencing hostilities in greater numbers and we don't have regular 
travelers to help demonstrate the rules and act as helpers simply by 
showing others what to do through their routine behavior. More 
aggressive passengers and fewer helpers is creating an increasingly 
hostile environment for Flight Attendants at work. We are often the 
target of aggression as we simply do our jobs with reminding people 
about basic safety requirements and proper use of masks to keep 
everyone safe.
    A patchwork of policies across airlines does not help. We need 
consistent guidelines:
    1.  Pause alcohol sales on the plane and in airports--alcohol is a 
major contributor to aggressive or violent incidents.
    2.  If alcohol sales are not stopped, take every step to mitigate 
problems. Stop ``to go'' alcohol practices in the airports and 
communicate clearly with signage that boarding will be denied for 
anyone who appears to be intoxicated, open containers of alcohol may 
not be carried on to the plane, and passengers can only drink alcohol 
served by a worker in the airport or a flight attendant on the plane. 
Encourage servers in the airports to remain vigilant to the traffic 
light system and stop serving passengers who are expressing ``yellow'' 
behaviors.
    3.  Enlist local law enforcement in the coordinated effort to hold 
bad actors accountable. Coordinate actions across airports, airlines, 
FAA, TSA, FBI, and local law enforcement.
    4.  Encourage DOJ to conduct criminal prosecution of assaults and 
violent behavior.
    5.  Crewmembers should finally have access to mandatory self 
defense training (currently a voluntary program) as intended by 
Congressional action after 9/11. The training should be included in 
initial training and recurrent training to create muscle memory and 
make it possible for Flight Attendants to respond without hesitation in 
the event of an attack.
    6.  Flight Attendant staffing is at FAA minimums across the 
industry. Our jobs are harder than ever and airlines should be 
encouraged to supplement minimum staffing in order to maintain safety 
and security. As a longer term fix, we believe staffing minimums should 
be reviewed in light of the new conditions in the aircraft cabin--both 
structural and added responsibilities for crew.

    We encourage Congress to act on coordinated loss of flying 
privileges.
    Airlines have been banning passengers from flying on individual 
airlines following a serious event. But this information should be 
shared across the industry, and applied across the board. Passengers 
should be banned from all airlines for a period of time depending on 
the severity of their actions--and denied the use of alternate security 
programs such as precheck or global entry.

Questions from Hon. Seth Moulton to Ismael Rivera, Bus Operator, Lynx, 
   and Member, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1596, Orlando, Florida

    Question 1. Mr. Rivera, last April, I led a bipartisan letter with 
my fellow committee members Malinowski and Fitzpatrick, as well as 
Representative Bacon, to then-Acting Administrator Jane Williams. We 
requested that FTA guidance regarding PPE and safety protections for 
transit workers be made mandatory. Under the previous administration, 
not only did FTA guidance remain optional but mask use was politicized. 
The Trump White House blocked a CDC order in September that would have 
provided a coordinated national approach and made mask use mandatory in 
transportation. I understand you contracted COVID-19, and you shared 
that 124 members of the Amalgamated Transit Union have died from the 
virus. I'm sorry for this unnecessary loss, but glad to see you have 
recovered and hope your family remained safe during that time. When did 
LYNX begin requiring mask use by passengers and workers, and was that 
before or after you contracted COVID-19? How might have outcomes been 
different for transportation workers if the Trump administration 
provided stronger federal executive leadership in April or even 
September?
    Answer. ATU pleaded with the Trump-led FTA to protect the lives of 
transit workers and passengers during the early days of the pandemic. 
For weeks, the agency included a Q&A statement on its website which 
noted that ``The CDC does not recommend that people who are well wear a 
facemask to protect themselves from respiratory diseases, including 
COVID-19.'' This was not helpful and defied common sense in the context 
of the public transportation environment. It was unconscionable and 
immoral to send transit employees to work without PPE during the health 
crisis. Our members provide essential public services, making sure that 
people can get to the doctor, the pharmacy, and the grocery store. But 
they cannot be expected to do so while putting their lives in danger. 
We also urged the FTA to institute a mask mandate, a request which was 
ignored. Obviously, had the Trump Administration acted, lives would 
have been saved. ATU has lost more than 170 members to COVID.

    Question 2. One day when I flew down to Washington to vote on Covid 
relief legislation early in the pandemic, half the flight attendants 
were wearing masks and the other half were not; same for the 
passengers. As they were leaning over us with drinks and snacks, I 
remember thinking, ``this is crazy!'' So I asked, and they said mask 
use was optional. Optional! For airline employees exhaling the same air 
as all of us passengers and their colleagues in a cramped, self-
contained aluminum tube 30,000 feet in the air! Do you think wearing a 
mask should be a political statement? Does it make your job more 
difficult if wearing a mask is a political statement? Does it make your 
job more dangerous if wearing a mask is a political statement?
    Answer. In addition to driving a bus, ATU members also now serve as 
the ``mask police.'' Far too often during these politically charged 
times, we have been brutally attacked for simply enforcing the rules 
and trying to stop the spread of the virus.
    A baseball bat beating in California, a two-by-four attack in 
Texas, and a bone-breaking sucker punch in New York are just a few 
violent incidents that underscore another danger for transit workers in 
a coronavirus world--and they all happened in one month. Since the 
pandemic began, there have been hundreds of COVID-related violent 
encounters between bus drivers and angry passengers who refuse to wear 
masks or follow social distancing protocols.
    At the beginning of the pandemic, transit systems were boarding 
from the back and waiving fares. But regular fare collection and front 
door boarding resumed again in the summer of 2020, bringing passengers 
and drivers within a few feet of one another, exposing us to the virus 
and angry people.
    When someone boards one of our buses without a mask, we are faced 
with a tough choice: say nothing and risk that an infected rider will 
spread the virus, or tell the passenger to put on a mask and risk a 
violent reaction. When you confront someone, it can escalate quickly. 
He could spit on you, he could throw something at you, or he could hurt 
another passenger. But what if that person is sick and contaminates 
everyone on this bus? And you could have prevented that?
    Last May, a St. Louis man boarded a bus without a mask. After the 
female driver informed him that he could only ride the bus with a face 
covering on, the man fired a 9 mm pistol at the driver. She was saved 
only by the polycarbonate shields that were installed as part of the 
COVID response. In Austin, TX, a man threatened a bus driver with 
broken scissors after being told to wear a mask. In Springfield, MA, a 
PVTA bus driver was assaulted after asking a passenger to wear a face 
covering. The suspect punched the woman driver in the back of the head 
and then assaulted another person who tried to help. Knoxville, TN 
police arrested a man after he threatened a bus driver with a box 
cutter after she asked him to put on a face mask before boarding. In 
Staten Island, NY, a man was arrested on assault charges for throwing 
hot coffee onto an MTA bus driver's face when he was asked to put on a 
face covering.
    In Boston, a teenager recently attacked an MBTA bus driver after he 
was asked to put a mask on or get off the bus. He then began coughing 
on the driver, claiming he had COVID and attacked the driver with a 
block that's put under the bus wheels when it is parked. Here in 
Florida, a homeless woman recently boarded a Miami bus and began 
coughing on passengers. The driver told her she needed to wear a mask. 
The woman then spat on the driver.
    Once a passenger gets on the bus with a mask, it's just the 
beginning for me. While driving down the road, I am constantly checking 
the mirror, making sure that riders are keeping their masks on. They 
often pull the face coverings off, and that's when the real tension 
begins. I'm a bus driver, not a police officer. I do not need political 
debates on board my vehicle, but that's the way things are right now. 
When people don't listen, we need to call in the issue to the company 
so they can send help.

    Question 3. Last Congress, I led widely-supported, bipartisan 
letters to provide emergency funding for transit and Amtrak, restore 
frequency in Amtrak's long-distance routes, halt furloughs, and provide 
much-needed PPE and other protective measures ahead of each relief 
bill. We provided, however, $2 billion in relief for Amtrak and $39 
billion for transit operators over the course of 2020, well below the 
amounts the industry requested. In your testimony, you highlighted the 
need for an additional $39.3 billion for transit agencies. This relief 
would both support our transportation workers and ensure essential 
workers can continue to get to the front lines of the pandemic. Without 
additional federal relief for transit agencies, how do you expect the 
level of service provided in our transit systems, such as LYNX, to 
change, and what might this mean for frontline transportation workers?
    Answer. We are of course incredibly grateful to the U.S. Congress 
for providing the resources necessary for the transit industry to 
survive the public health crisis. The emergency operating aid has 
preserved essential service for the millions of people who rely on 
transit and kept hundreds of thousands of transit workers off the 
unemployment line during these very difficult times.
    However, even if more people choose to get vaccinated and our 
economy comes back to life, transit will still be in need of emergency 
operating aid for the foreseeable future. Dedicated sales taxes from 
bars and restaurants have dried up, leaving the agencies with no local 
transit operating assistance. Choice riders are understandably hesitant 
to get back on transit vehicles due to safety concerns. It will likely 
take years for ridership levels and fare box revenue to recover, and we 
will need significant levels of federal operating aid to survive. 
Without continued operating assistance, service levels at Lynx and at 
systems across the country will be significantly reduced. Transit 
dependent riders, especially in communities of color, will be the 
victims of these harsh cuts. Hundreds of thousands of transit workers 
would face layoffs.

 Question from Hon. Salud O. Carbajal to Hon. Joe Buscaino, President 
  Pro Tempore, Los Angeles City Council, testifying on behalf of the 
                       National League of Cities

    Question 1. In your testimony, you talk about the need for a 
directed formula funding that cities can use to support local 
communities during COVID. Last year when we passed H.R. 2, I worked to 
make sure that more local areas could get more direct transportation 
funding.
    Councilmember, can you walk us through how much faster the funding 
goes out and gets to the people we're trying to support when we partner 
with local governments?
    Answer. America's local governments are responsible for 80% of the 
road network in our country, and we are the closest level of government 
to the people. The Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) is the 
primary formula program to ensure that Congress is responsive to 
meeting the most pressing needs in the communities where people are 
driving, walking, and riding today. STBG is the program where Congress 
can show their constituents the most value in the upcoming 
reauthorization by increasing the suballocation to local governments. 
In the FAST Act, Congress grew the local share, and in H.R. 2, we were 
glad to see Congress include an increase once again. The nation's 
cities ask that you prioritize STBG and planning in the coming 
reauthorization of the FAST Act as the key way in which you can support 
the changing demands on transportation and show the value of 
Congressional investment at home.
    Since H.R. 2, the pandemic that has shown the value of our local 
transportation networks--from sidewalks and roads where we could get 
out and stretch our legs but also with local deliveries that have been 
a lifeline. The freight connections are now only as good as our local 
delivery road networks. As we emerge from COVID-19, the demands on our 
transportation system are going to change and likely the shifts will be 
more localized and require good planning and regional thinking rather 
than a top-down approach. A Congressional program like STBG will serve 
us well for a post-COVID-19 transportation investment--it's targeted, 
flexible to respond to local needs, and works collaboratively. I ask 
that every member consider prioritizing STBG for the next 
reauthorization.
                             [all]