thoughtleaders NORMAN MINETA
“known shipper” concept had a lot of merit when it was
being implemented, and it still does. A combination of
technological applications and the risk-based, known-ship-per program is the ideal way to go.
Q
Like you, Secretary LaHood was a seasoned lawmaker chosen by the opposition party at the start of an
administration to run DOT. Yet you had significant transportation experience going into the job, while he did not. Is
that going to be a problem for him?
ARay LaHood was a great choice. He has a very close relationship with the president and chief of staff (Rahm
Emanuel). He may be lacking in terms of getting into the
weeds on specific issues, but he will surround himself with
knowledgeable people and he is a quick study. He was also a
member of the House Public Works and Transportation
Committee, so he has had exposure to the issues.
Ray is widely respected on both sides of the aisle. That is
important, because working with Congress is a critical part
of that job.
and maintenance. Another is working to improve productivity and reduce congestion on our freight corridors—and
that means reintroducing intermodalism. We put a great
deal of emphasis on intermodal in past reauthorization
bills, and we have to get back to that. It stands to be an efficient and cost-effective way to move goods, and we can ill
afford to give up hard-won productivity gains.
The other key challenge, which ties back to the first, is
working to raise awareness of transportation issues and
how they affect our lives. I have never understood why
there has not been more attention and concern expressed
by the public about transportation. Every form of economic activity is based on transportation. It impacts everybody
every day, but unless there is a tragedy, people take transportation for granted.
After the collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis,
(Rep. James) Oberstar (D-Minn.) proposed a 5-cent increase
in the gasoline tax to fund bridge improvements. It took
about 45 days to kill that proposal. I thought, “Holy cow, is
the shelf life of a discussion of this magnitude only 45 days?”
Q
What are the biggest challenges facing those who work
and depend on transportation and infrastructure?
AThe biggest challenge is finding a sustainable revenue
source for infrastructure construction, operations,
Q
Looking back, what do you consider to be your greatest accomplishments and frustrations?
AMy greatest accomplishment was setting up the
Transportation Security Administration, meeting the
36 mandates in the law creating the agency, and doing it
within the prescribed time frame. The biggest mandate was
establishing security operations at all U.S. commercial airports by Nov. 17, 2002. What many people don’t realize is
that, when completed, the TSA was the largest single mobilization of any workforce since World War II.
My biggest disappointment? In 2001, knowing the next
highway reauthorization was set for 2003, we developed a
six-year funding mechanism that called for a 2-cent-a-gal-
lon gas tax increase in the first year, a 2-cent-a-gallon
increase in the third year, and another 2-cent-a-gallon
increase in the fifth year. As I recall, that would have been a
$330 billion proposal and left us with a $7 billion unobligated trust fund balance after six years. We went to the Oval
Office, and after we went through the entire presentation,
President Bush takes a marker, circles the gas tax increases,
and says, “Norm, I don’t want any of those tax increases.
Get those out.”
So we went back and put a CPI inflator on the gas tax
in the fifth year. Keep in mind that the gas tax had not
been raised since 1993. We returned to the Oval Office,
went through the presentation, and afterward President
Bush said, “Norm, that’s a tax increase. Get that out.” So
I then took all the unobligated surplus, left $1 billion in
the highway trust fund, and used the balance to build a
$267 billion surface transportation program that
Congress finally passed in 2005. Not long after, the
administration asked for an $8 billion infusion of general funds into the highway trust fund so it wouldn’t be
running a deficit by 2007.
