Week ahead: Foxx to offer testimony for first time in office

Foxx will also hit the road this week for his first official trips
as Transportation Secretary, visiting New Haven, Conn. and Minneapolis,
Minn. on Monday.

In the former, he will discuss railway safety, and in the latter, the rebuilding of an interstate bridge that collapsed in 2007.

The Connecticut trip follows through on a promise Foxx made during
his Senate confirmation hearing.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) asked Foxx to visit New Haven to
see the state of railways in the northeast U.S. after a crash on the Metro North network that connects New York City to its suburbs in Connecticut.

“Our rail lines are deteriorated, outdated and decrepit
in many areas, especially our northeast corridor,” Blumenthal said
during the May meeting.

Foxx quickly agreed to request.

“The
tragic collision in Bridgeport is one that all of us in the country
feel,” the soon-to-be transportation secretary said during his
confirmation hearing.
 
Elsewhere, lawmakers in the House will hold a hearing on Tuesday to
discuss possible solutions to a shortfall in the traditional funding
source for transportation projects, the 18.4 cents-per-gallon federal
gas tax.

The
committee will also hold a field hearing on Friday in New York about
“how freight transportation challenges in urban areas impact the
nation.”