By Sen. John Thune and Sen. Deb Fischer
In America's heartland, we understand and value productivity and hard work. Across Nebraska and South Dakota, there's no shortage of wide open spaces or hardworking people. The businesses and agriculture producers in our states also rely upon America's roads, highways, bridges and railroads to get their commodities and other products to market. Despite various challenges, our agriculture producers feed not only this country but millions more across the globe.
This year, we have worked to establish a new pattern of productivity in the U.S. Senate. As leaders on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, we have focused on a wide range of issues affecting businesses and our economy. For several months, this focus has targeted improvements to our nation's transportation network. By working together and seeking input from stakeholders across the country, our committee has achieved many bipartisan successes, including Senate passage of the first multi-year highway bill in nearly a decade.
Over the course of the year, the committee has held over a dozen hearings to explore the right policies to enhance transportation safety, efficiency, and reliability for all Americans. We heard from a wide group of stakeholders from across the nation on a diverse number of issues.
The first transportation subcommittee hearing examined the future of America's transportation policy and featured witnesses from Nebraska, including Jim Mullen of Werner Enterprises, Lance Fritz of Union Pacific Railroad, and Douglas Means of Cabela's. Each witness discussed three common themes: the importance of a reliable and efficient surface transportation network; the challenges they are facing in regard to organization, safety, and overall performance; and their relationships with federal agencies.
This spring, we examined the significant service disruptions that were occurring at West Coast ports. For nearly 10 months, protracted labor disputes delayed the movement of goods to and from markets. This affected even landlocked states like Nebraska and South Dakota. Manufacturers waited for vital inputs and hospitals even had difficulty receiving medical supplies. In fact, meat producers from our region were unable to ship products and had to reduce production levels. Following our hearing, we were pleased to see an agreement ending the dispute.
However, to prevent such occurrences in the future, we have worked on new measures helping the Department of Transportation to actually track and monitor port congestion. Heading off another transportation system problem, just last month, the president signed into law a common-sense, accountability-focused solution we advanced to ensure that our nation's freight and passenger rail system did not face severe disruptions because of an unrealistic deadline for new train control technology.
One of our committee's most successful accomplishments this year was the Senate passage of bipartisan, multiyear highway legislation in July that should soon result in the signing of a bill to advance highway project construction and enhance road safety. This bill also incorporates additional regulatory relief for our agriculture producers. Specifically, it would allow farmers the flexibility to transport up to 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel for equipment without the burden of obtaining special permits. The bill also develops a comprehensive strategy for freight infrastructure planning across the country and provisions to strengthen truck safety through regulatory reforms at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. These truck safety reforms would encourage stronger regulatory analysis, more transparency, and wider public participation in the regulatory process.
The Senate's accomplishments are an important step, but our work has just begun as we seek to make the federal government more accountable to the needs of Americans in states like Nebraska and South Dakota.