Automobiles

The House could consider a bill this week to block the European Union from requiring airlines operating in its countries to trade emissions.

A bill out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee would bar U.S. airlines from being forced to participate in the EU Emission Trading System, which is similar to cap-and-trade proposals environmentalists once tried to push in the United States.

Officials with the committee said the House could consider the measure, dubbed the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition Act of 2011, sometime this week.

The loan guarantee is helping the company design cars in the U.S. that are manufactured in Finland.

Romney opposed the auto bailout, which Democrats think will hurt him in a general election against Obama.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Transportation officials in Colorado have a plan to use police cars to set the pace of traffic on a major highway in the state.

Investors in a proposed California High Speed Rail might not get on board with the proposal until after it is built.

The Federal Aviation Administration halted flights in Missouri to assist a police search for a missing baby.

Police are investigating a shooting involving a security officer on Atlanta, Ga.'s MARTA transit system.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a couple accused of having sex while skydiving.

A woman is accusing the Transportation Security Administration of taking her child's juice at Baltimore's BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Hertz Rent-a-Car is looking for more electric cars.

Meanwhile, environmentalists are unhappy with General Motors electric car efforts.

House Democrats are moving on several fronts to keep political pressure on the supercommittee to repeal oil-and-gas industry tax breaks in its deficit-reduction package.

The latest effort came in a Friday letter from 38 members, spearheaded by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), that argues “the United States can no longer afford to give away billions of dollars every year to corporations earning billions of dollars in profits.”

The letter claims that eliminating fossil fuel industry subsidies could reduce the debt by up to $122 billion over a decade. It states:

The Senate begins work this week on a spending bill that would set up a new $10 million grant program aimed at helping states combat "distracted driving," which focuses on texting behind the wheel.

"While there is no definitive data as to how many distracted driving deaths and injuries are caused by cell phone use and texting, 20 percent of the drivers involved in fatal accidents in 2009 were either using or in the presence of a cell phone at the time of the crash, and there is reason to be concerned about whether the recent rise in distracted driving fatalities is linked to the increasing use of electronic devices," according to report language for S. 1596, the 2012 spending bill for the Department of Transportation and other agencies.

The issue of distracted driving will take center stage this week when National Organizations for Youth Safety convenes a teen distracted driving summit just outside of Washington.

The summit, which features workshops and panels with national journalists, including from The Hill, will take place Oct. 16-17 in Crystal City, Va.

The goal of the summit is to increase awareness about distractions while driving caused by things like cellphones and texting, which the group says has caused 20 percent of all car accidents since 2009.

The president touted the re-emergence of U.S. auto companies and the just-passed trade agreement with South Korea.

Obama will make the case at a GM plant that the bailout has saved and will create jobs.