With help from Oriana Pawlyk and Tanya Snyder

— Boeing says it won’t meet a December deadline for cockpit safety upgrades, and lawmakers are divided on whether or not to grant the airline more time.  

— Sen. Kyrsten Sinema will keep her Commerce Committee gavel despite leaving the Democratic Party.

— Democrats call for executive action on paid sick leave for rail workers.

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“When it's sunny in Seattle and it's snowing down in New Orleans/And them boys from Amarillo stop wearing those boots and jeans.”

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS TIME: Boeing is asking Congress for a year-end gift, and some lawmakers are not in a giving mood. The plane manufacturer faces a Dec. 27 deadline from Congress to install new cockpit safety equipment on its MAX 7 and 10 planes but says it will not be able to meet it, Oriana and Lee Hudson report, and there’s resistance from some Democrats about granting an extension.

CHANGES COMING: The FAA says it will pause Boeing’s ongoing certifications until the new equipment is installed or Congress intervenes. Having failed to get a three-year extension included as part of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, Boeing is now targeting the appropriations bill as a vehicle, according to two industry officials who were granted anonymity to freely discuss pending legislation.

DEMS DISAGREE: Democratic lawmakers from Boeing’s home state of Washington and House Transportation Committee ranking member Sam Graves (R-Mo.), who is likely to lead the committee next Congress, have called for an extension. But other Democrats, including outgoing T&I Chair Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), said they think Boeing doesn’t merit a grace period.

“I am very unimpressed with the argument in favor of providing a delay and I'm unpersuaded they need it or deserve it,” Blumenthal said. “It was taken out of the NDAA, right? But I would say [its] chances are somewhat less than fifty-fifty.”

THINK OF THE JOBS: But House Aviation Subcommittee Chair Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), whose district includes Boeing, said the extension should be included in any year-end continuing resolution or omnibus spending bill.

“The women and men make this airplane and live and work and go to school in my district and they're the folks who are going to be on the short end of the stick if orders don’t get done,” he told POLITICO.

DECEMBER PILE-UP: Congressional leaders are expected to take up at least one more short-term continuing resolution with government funding set to run out on Friday, with the aim of buying more time to agree on a full-year deal. It’s not clear what will happen with Boeing, as Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) declined to comment about specific provisions in any spending bill and a spokesperson for the Senate Committee on Appropriations declined to comment.

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KEEPING MY ASSIGNMENTS: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona will keep her committee posts, including the gavel of the Senate Commerce Aviation and Space Subcommittee, despite changing her party affiliation from Democrat to independent, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Friday.

"She asked me to keep her committee assignments and I agreed," Schumer said in a statement. "Kyrsten is independent; that's how she's always been."

FAA REAUTH IMPACTS: Sinema’s Commerce Committee post makes her a key lawmaker to watch next year as Congress puts together an FAA reauthorization bill. Earlier this fall, Sinema, along with other senators, argued that regulators need to move faster to address regulatory concerns related to drones, electrified aircraft and flying taxis.

USURP CONGRESS, JOE: More than 70 House and Senate Democrats on Friday sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to take executive action to provide rail workers with paid sick leave, Tanya reports. In the letter, lawmakers said the agreement that Congress forced into law didn’t do enough to protect workers. A majority of the House and Senate voted to add seven paid sick days to the deal but the provision failed to get 60 votes in the Senate.

POSSIBLE ACTIONS: The lawmakers suggested that Biden could expand a 2015 executive order signed by then-President Barack Obama requiring federal contractors to provide paid sick leave — an order which left out rail carriers. Or Labor Secretary Marty Walsh could require paid sick leave under his statutory authority. Finally, they argued that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg could, under the Federal Railroad Safety Act, ensure that “workers are not operating trains or inspecting rail signals while sick or tired.”

UP GETS CALLED IN: Union Pacific will get an earful this week from the Surface Transportation Board, which will hold a two-day public hearing to discuss increases in UP’s use of embargoes. Embargoes are temporary restrictions on the shipping of certain goods, at certain times, and/or in certain locations, used as a strategy for reducing rail traffic congestion. UP implemented five embargoes in 2017 — but so far in 2022, it’s implemented more than 1,000. More than 30 have been put into effect since the STB announced the meeting.

It’s off to a rocky start: The Board has given the railroad until Dec. 6 to file supporting documents “so that the Board may understand UP’s processes for deciding when and how to use embargoes.” UP, in response, filed one PowerPoint file containing seven slides. Those slides addressed only “some” of the issues and only in “general terms” and “failed to provide any detail” on the topics it did address, STB Chair Martin Oberman said in a letter back to UP.

“Unfortunately, UP’s failure to fully respond to the order has hindered the Board in its efforts to understand this increase in the use of embargoes, and their causes and impacts,” Oberman wrote.

Robynn Tysver, a spokesperson for Union Pacific, said that the railroad “looks forward to discussing with the STB how we use embargoes to control traffic movements temporarily when needed to address congestion,” and that it is “committed to restoring the fluidity of our network — and with that, the consistency and reliability of our service to all our customers.”

TAKATA DEATH: Honda confirmed Friday that a Takata airbag-related fatality has occurred — the fourth this year, bringing the total up to 23 in the United States. A defective Takata driver’s side airbag inflator ruptured in a 2002 Honda Accord in a crash on Feb. 2, 2022, in Bowling Green, Ky., killing one person. In a statement, American Honda said that the company had made more than 300 attempts to reach the owner of the vehicle since June 2011 to alert them to the Takata recall and direct them to where they could get a free repair. NHTSA called on all vehicle owners to check for open Takata recalls on their vehicles, warning that “even minor crashes can result in exploding air bags that can kill or produce life-altering, gruesome injuries.”

— “The railroad fight was the product of eight years of militant rank-and-file organizing.” The Intercept.

— “Destroying Maya treasures to build a tourist train.” The Washington Post.

— “Maryland’s new governor on Baltimore’s Red Line: ‘We’re going to get it done.’” Bloomberg.

— “UAW organizes its first EV battery plant.” The Detroit News.

— “Congress moves to eliminate FAA LODA requirement.” AOPA.