Interstate Commerce Commission: Impacts of Eliminating or Transferring Motor Carrier and Other Functions

GAO discussed the impact of eliminating the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and transferring its functions to other federal agencies. GAO noted that: (1) there is a consensus in the transportation industry that many ICC motor carrier and rail activities could be eliminated; (2) proposals for reducing or eliminating ICC could save between $0 and $39 million; (3) options for transferring ICC functions include transferring all remaining ICC functions to the Department of Transportation (DOT), transferring most functions to DOT while assigning railroad merger and other antitrust functions to the Department of Justice, assigning consumer protection functions to the Federal Trade Commission, combining ICC with the Federal Maritime Commission, creating an independent regulatory agency within DOT, and repealing ICC regulatory authority; (4) the manner in which the successor agencies would perform their new activities is more important than the budgetary impact of each option; (5) the transportation industry does not agree on how ICC functions should be transferred; and (6) if Congress decides to retain any ICC functions, it needs to consider the trade-off between budgetary savings and the desirability of maintaining an independent regulatory body.