Ride-hailing company Uber is lobbying Congress to include language in the annual defense policy bill that would allow Uber and Lyft drivers onto U.S. military installations to pick up and drop off passengers.
Right now, while some military installations allow ride-hailing drivers onto the premises. Each installation has its own policy that factors in security levels. The language that Uber is pushing for, now included in the Senate-passed version of the annual defense policy bill, instructs the Defense Department to develop and implement a uniform policy on how drivers could access all installations.
The language was co-sponsored by Senate Armed Services Committee members Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Joe Donnelly, D-Ind. Similar language, backed by U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., is included in the House Armed Services Committee report.
The provision would allow authorized drivers to access barracks, housing areas and other lodging facilities. The Defense Department’s revised policy would have to address whether drivers could access areas that need a security clearance, or if those areas would be off-limits. One approach could be to have military spouses, retirees and reservists — who already have access to bases — be Uber drivers.
That would fit an ongoing Uber initiative, announced in 2014, to recruit 50,000 military service members, spouses and veterans as drivers. The chairman of UberMilitary’s advisory board is former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
The effort coincides with a major uptick in lobbying by Uber, which this year exceeded $1 million in federal lobbying spending for the first time.