This full Committee Nomination will come to order. This morning the committee will consider four nominations to key transportation positions. The nominees before us today are eric soskin, nominee for Inspector General for dp of transportation. Robert pmbing rimus, nominated to be a member of the Surface Transportation Board. Sara feinberg, nominated to be a director of the amtrak board of directors. And chris coose, nominated to be a director on the amtrak board of directors. The Inspector General of transportation oversees audits of the d. O. T. s programs with the end goal of ensuring our national frppings system is safe, efficient and effective for the american people. Eric soskin has been nominated for this Important Role. Hes a senior trial counsel in the federal Programs Branch at the u. S. Department of justice where he has served since 2006. During his tenure at the justice department, he hasing mored complex litigation an was chose fn a detailed assignment as policy counsel in the office of attorney general Civil Division. Early in his career he served as clerk for a Federal District court judge. He is a graduate of williams college. And earned his law degree from Harvard Law School. Sen din as an independent organization the work of the Surface Transportation Board is vital. Robert primus has been nominated to serve as a member of the board. Hes a longtime staff member to multiple members of the u. S. House of representatives. He has served in senior roles in the house including chief of staff and Senior Advisor. While working with former congressman Michael Capuano in the time that he was Ranking Member of the house transportation and infrastructure subcommittees on railroads, pipelines and hazardous materials, mr. Primus gained valuable expertise on matters involving rail policy. His legislative experience includes work on the surface transportation reauthorization act of 2015. After graduating from hampton university, mr. Primus began his career on the hill with the late senator frank lautenberg, a distinguished member of this committee. The amtrak board of directors provides guidance and direction to National Railroad Passenger Corporation or amtrak. Sara feinberg is one of two nominees to be a director of the amtrak board of directors and she joins us by video link. Ms. Feinberg has notable experience in Passenger Rail matters. She is currently the interim president of the new york city transit, the largest Transit System in north america. From 2015 to 2017, she served as the acting administrator and ad mrtor of the federal Railroad Administration. While serving in this role she was transportation secretary she was she was transportation secretary anthony foxs designee to the amtrak board. She formerly served as chief of staff at the u. S. Department of transportation. In private sector role, and as a special assistant to the president and Senior Advisor to the chief of staff under president obama. Chris coose has also been nominated to serve on the amtrak board of directors, he also joins us via video. Hes served as mayor of normal, illinois, since 2003 and a principal achievement for his municipality in this time was the development and con instruction of a multimodal station servicing amtrak ridership in down state illinois and texas eagle trains. Previously he served as councilmember for the town of normal and hes a Small Business owner. He served as infantry platoon ader with the armys 101st airborne air mobile vision in vietnam. I want to thank all the nominees for testifying today and for your willingness to serve in these important, instrumental transportation sector roles. I also want to thank senator cantwell for her cooperation in our preparation for this hearing and recognize her now for any opening remarks. Senator cantwell thank you, mr. Chairman. We have nominees for three agencies with exteemly important transportation mission. The first is the amtrak board of directors. Amtrak faces a series of critical challenges in the near future as we deal with the severe decline in travel as a result of the covid19 pandemic. In an effort to address these challenges, amtraks management has proposed severe cuts in service including reducing Long Distance trains to three days a week and deep staff regular duckses. Im very concerned these cuts may significantly harm communities served by amtrak and threaten the longterm viability of our National Rail network. I hope that my colleagues will step up in this next covid package and make sure theres support for amtrak, the communities, and the work force. Amtrak also needs leadership and im pleased we have two excellent nominees for the amtrak board of directors here. Sara feinberg served as administration of the Railroad Administration from 2015 to 2017 and in her current curn role as president of new york city trance it. During her time at f. R. A. She sat on the amtrak board and is well aware of the challenges facing amtrak and the importance of rail service to communities across the nation. E are also joined by chris coose, mayor of illinois. His city is served by two amtrak routs, including one Long Distance line, the texas eagle. Hes keenly aware of the value it provides small an mid sized communities. We are yened by Robert Primus nominated to serve as a member of the Surface Transportation Board. S. T. B. Plays an Important Role in resolving Railroad Rate and service disputes as well as reviewing rail mode mergers an restructuring activities. Hes had a long career as a congressional staffer including working on these activities in the house transportation infrastructure so i look forward to hearing his views on these very important issues. Finally, we have the nomination of eric soskin to be Inspector General of the u. S. Department of transportation. The Inspector General of d. O. T. Plays a key role in not only preventing waste, fraud, and abuse but also ensuring that the agency carries out its core Safety Mission for our nations transportation network. One area the i. G. Is currently investigating is is the federal aviation administrations certification of the 737max and cubs sent subsequent response to crashes of the aircraft. I saw yesterday by the f. A. A. On South Carolina for intimidation of employees who were part of the f. A. A. Certification process. The very issue we try to fix in our legislation that we worked on together. Thing that he the didnt agree were any problems yet now we see them issuing fines. Clear think there is a problem and there is intimidation. We want an independent work force that will let the engineers be engineers. Let them to the work and not have fear of intimidation or so anyone i look at that Interesting Development yesterday mr. Chairman and look forward to getting back to those issues. The Inspector General act of 1978 specifically states the i. G. Should be appointed without regard to political affiliation and solely based on integrity and demonstrated ability in accounting, audit, financial analysis, law, management analysis, Public Administration or investigation. So i will be asking you questions because i am concerned that i want to know that you have the experience that lines one this important position that oversees so many infrastructure jobs in the United States and definitely plan to ask you a question. The white house expressed its intent to nominate mr. Soskind on may 18, the same day a longtime employee of the d. O. T. Inspectors office was removed by the president. Im concerned the timing of these things. So i hope we can spend some time addressing those concerns today. Thank you, mr. Chairman, for this hearing and i look forward to hearing from the nominees. Senator wicker thank you. Two of our members would like to say words of introduction. I now turn to senator young. Senator young thank you, mr. Chairman. I am delighted today to introduce to the committee and to the senate the nominee for Inspector General for the department of transportation, eric soskind. Hes a fellow hoosier we had an opportunity to speak on the phone yesterday. Eric spent his formative years he spent his formative years in the indianapolis area as i did. By and large, erics experience as a career Civil Servant and his valuable expertise in the law will bring confidence to the important position that he aspires to hold at d. O. T. Following his early years in he over the last 14 years. So he has extensive experience. Prior to joining the d. O. J. , eric worked for judge paul s. Diamond in the u. S. District court for eastern pennsylvania. Thus far, eric has built a reputation as an exemplary Civil Servant and tremendous legal advocate. Im delighted that hes taking on the challenge of Inspector General at the department of transportation. He has Great Potential to bring objectivity, accountability, and integrity to d. O. T. Which is precisely what we want from this position. Eric, thank you. Thank you for someone with your incredible credentials, someone of your caliber, clearly your heart for service, for your desire to serve in this capacity. Mr. Chairman, i thank you for the opportunity to introduce this great hoosier to this committee. Senator wicker thank you very, very much, senator young. Im told that senator durbin is ready to join us via video link. Are you there, richard . Senator durbin im here, can you hear me . Senator wicker yes. Senator durbin good. Thank you for giving me a few moments to introduce chris coose, mayor of normal, illinois. Hes been a good friend of mine for years. Those of us fortunate enough to represent smalltown america know theres an ongoing battle to save downtown in virtually every one of those communities. Normal, illinois, has done this under the leadership of its mayor chris coos, who has been in that position for 17 years. The most important element of that is the fact that he centered it on the Amtrak Service in downtown normal. Normal turns out to be the number two station in the state of illinois for amtrak passengers. Over 240,000 a year. Its the home of Illinois State university and illinois wesleyian university. There are lots of students moving back and forth as you can imagine. Hris decided to build an intermodal facility in downtown normal as an anchor for the redevelopment of downtown. I hoped helped him secure a 22 million tiger grant and moved forward with a beautiful facility. He capitalized on that and turned it into 173 million more of investment in downtown. You have to see to it blove it to believe it. It really does make you feel good that amtrak is at the heart of this effort. Hris is an amtrak passenger. Hes also a Small Businessman in the normal community. He always wants to keep people moving. His business sells Running Shoes and bicycles. In addition to his love for amtrak he has a passion for people on the move. Im glad to be getting a few words of support for chris today. Hes a dear friend of mine. Hes tackled challenges and has a vision which i think amtrak will benefit from. It was chris who decided that his town of normal would electrify all the vehicles the town used. For that he received national recks any. Hes just a step ahead, time and time again. Im honored to call him a friend. I think hell be a great asset when it comes to the future of amtrak. Senator wicker thank you very, very much, senator durbin and also senator young. We appreciate you spending time with us today and vouching for these nominees. Thank you so much. At this point, i want to recognize the witnesses for opening statements. As is the custom, your full statements will be placed in the record at this point and we ask that you summarize your testimony in five minutes or under so mr. Soskind, youre recognized for your statement. Welcome. Senator wicker, Ranking Member cantwell and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I appreciate your consent for placing my full statement in the record which i will summarize here. Thank you all for arranging this hearing. Consistent with Public Health guidance. Thank you also to the president for nominating me to serve as Inspector General of the department of transportation. It is a profound honor. Id also like to thank senator young of my home state of indiana for his words of introduction. Our great Hoosier State always remains a place i long to see and be. Aam likewise grateful for the support of my family, friends and colleagues. Especially my wife, a naturalized u. S. Citizen who came fearlessly to this country as an doesnt to study accounting and realize her dream. She inspires me every day and has made me the luckiest person i know. I would also like to thank our two children, aaron and lev who bring so much curiosity and joy to my life. Am so proud to be the father of each of you. At an early age i learned that Public Service is a high calling and have aspired to heed that call. My father, a lawyer, was a leader in fighting to protect the civil rights of institutionalized persons. My mother began her career as a librarian before becoming an expert on emerging technologies, education, and training. My career in Public Service has also been inspired by many mentors along the way. I wish i had the time to recognize them all today for the roles they have played. Since entering Harvard Law School in 2002, i have been committed to Public Service, joining the department of justice as a career Civil Servant and representing the United States with independence and integrity for nearly 14 years. As a litigator with the federal programs brampling, i provide leadership in a vast array of matters, representing agencies from across the entire executive branch in legally difficult, high stakes and politically sensitive lawsuits that affect the lives of millions of americans or involve moneys of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds. Ing moring many of these cases at one time as a generalist, one of my core skills is digging deeply into the complex details of new statutes, program, and situations to quickly understand the issues and objectively assess the challenges they entail. Law enforcement agencies are among my most important clients an my practice involves leading cross functional teams, directing factual investigations, and communicating orally and in writing with many types of stake holders. Throughout my career with the department of justice across three administrations, i have upheld the highest standards of professionalism of the department. These are all skills that will lend themselves directly to my successful tenure as Inspector General of the department of transportation. My experience working across Government Agencies has led me to recognize the Critical Role of the Inspector General in each agency in combating waste, fraud, and abuse and advancing efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of government programs. An i. G. Should be, like me, a leader passionate about upholding Public Confidence in our federal institutions and sustaining our democracy. By ensuring accountability and thereby delivering the results the public is entitled to expect from their government. As i. G. I will provide oversight to the department and ensure that core d. O. T. Values areup held including safety for the traveling public and efficiency in the departments programs to sustain and improve the arteries of public prosperity. Beyond my experience and dedication to Public Service, i bring to the job of Inspector General a trained, fresh eye, accustomed to looking at complex situations and establishing priorities. That is a vital skill in an office that routinely initiates new audits an investigations to safeguard taxpayer funds and to ensure that the department adheres to the letter of the law and the established will of congress. I would be honored to lead the office of Inspector General and staff of talented career civiler is vans in a accordance with congress commands of independence and objectivity. If confirmed, i will act with integrity and be honest and impartial in continuing the offices work. My team and i will use the tools established by congress and the i. In the i. G. Act to provide accountability, promote Transportation Safety and enhance Public Confidence while maintaining the offices high standards of clear, timely and Transparent Communications with you, the rest of the congress, and the public. Thank you again for this opportunity to be considered by the senate and to appear before you. I sincerely appreciate your time and look forward to answering your questions. Senator wicker thank you very much. Mr. Primus, youre recognized. Thank you for affording me the opportunity to appear before you today in consideration of my nomination to serve on the Surface Transportation Board. There are several people responsible for my success who, due to the pandemic, could not be present with me this morning and i would be remiss if i did not take a moment to acknowledge them. I would like to thank and acknowledge my amazing wife, gladys, for her love and unwavering support. My three energetic and trainloving sons, benjamin, jay cob and Aaron Francis my mother bettying, my sister marcine and her family and my brother michael. I would also like to acknowledge the influence and support of my late father, william primus. Lastly i want to thank my friend, mentor and teacher, former congressman mike capuano, for giving me the opportunity to serve as chief of star for 18 of the 20 year he is served in congress. My desire to serve the Surface Transportation Board is born from the idea that i want to continue my career in Public Service, assisting in the oversight of something of interest to me an significant importance to our nation. Y fascination with surface transportation began as a child surrounded by people who worked for railroads and then by working with congressman capuano. During that time i was afforded the opportunity to work directly with the various sectors of the Rail Community and gained a more complete understanding of the legislative and regulatory policies that govern our National Rail network. The Surface Transportation Board plays a Critical Role in ensuring our nations rail network is sound and functioning properly. This committee specifically and the congress as a whole recognize the boards importance through the passage of the Surface Transportation Board reauthorization october of 2015. Through the legislation, this committee strengthened the authority of the board to oversee, investigate and adjudicate matters that have long been a concern to industry stake holders an congress alike. Paramount among these concerns is the need to address deficiencies associated with the rate case process. Chairman begamin along with Board Members have since made considerable strides to address the issue. I look forward to working with them to implement changes that, consistent with sound economic principle, will streamline the rate case process to substantially reduce costs and timelines and ultimately enhance the boars effectiveness in handling such cases. Another area of interest is the attention the board gives to smaller and midsized shippers thatlass 2 and 3 railroads provide services to our small towns around rurem radio url communities. In my time in congress i made sure that the concerns of constituents who did not have the resources to navigate the process were appropriately heard. If confirmed it would be a prior toy ensure the voice of the small shipper and small regional and short line railroads are amplified and their concerns con to be important to the board. I also plan to amplify the importance of our nations Passenger Rail service. As someone who grew up riding trains and continues to do so when visiting real tiffs in the south im acutely air ware of the importance of Passenger Service to the National Rail and in particular to the many Rural Communities thatry rely on it. I applaud the efforts to address issues related to Passenger Rail service. I look forward to working with other rail Board Members on issues that are of concern to the Rail Community and in jurisdiction of the board. In closing i have sought over my nearly 25 years of Public Service to build a reputation centered on objectivity and fair mindedness. Which in turn has allowed me to become a strong consensus builder and problem solver. I hope to bring my background solving complex and multidimensional problems into a Regulatory Environment where i believe an unbiased, thoughtful, unconventional approach will lead to fresh ideas and ultimately solutions to some of the challenges the board is tasked to address and resolve. Again, thank you for the opportunity to come before you this morning. I look forward to answering your questions. Senator wicker thank you, very, very much. We had some technical glitches with our remote witnesses yesterday. Madam Ranking Member, i have a feeling these two are going to go very smoothly. So lets turn to ms. Sara feinberg. Ms. Feinberg are you with us and can you hear us all right . I am, i can hear you and i can see you and hopefully you can hear me and see me. Senator wicker ok good. You are recognized for five minutes and thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you so much. Chairman wicker, Ranking Member cantwell and the other distinguished members of commerce committee, i want to thank you for holding this mornings hearing during what is an unprecedented time for this country and this body. I know your time is incredibly valuable and you have many i know your time is valuable and you have many demands on your attention. Thank you for your service and your interest today. I appear before you as a nominee to the amtrak board of directors, a board i served on previously in 201516 while serving as federal Railroad Administrator at the department of transportation. As federal Railroad Administrator i served as the countrys safety regulator for passenger and freight rail. I had the opportunity to help shape the companys approach to safety, its continued implementation of positive train control and its approach to making the system more acceptable to all. I worked closely with the company and my fellow Board Members as we implemented Service Improvements across the country including the companys longdistance service, including concentration of the return of both services. It each turn i felt the board was able to simultaneously work with the company and were close to congress including this committee added Staff Service for riders, improve Business Performance and protect taxpayer dollars. To that end i view the possibility of a second stint on the amtrak board is an opportunity to continue to push forward with safety improvements for all passengers and to serve both the traveling public and taxpayers. Without a doubt amtrak faces an unprecedented moment in the challenging future. Like all transportation entities its finances have been severely impacted by the covid19 pandemic. Ridership has decreased dramatically in the timing of its return is uncertain while cleaning costs of reason. I believe amtrak is taking the right steps to address this crisis head on, requiring masks and social distancing and Service Levels to current demand. Members of the amtrak board have a serious fiduciary responsibility to the company as well as taxpayers. Members of the board must share a commitment to improving safety, service and reliability for amtrak passengers. I take those responsibilities seriously. In the immediate term if my nomination is successful i look forward to working closely with amtrak to ensure protection of passengers during the pandemic and return stability to the company and its finances. I am serving as interim president of us transit, the largest Public Transit agency in north america and i remain in new york city leading our agency as we continue cleanup and restoration efforts following Tropical Storm isaias and prevent a subsequent second wave of covid19. It is good to be with you even virtually and i look forward to your questions. Thank you very much. We turn to mayor koontz. Came here us . I can, thank you. Thank you for joining us. I proudly served the town for 17 years. Thank you, Ranking Member cantwell and members of the United States senate, the community of commerce, science and transportation for the opportunity to testify before you today. I would like to take a moment to thank chairman worker and Ranking Member cantwell for including the surface transportation bill. I would like to thank donald trump, secretary chow and senators durbin, duckworth and schumer for advancing my nomination. I would like to thank paul or, davis and congressman for the strong support of my nomination. It confirmed i hope to bring my experience as a mayor, Small Business owner and amtrak customer to the board of directors. These experiences instilled in me believes that Passenger Rail is a necessary investment that increases mobility, promotes Economic Growth and improved quality of life for all communities it serves. Ive seen positive impact of Passenger Rail firsthand which serves and amtrak station, and uptown station, the station has been key to revitalizing central businesses. This revitalization would not have happened if the Business Community and political leaders in the region did not recognize the importance of innercity Passenger Rail and transit oriented development. I have a deep respect for the organization, its history and its employees are committed to making amtrak a convenient and Reliable Transportation option for all americans. I believe the national Passenger Rail system will be crucial to solving the toughest problems we face today is a nation from providing a viable addition to our transportation network, fighting climate change, and to create new and sustainable jobs. Amtrak could be a valuable partner in this solution. As much as i admire amtrak i recognize the work faces a number of challenge i would hope to focus on it my appointment to the board of directors is confirmed. As a member of the board i reaffirm my support to the rail system. My community usurped by state and longdistance lines. I recognize the importance of longdistance train travel for many of my constituents who are often unable to travel by plane, bus or car. Amtrak posed a major role in the mobility and independence for the disability community. To make Passenger Rail and effective transportation option we need to significantly improve ontime performance, this means engaging in metrics and new standards as well as holy freight Rail Companies accountable for following agreedupon timetables. Im also invested in making amtrak a safer system. I will use my position as a director on the board to advocate for safe rail crossings, and improvements to create safer conditions, decrease travel times and improved ontime performance. I would add a strong Safety Culture for amtraks management and employees. Is confirmed i look forward to tackling some of these challenges. Enclosing is a mayor i understand the benefits of innercity Passenger Rail to my community and our nation. I hope i have the opportunity to work closely with members and staff of this committee as well as the entire congress to create a more effective and efficient Passenger Rail system for our country. I look forward to questions and thank you for having me here today. Thank you, mister maher and thank you to all our witnesses. We will now move to questions and there is a question i am required to ask each of you. I will ask the question and call on each of you for a yes or no question in term. If confirmed will you work collaboratively with this committee and provide thorough and timely responses to our request for information as we Work Together to address important policy issues . Yes i will. Yes. Miss feinberg. Yes. Mayor case. Yes, mister chairman. Thank you very much. Let me say it is no secret the Ranking Member and i are supporters of Passenger Rail. It plays a very Important Role in our economy. I would like to see enhanced and expanded and i assume all our witnesses feel that way too. For miss feinberg and mayor koontz i hope you know ive long champion restoration of Amtrak Service for the gulf coast routes from new orleans to mobile. Southern Rail Commission has received consolidated rail improvements grant for 33 million for this project. You are a little bit familiar with this because in a previous position you came down and rode a train with me and state officials and federal officials and saw for yourself at each stop local support for Gulf Coast Service. Are you committed to working with me to restore this route . I am. I remember that trip fondly. That was a lovely day and i was reminiscing about it with your staff the other day. A Beautiful Day in new orleans. It was a great day for an amtrak trip. I continue to be supportive of returning Gulf Coast Service and am happy to work with you and your staff, southern Rail Commission and others moving forward. It has been pushing a boulder up a mountain but look forward to working with you on that. Amazing the number of local citizens, massive crowds that came out to join us at each stop as we left new orleans and made our way across the coasts. I bet you would be willing to ride that train with me also on the gulf coast. I can tell you my association with one of your former mayors, john roberts this reminds me all the time i have to Pay Attention to the gulf coast routes and has invited me to go down there. I certainly would be honored to join you and learn as much as i can about that but i can assure you, former mayor smith keeps me wellinformed on that. That speaks well in your favor also. And to those who are listening to not know John Robert Smith he was a long time veteran mayor of meridian, mississippi and he knows firsthand the value to a mediumsized city of Passenger Rail because that is a route that has been successful and continues to be successful and i think his experience there as mayor and with Passenger Rail after that has demonstrated to him that there is a wall for Passenger Rail even in areas outside the major corridors. Miss feinberg, did you shutdown totally new york transit and continued give us a minute about what you may have learned from the virus impact in new york city, the largest Transit System . We were new york was the epicenter and the leading edge of the virus and it is taken a toll on nta that is hard to describe. 130 one of my colleagues have passed away from covid19 and so it is something that even as our state is seeing numbers of those impacted by the disease go down and positive tests go down it is something we are very much still in the middle of and living with every day so i would say the things we learned, i probably couldnt list them if you devoted the rest of the hearing to it but i can give you a couple examples and happy to continue the conversation. We have taken on all of the above approach to making sure our system is safe. We are disinfecting and cleaning stations twice a day. We have a 24 7 cleaning regimen in which we are cleaning all of our railcars that are in the service 3, 4, five, six times a day. We are now closed overnight from 1 am to 5 am because it makes our cleaning efforts more effective and efficient to not have riders in the system. A huge change for new york city transit. We say it is the city that never sleeps, deserves a 24hour subway system that has been a real change for us. Beyond disinfecting we are also aware the virus can move through aerosols so weve taken a close look at our air filtration system for making sure that air is circulating in the subway system, opening windows on buses, putting barriers between Bus Operators in the public. We have bus riders going to the back so they dont have that interaction with the operator and that is to keep our system safe and theres a lot we are doing to make sure our workforce is safe. We contributed masks, millions of masks, millions of gloves, face shields, we tried to put space between operators in the public, we are treating our machines multiple times a day. It has had a massive impact on us and changed the entire way we operate the system, changed the way we think about Public Transportation, the way we think about operating generally. I am happy to take questions on this. It is a highlevel view. Very much appreciate that. This is an important perspective to bring to this hearing today. That last point is important, keeping our workforce safety provide transportation i hope we continue to spend time and focus on. The hearing gives us a lot to cover in the broad spectrum, if i have to jump through a couple different issues to lets start with Mister Dillingham. The independence of your job is critically important. A recent gao report highlighted the ig must be independent of mind and appearance in the president abruptly removed the dot acting ig, career official and installed a politically appointed administrative so both of those roles simultaneously. The gao expressed concern about whether the situation is inconsistent with the independence requirements generally accepted for auditing and standards and other professional standards. Would you agree the abrupt removal of the acting ig and replacing him create an appearance of bias . The Inspector General returning to his role. Cant hear him. Continues to serve the takeover with Inspector General. What i can see is my qualification and my commitment to you to be an objective and independent voice to combat waste, fraud, and abuse, to oversee the office of Inspector General with integrity if confirmed. I spent 14 years of her career Civil Servant in the department of justice across three administrations and been entrusted with sensitive matters and to have hard conversations throughout that time and i am prepared to continue to do so and act objectively. If you are confirmed, would you talk about not interfering in investigations with political appointees . I will serve with objectivity and integrity. I am not sure i totally understand your question. We not interfere with investigations involving the secretary or political appointees at the department. If somebody comes in and investigates the secretary or a political appointee of the department from outside. We will investigate all allegations and all issues without fear or favor and without regard to whether it involves a political nominee or not. The public is entitled to have oversight of everyone in the organization. He wouldnt interfere there was another investigation . Maybe i should put this in writing because i think you are hesitating and i want to be clear what i am asking and you can respond in writing for the record. That would be helpful. I am concerned about what happened in various positions in the administration that i think are overly political but lets go to the amtrak organization and the two nominees we have here. Obviously amtrak is critical for millions of people and the two lines, washington state, the coast, the Empire Builders serve the same communities. A majority of them being small and Rural Communities. I would like to ask the nominee what kind of commitment, will you preserve the amtrak longdistance service, the economic lifeline it provides to Rural Communities . Go ahead. Thank you. I am very committed to the national effort, longdistance trains. Without those trains we dont have a National Network and it is crucial for the function of amtrak. People gloss over the longdistance routes saying they are decorated point z. A lot of people dont realize they go shorter distances along that corridor and that is a critical part of our daily operations. I understand the need right now to be prudent about the frequency of those roots in and covid19 world and im strongly committed at such time as we can safely travel through this country without fear of covid19 to returning longdistance routes. Commitment to preserving longdistance service . Yes, thank you for the question. You have my commitment. I am from a small rural state, West Virginia and i will aware of the importance of longdistance service to those communities and the employees active touch points for the community. In 2017 we had a horrific accident which claimed the lives of three individuals and injured 65 people. The chairman of the ntsb wrote an anonymous ominous warning about the amtrak Safety Culture, quote, amtrak Safety Culture is failing and is primed to fail again unless amtrak changes its ways of safety management. Former ceo Richard Anderson testified about improving the Safety Culture so this is a very big issue you are probably both aware of the accident that happened, a train derailed on july 5th and shutdown i 5. It was a Maiden Voyage through a new route, speed control and awareness just didnt seem to be there and it was very costly accident to life and property. Will you ensure that reforming the Safety Culture will help us, that we have a Safety Culture that is top priority at amtrak . Absolutely. The Safety Culture is critical for an effective and safe system. I hope i can ask a followup without in writing, how you would continue to focus on that. We definitely want to have service. We have big challenges with covid19. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mister chairman, the four nominees for the amtrak board will be asked the same questions by several of us. I appreciate senator cantwell and you both express your strong support for longdistance Passenger Rail service and i am here to do the same. More importantly im here to make certain the nominees understand what they just answered about the commitment to longdistance service. I thank all our nominees for their interest in serving. I was the Inspector General if confirmed success and, it is Inspector General a hugely important part of how congress does its job and i want you to do it well. Let me begin with ms. Fienberg and mayor koontz. I experienced an attitude in prior times at amtrak, a bias against or at least not in favor of longdistance Passenger Service which i described as a bias against service but cant make a profit on its own. My views amtrak is designed to provide longdistance Service Across the country, the metrics of whether or not it should exist is not whether or not it was profitable. We have a nationwide system designed to make certain that Services Available to all americans with geographic diversity across the country. The previous nominees to the amtrak board received my vote in this committee but also placing a hold on their nominations before the senate would consider them and that is a similar circumstance for me in this circumstance. I want to take a step back and indicate at various points in time in my time in the senate i have seen the southwest chief which run through three states of members of this committee, colorado, new mexico and kansas has been in the crosshairs of amtrak and is in my view only through our engagement that significant improvements are being made with the commitment of its future longevity. But now with covid19 there is an opportunity and perhaps an excuse for diminution of service which i understand. Im concerned about return of the service and i want to make certain responding to challenges of covid19 pandemic is not used as an excuse to terminate or significantly reduce longdistance service on the southwest and other longdistance routes so one of the things i understand from amtrak is they have criteria by which they would determine whether to restore additional funding for longdistance service. One of those is whether or not the ridership levels in the First Quarter of fy 21 is within 90 of amtraks projected numbers. That requires me to have a lot of faith in the projections of amtrak so that something less than what you project doesnt have an explanation for why we no longer support longdistance Passenger Service. Would you tell me again perhaps what you already said and i will ask you to respond to me in writing so that i dont have to delay your confirmation on the senate floor your commitment to longdistance service and assure me if you are remember of the amtrak board that you will not look for the excuse covid19 might present for the lamination or further reduction of that service . In other words we struggle with maintaining our service on a daily basis and with reduced service i think ridership will be less viable, not more viable so the criteria amtrak is creating makes it more difficult to see that amtrak is on a path to restoration of service. What would you like to assure me about . You have my commitment as i mentioned earlier and my commitment in writing as well. These are incredibly Important Services we provide Rural Communities and also states that need the service so americans who want to take a train instead of a plane, i am from West Virginia where there is an airport but the Amtrak Service just like it does in many other states is similar to air service, ways that folks can get away with using their own cars. With your staff as we contemplate the future and this is important to you. Thank you very much. There is no Transportation System in the United States not some a lot subsidized by United States dollars. So the standard is unfair. The texas eagle comes through my community, people getting on and off daily in the ridership level is important to my community and a lot of smaller communities throughout the United States that dont have airports or in interstate but they do have Train Service and that is a critical amenity for our communities. Fiscal year 21 seems to me like a tenuous benchmark because i dont know where we are going to be in the First Quarter of 21 for covid19. We have to recognize peoples willingness to trust Public Transportation again in a post covid19 world and that is the metric i would use to judge the viability of the longdistance routes. I will pledge to you in writing my support for the longdistance trains. Thank you. Of both of you i appreciate your answers and weve been through this issue with amtrak now for more than a year with the senators of those states. We thought we had things back on track and covid19 creates new challenges and i appreciate what you had to sample follow through with you. Mayor. I dont know the job well enough in illinois but southwest chief generally originates in chicago on its way to los angeles so this is not just an important issue for the 3 states i mentioned the longdistance route that involves your home state as well. Thank you. Senator more and, your position has been made clear this morning, thank you for that line of questioning. Senator blumenthal. Thank you, mister chairman, thank you for your willingness to serve. We have worked together in the past and i thank you for your work in new york. I want to join other colleagues in the department of transportation. I join my other colleagues in an intense and urgent interest in the infrastructure challenges posed by amtrak and my colleague senator moran said it very well. We need to link the country, one country, that is one of the points that has been highlighted during this pandemic. We need to think not only about existing traffic and railcars but significantly upgrading them, reimagining what rail transportation can be in this country isnt all that difficult because other industrial countries are way ahead of us and people are going to vote with their feet so ridership will increase if provided the kind of service that i hope all the nominees are dedicated to provide. Let me ask you, Mister Dillingham. Inspectors general in this country are more vulnerable that any time, the president has fired a number of them. State department Inspector General left yesterday without any explanation after his predecessor was fired because apparently he was investigating the secretary of state. The fact is inspectors general need more protection. Right now all that is required is 30 days notice, will you support legislation that would for bid firing inspectors general without good cause . I am currently counseling a record in litigation representing the United States on matters pertaining to executive officers and their service in acting capacity and their removal. In light of that and my lack of specific familiarity with legislation proposed would be inappropriate for me to comment at this time on that but i will say that i share your commitment to objectivity and independence on the part of inspectors general. It is a necessary part. Forgive my interrupting because my time is limited in second, let me just say bluntly thats what they all say. It is not for lack may be of good intentions but the fact of the matter is this white house has interfered repeatedly and forcefully in investigation. And whatever your assurances, without some greater protection, you will be involved in improper influences and perhaps fire. Will you commit that you will look at that legislation and get back to me with a position on it . I will certainly look at the legislation and provide you with our input and assessment of confirmed as Inspector General. Who are you are presenting as counsel involved Inspector General litigating. It is litigation about the independence of executive officers. What is the name of the litigation. Several of the cases involving acting attorney general Matt Whitaker when he was serving as acting attorney general of the United States. Those cases present issues. What was your involvement in your resume, politically sensitive litigation involving executive orders on travel and litigation, what specific cases . Ive been involved in a number of sensitive cases throughout my career. They come to our office, they have to be of significant which cases on travel and immigration . I was involved in cases involving the president s executive orders and proclamations regarding entry to the United States. The muslim ban . Some people labeled it as such. I think the title of the president s actions were executive orders and proclamations. Where you counseled . I was one of many counsel on the team serving to defend those enactments. Did you participate in policies in the making leading to those orders . My involvement was is litigation counsel. Real in touch with the white house when they were formulated . I was involved is litigation counsel. What was your involvement in the department of justices ban on bump stocks . When i was on detail in a policy role to the office of assistant attorney general of the Civil Division i worked on the drafting of what became the rule trading bump stocks as machine guns and subsequently been involved as litigation counsel in descending the ban against challenges, preliminary injunctions which im proud to say we successfully defeated in their entirety and now on the merits of litigation. What was your involvement in the clinton email litigation . I was one of many lawyers who served as Trial Attorney defending the state department against various outside groups, some of them interest organizations and media groups seeking to obtain secretary clintons personal emails as part of the information became too late. Have you ever conducted an investigation . Part of my responsibility defending litigation is overseeing investigations into the factual circumstances of the matters, routinely supervised, gathering information and seeking to layouts the factual basis of defending lawsuits and seeking to highlight prioritize. Give me a specific example please. An example of what . Of your conducting investigation. Absolutely. In the cases that we had involving cancellation of the trademark registration of the Football Team then called the washington redskins, one of the allegations in that case challenged as a largescale matter the constitutionality and of the First Amendment of the statute under which the process operated. One of the threats of allegations involved with the there was political involvement in the decisionmaking and we got to run down the factual underpinnings of those allegations. Im not sure what time is because i cant be here. Im sure it has expired. You are 3 minutes over. I apologize, mister chairman. I appreciate your giving me that extra time. Mister dillingham, sounds to me like you are a pretty talented and experienced attorney and litigator. Senator baldwin is next. Thank you, mister chairman. My question is for mister rouda. I appreciated the opportunity to speak with you about your nomination and i would like to start by continuing our conversation, would increase Railroad Competition and Market Forces over rail grades. Simply put current rules are not working for real shippers or public interest. This rulemaking has been stalled most recently because of empty seats on the board. I look forward to the day i dont have to ask nominees for commitment to take up competitive switching proposals, but i think it is so necessary to provide competitive rail service so if confirmed, would you commit to moving forward to pending filmmaking on competitive switching . Let me just say that i also enjoyed having an opportunity to sit and talk with you about the issues of concern to you and i can say right now that i will commit to working with you, this committee as well as the stakeholders within the Rail Community on trying to resolve the issue of reciprocal switching and a lot of the issues that surround it. You are correct in assessing that this has gone on for some time and i hope to be a part of the solution with the rest of the existing board. Thank you for that. I want to continue by noting by rebuilding our economy gives us the opportunity to build back better and i expect the same is true for freight rail but ive been concerned about significant changes to freight rail operations adopted by Major Railroad as part of their implementation of positioning schedule, railroading, these changes in operation were poorly communicated to rail customers and into the disrupting the central products. Underlying the playbook is a focus on shortterm gains. If confirmed, what would you do to ensure that psr is not used to prioritize shareholders over rail service and jobs, particularly as we work to rebuild our economy . I think it has been very clear that there are concerns with tsr. The existing board has held hearings to talk about the issue and raised a number of concerns with respect to what has been going on with csxs implementation so the board shares your concerns in terms of the implementation of psr and its ramifications for the entire rail economy. I can assure you of confirmed as a board member i will continue to elevate those concerns and amplify those concerns. I believe there has to be a solution to some of these concerns and i want to play a role in addressing these concerns in bringing a fair and equitable solution to tsr and the communities impacted by it. My last question for you is Canadian National recently announced its intent for functions of its real network in wisconsin and michigan, recognizing the transportation board has jurisdiction over Line Construction and line abandonment i encourage the boards oversight should a sale occur. My attention is on shippers and other rail customers particularly manufacturers and agricultural producers. A commitment from you to give new attention to this matter . Absolutely. In my statement i said i am very concerned and i want to advocate on behalf of of a lot of the communities that will be affected by those moving away from these areas. Most of them are rural and small communities. There may be opportunities for class 2 in 3s to get engaged and assist in these areas but you have my absolute commitment to work with you and stakeholders to make sure the rail system they rely upon continues to exist and becomes more robust and responsive. Thank you and i yield back. Thank you, senator tester is next. Thank you, mister chairman and i want to thank you for your comments on longdistance rail. I want to focus on that but before i go there i did ask questions for Mister Dillingham but im not going to ask them and i will tell you why. After the responses to senator blumenthal i just dont think you are being straight up. Quite frankly you have been put into a position that is highly political and we need to address how you are going to handle that and you have yet to do that so i will not waste my time on questions that involve that. I want to say i am a longdistance guy too. Weve been fighting like hell with everybody who seem they want to cut longdistance routes. I will say to senator moran is on this and it would be a huge mistake. If you get confirmed to the amtrak board of directors what are you going to do about those longdistance routes to make them more appealing and more riders . I am happy to start, thank you for the question. I hope you can see me because of me i cant see any of you. Thank you for the question. One thing amtrak needs to do is take over how we can improve riders, the Dining Experience or the experience in private rooms or the reliability experience. There are things we can do that will bring ridership back which in the moment we are in, maybe all travel feels unappealing for folks who are particularly anxious at this moment. The reality is Airline Travel is particularly scary so this could be an opportunity for amtrak. I will work with you and your staff. I would ago what ms. Fienberg said. Modern equipment, understanding what the customer wants, monitoring that, measuring that is critical for the improvement of the service. The empire building is not wasted on me, while it goes through some beautiful country it makes population areas etc. But again, modern equipment, meal service but people want, maybe Different Levels of meal service, things like that, we understand what customers want. If you guys are confirmed i have a notion, saying the right things and back it up with actions, we will have a conversation again. I dont want to establish a southern route at the expense of the northern route. Let me ask you this, easy question. Either of you written on railroads in europe . Yes. I have as well. Do you think there are things they have done that could be implemented in the United States to make our system more userfriendly . I would say frequency, ontime performance, modern equipment, reasonable meal service. You can get all levels of it, certainly a model we should look at. What sticks out in my mind is how easy it is to get from one mode of transportation there, a Seamless Movement from airports to rail and not something amtrak has noted that but it is important for us to get better on in the United States if we want people to make that choice. I will place a question on the benchmarks on the staffing cuts while they continue the financials of 1. 5 billion and how these folks will deal with that. You dont have to answer that now. I will put them for the record, thank you. Thank you, senator tester. There are no further questions. Maybe i will just keep going. You can take round to around 3 if you like but as your last comments we will be the record open for two weeks as is customary during this time, senators are asked to submit questions for the record with final Submission Deadline being close of business thursday august 20th of this year. And so the Committee Asks witnesses, submit your written answers. Mister chairman. Let me no later than close of business thursday september 3rd, 2020. Whose voice do i hear . That is jackie rosen. Somehow my connection was lost. I want to give a plug for my Great Service in northern nevada that i want to keep. Absolutely. You are recognized for five minutes. Thank you, i sure appreciate it, thank you to everyone for being here today. I will be brief. Like everyone else, in nevada we have service as well. Amtrak service and i want to tell you how important it is to us. No surprise to our nominees that we do have service in northern nevada. The amtrak line is a vital link in and out of 3 communities in the silver state. Depends on Reliable Rail Service to bring travelers in and out of their community including 84,000 riders who travel on the line every year and if you ride on that line you will see the most beautiful mountains and valleys in northern nevada that rival any scenery in the country. Lots of our riders are veterans, seniors, they use amtrak to go into reno, get their medical services and other things so due to the coronavirus pandemic, we have seen this Service Temporarily cut but back i joined senators cortez master, man is election and tester to not eliminate it during the pandemic, thousands of jobs do depend on this line and Reliable Transportation in communities like alcoa. I would like to protect their ability to move around as much as i can. Following up on questions from chairman weaker, Ranking Member cantwell, tester and moran, i hope to get a commitment from you to ensure people in nevada and other Rural Communities across will country, wonderful beautiful community, access to reliable Passenger Service and i will ask that. The change i am happy to go first, happy to work with your staff. It is important the service come back soon and recognize your commitment to it and look forward to working with you. I would agree with that. I support Amtrak Service in the state of nevada or any state it goes through in terms of the National Network. With 19 National Networks, ontime performance and frequency, makes it work so you have my commitment. Couldnt agree more. Thank you for being here today, thank you, mister chairman, the beauty of northern nevada, the phoenix root the line takes. Cant wait to visit. I will ride the train with you. Apologize for not having you in the queue for question and answer. Are there other senators i may have missed . If not, i made the announcements and with that, let me check with counsel, there being no further business this hearing is concluded and i thank each of our witnesses in their all four excellent choices. We are adjourned. We talk about every week. [inaudible conversations] appreciate it. That is where the rail goes. [inaudible conversations] on the scenic route, in both ways. 2100 with environmental economics. To be unclassified. All right. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] okay. Reach out to your elected officials with the cspan congressional directory, for all the Contact Information to stay in touch with members of congress, federal agencies and state governors, order your copy online today, cspanstore. Org. Cspan has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the Supreme Court and Public Policy events. You can watch all the cspan Public Affairs programming on television, online or listen on
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