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 RailroadPassenger 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