Department. This is just over two hours. The committee will come to order. We are having a full hearing today on the nominations for several positions. Three very important nominations , department of transportation. We welcome the nominees and their families and thank them for their willingness to serve. First, we will consider the nomination of rear admiral and phillips ann phillips. Welcome. We are currently facing unprecedented challenges about reports of Sexual Assault the marine academy, investments into our port to ease congestion, and the need for strong leadership at the helm of the Maritime Administration. We are admiral phillips has significant experience in the u. S. Navy in many challenging situations, including operation desert shield, desert storm, in her capacity as director of the Surface Warfare for the chief of Naval Operations. After 31 years of naval service, she serves as a special assistant to the Virginia Governor with a focus on coastal adaptation and protection. She has been a trailblazer across her career, the first female commodore that her squadron and first female director of the Surface Warfare, now the first female administrator. I look forward to seeing her confirmed as the next administrator. Next, the nomination of dr. Cliff. Welcome. He is the administrator o nixaf of the national highway and transportation. Thank you for your willingness to serve. The mission is to save lives and prevent injuries and reduce the number of accidents, and hopefully help us with Economic Impacts of those events. The bipartisan infrastructure law included new safety mandates that will be required to implement, including emergency braking, lane assist, and Impaired Driving technology. The law includes historic funding levels for the Highway Safety grants, which will help cities from distracted Impaired Driving and improve occupant reduction in pedestrian safety. At a time when roadway fit audis are the highest level since 2007, and as electric and Automated Vehicles are becoming a larger part of our economy, it has never been more important to have leadership that will take on these challenges. Cliff serves as deputy administrator at nhtsa with an extensive scientific and regulatory background. In addition to working at the university of california davis, he has held various positions at the California Air resource board, including most recently as deputy executive officer. His work included Program Oversight of regulation and working on program development. I look forward to asking you some important safety questions related to nhtsa. Finally, the nomination considered for the general counsel for the department of transportation. The general counsel for the department of transportation is the chief legal officer of the department and Legal Advisor to the secretary, also overseeing the office of aviation Consumer Protection. As we were talking before the hearing convened yesterday, yesterdays hearing, the need to focus on consumers refund issues and the roles the dot has on that is an important issue to get consumers the refunds they deserve. Also, the responsibilities involve coordinating regulatory and legislative effort. These nominations come in the the bipartisan law which provides an historic amount of money to the department for various things, incorporating safety and rulemaking. The counsels office will be tasked with setting up Grant Programs for freight infrastructure, something that many on this committee have interest in, and as we have seen, problems in our supply chain can quickly cascade throughout our economy. The Department Also has jurisdiction over civil aviation. The committee has been focused on aviation systems, making sure they are safe and that the ecosystem is poised to grow. Congress has given the department a lot of work in this respect, including the Aviation Manufacturing jobs program, mandating safety rulemaking to make sure consumers are protected. Mr. Putnam, i plan to ask you about the departments work to expedite faa rulemaking as part of the aviation safety law we passed last year, that senator wicker and i worked so diligently on and our team. Part of that rulemaking includes a Safety Management system requirement for manufacturers. This is critical and one of the key recommendations not only of our committee but other organizations around the world. Safety Management Systems are critical for aviation. And also, as i mentioned, i wanted to ask you about what we are doing about the backlog of consumer complaints filed against airlines for failure to refund during the pandemic. And about what the department is going to do on pipeline safety. Just yesterday, a grand jury indicted amplify energy and two subsidiaries for behavior in the aftermath of an oil spill in california, referencing multiple warnings ignored, allegedly, by amplify energy, including eight alarms for Leak Detection systems over 13 hours. Amplify failed, as the allegations say, to turn off the pipeline and report the alarm, which possibly resulted in potentially avoidable harm to our fragile coastal ecosystem. This spill was caused by a ships anchor dragging a pipeline. The coast guard must improve the oversight of pipeline and anchorage locations and we must assess the risk posed by existing pipelines near shipping channels and anchorages. This is why it is important to have leadership at the department of transportation, so i look forward to your confirmation and leadership on these issues. Thank you all again for your willingness to serve. I turn it over to my colleague, senator wicker, the Ranking Member, for his opening statement. Sen. Wicker thank you. We have worked together closely on items such as the Airline Safety legislation. On these nominees, secretary buttigieg came to visit some of us in the capitol last week, so i do appreciate the chair calling this hearing today and seeking to move forward on these nominations. These positions are key leadership roles at dot, making it all the more vital that the committee assess each nominees qualifications and plans. Mr. Putnam is serving as deputy general counsel at dot, and has also served as acting general counsel. His experience has undoubtedly giving him valuable experience with the duties of general counsel, and has practiced transportation law in private practice, so i look forward to seeing how these credentials could benefit the public. Dr. Cliff is deputy administrator of nhtsa. He joined the department from the California AirResources Board as deputy executive director. He also worked for the department of transportation of california and as a professor at cal davis. I am curious to hear how these roles will inform his approach at nhtsa. His testimony today will allow him to articulate to the committee how he plans to improve safety for the traveling public. Rear admiral phillips is presently serving as the special assistant to Governor Northam for coastal adaptation and protection. She has a distinguished career in the u. S. Navy for 30 years, retiring with the rank of rear admiral in 2013. Im interested to hear from her regarding her plans on carrying out the critical duties of administrator, including oversight of the Merchant Marine Academy and its program, as the chair mentioned, in addition to strategic efforts to grow the u. S. Fleet. I want to note that i am disappointed and puzzled at one entitys recent refusal to provide drafting assistance, improving protections for midshipmen, which is a bipartisan provision to address Sexual Harassment and assault problems that we have. And that the academy is determined to address also. It came as a surprise to me. I hope admiral phillips, if confirmed, will work for a collaborative relationship and assist the legislative branch when that is possible. I want to thank all these nominees and the chair for expeditiously calling this hearing, and i yield back. Sen. Cantwell thank you, senator wicker. Rear admiral, we will start with you. Were asking each of you to give five minutes of testimony, submit anything longer for the record, and we certainly welcome you, if you would like, to introduce your family or any other additional statements. Thank you. Rear adm. Phillips thank you, madam chair. Senator cantwell, Ranking Member wicker, members of the committee, it is an honor to hear before you today for the position of maritime and further. I want to thank President Biden and secretary buttigieg for nominating me to this role thats critical to our economic and National Security. I would like to introduce my husband, who is watching virtually, and my brother, dr. Jonathan phillips, who is here today. If im honored enough to be confirmed, i will work diligently to execute the responsibilities of maritime administrator in a position that is key in the department of transportation as we work to strengthen our merchant marine, the resilience of our supply chain, and implement an historic investment in maritime infrastructure. I intend to work closely with members of this committee and your colleagues to advance our nations goals. I know from my experience on the staff of the chief of Naval Operations the critical work of congressional committees and how hard you work to meet the needs of your constituents and communities. I know how important it is to listen and work with you to find broad, Bipartisan Solutions to the challenges we face. During my career, i have the honor of Holding Command at sea three times at several levels. As a commander in strike group two, i worked to ensure capacity and support for a host of Strategic Response missions. As a result of my experience in this and other assignments, i understand the Critical Role of our commercial merchant marine in providing the vital sea lift on which our military provides, and have seen many of the challenges facing our commercial fleet. I served as Deputy Director and director of Surface Warfare in the pentagon, submitting a plan for the provision of the service force, including weapons system and Trading Systems and retired as rear admiral in 2013. For the past three years i have served as a special assistant to Governor Ralph Northam for Coastal Protection in virginia, developing and delivering the commonwealths first master plan to put Forward Strategies to protect coastal infrastructure from Sea Level Rise and coastal hazards. Throughout my career, safety has been at the forefront of my mission. The foundational priority for u. S. Dot will always be safety. Likewise, safety will be the northstar for the Maritime Administration should i have the honor of being confirmed. In addition, my priorities will be a competitive, safe and modern maritime industry capable of sealift requirements and capable of competing. Second, to continue work initiated by dot to address challenges to the Merchant Marine Academy, including measures to induce a safe training environment on campus and at sea, where Sexual Assault and harassment are not tolerated, further advancing the ongoing efforts to advance the academys infrastructure challenges and supporting Effective Governance and tackling the other issues enumerated in the study recently released by the National Academy of public administration. Third and finally, support effective and speedy implementation of the Grant Program authorized under the infrastructure, investment and jobs at. As we continue to emerge from the pandemic, we have a once in a Generation Opportunity to improve our maritime systems, supply chain infrastructure, and industry, and ensure that it equitably serves all americans and communities of all sizes. I look forward to working closely with you all to achieve these goals. Im confident my lifetime of service at sea, my experience commanding maritime operations, my background managing physical resources for the surface force, and my recent experience crafting coastal adaptation strategies for virginia has prepared me to serve as maritime administrator. I thank the committee for the opportunity for allowing me to appear here today and i welcome questions. Sen. Cantwell thank you. Dr. Cliff, welcome. You are welcome to make your opening statement. Dr. Cliff thank you, chair cantwell, Ranking Member wicker and members of the committee. Im honored to appear before you today. I want to thank the president and secretary buttigieg, my wife and children and everyone watching online. I spent my entire career as a public servant, first as a scientist at the university of california at davis, and then for more than a decade in various technical and leadership roles in the california government. Now if im honored enough to be confirmed, i will draw upon this experience to make the Transportation System safer. Nhtsas mission of saving lives is very personal to me, just as it is for too many americans. In high school, i rode in a caravan with a group of friends to the beach. One of the cars driven by my best friend crossed the median, flipped, and collided with another car. Pylons were the only median barriers at the time. Three of the four occupants, including my best friend, were killed. My life was changed forever. This tragedy led my parents and my hometown to start an event to reduce tragedies like this, and while neither alcohol nor drugs played a role in what i described, these safe and sober graduation night parties have no doubt prevented many senseless deaths since that terrible day. Since february of 2021, i have served as deputy administrator at nhtsa, working with some of the most dedicated and professional Public Servants i have ever encountered. Nhtsa is focused on making vehicles safer for everyone and integrating policies that make transportation more safe, equitable, and sustainable. Like the rest of the department, i am gravely concerned about the increase in traffic fatalities during the pandemic. Secretary buttigieg rightfully called it a crisis. While many stopped driving in the early days of the pandemic, those who remained on the road were more likely to engage in risky behaviors. We have seen an unprecedented rise in roadway fatalities that im committed to turning around. We have a lot to learn about why driving behaviors changed the pandemic, how we can encourage people to make safer choices, and how to change a culture that accepts the loss of thousands of people in roadway crashes as inevitable. We continue to work with safety stakeholders around the country to develop countermeasures, but more work needs to be done. A cultural change will take a transformational and collaborative approach to safety. Everyone, including those who design, operate, build, and use the road system, shares responsibility for road safety. By taking a safe systems approach, we commit to improving safety for all road users. It incorporates the five es equity, engineering, education, enforcement and emergency medical services. The bipartisan infrastructure law will be central to these efforts, increasing nhtsas budget by 50 , the largest investment in Motor Vehicle and Highway Safety since nhtsa was established over 50 years ago. This funding will improve our understanding of where and how crashes happen by improving data quality and expanding reporting, moving from paperbased collection systems to digital. The law will broaden the crash investigation sampling system by expanding the number of sites and enhancing protocols. These improvements will allow us to understand in realtime the causes of crashes and help us address them. Nhtsa is also responsible for setting the corporate average fuel economy standards. I am committed to making the transportation fleet as efficient as possible to save billions at the pump, improve the countrys Energy Security and protect the environment. We will focus on safe, equitable and environmentally protective policies. If i have the honor of being confirmed as administrator of nhtsa, i commit to continuing to work with members of this committee to improve roadway safety, foster innovation, advance transportation equity and address Climate Change. Chair cantwell, Ranking Member wicker and members of the committee, thank you for your consideration. I look forward to your questions. Sen. Cantwell thank you, dr. Cliff. Thank you for sharing that very personal story. Thank you for sharing that with us. Ill bet you every member of this committee knows of an experience like the one you described, so thank you and thanks to your family for also trying to do something for young people. Mr. Putnam, welcome. Thank you for your willingness to serve.