Majority Statement

• Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV
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  Majority Statement

  Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV

  Today we are here to consider several important nominations for the Department of Commerce, the Department of Transportation and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

  It is a particular pleasure to see Mr. Bruce Andrews before this Committee. Bruce was a trusted aide and advisor who served the Commerce Committee as its General Counsel with great distinction. As a proud product of upstate New York, Bruce always related very personally to the economic needs of small and mid-sized communities in rural America, and was a great asset to this committee.

  And anyone who has spent time with Bruce, knows him to be a smart, stubborn and wily operator with a pragmatist’s approach to getting things done.  During his years on Capitol Hill, both here in the Senate and the House, Bruce rightfully earned the respect of both sides of the aisle, and has continued to build a bipartisan roster of collaborators and admirers during his current role as Chief of Staff to Secretary Pritzker.

  I am confident that Bruce will prove a strong and effective leader in his new role as second-in-command at the Department of Commerce. He will stay on top of the agency’s management challenges, and will push as hard as he can to implement Secretary Pritzker’s plan to make the Department a consumer-friendly advocate for American economic growth and innovation.

  Our next nominee for the Department of Commerce is Mr. Marcus Jadotte, the President’s nominee to be Assistant Secretary for Industry and Analysis at the International Trade Administration. As Senator Nelson is likely to point out, Mr. Jadotte is a native Floridian who is going to bring broad experience in the public and private sectors to the job of promoting U.S. businesses and products in other parts of the world.

  I would also like to welcome Mr. Victor Mendez, who is the President’s nominee to be Deputy Secretary for the Department of Transportation. Mr. Mendez has significant transportation experience, serving as the Administrator of Federal Highways and the Director of the Arizona Department of Transportation.  

  Also here today is Mr. Peter Rogoff, who is the President’s nominee to be Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy at the Department of Transportation. Peter is a familiar face to many of us here. Peter spent many years in the Senate, including as the top transportation staffer on Appropriations where he served several Senators, including Senators Patty Murray and Robert C. Byrd.

  Mr. Mendez and Mr. Rogoff, I am looking forward to hearing your perspectives on our transportation funding challenges and I expect that you will continue to pay close attention to the transportation challenges of my state.  

  As you both know, the Highway Trust Fund is going broke sometime this summer. And states are already cancelling and slowing down important construction projects.  In my opinion, allowing our transportation programs to run out of money is not an option. 

  The Senate is hard at work finding a solution. Last month, EPW Chairman Boxer marked up a long-term, six year highway bill.  In the Finance Committee, my colleagues and I are in the process of identifying funding solutions for our infrastructure needs.  I am very hopeful that we will reach a deal before the August recess.

  But, I worry that any solution that can pass this Congress will again be a short-term fix. This will do very little to improve our infrastructure needs and support our economic future.

  I am a firm believer that the federal government has a major responsibility when it comes to investing in our nation’s infrastructure. We need to be leaders. We need to create a coherent and unified mission for our federal surface transportation programs and invest in those programs.

  Since becoming Chairman, I have made safety a top priority for this Committee. And recent safety incidents – such as the GM recalls, crude train derailments, and truck crashes – highlight the need to step back and re-evaluate our current safety practices.  I want to commend the Administration for its continued emphasis on safety, and I expect both of you will continue to pay close attention to this issue. 

  The final nominee I will welcome today is Mr. Robert Adler, who is nominated to a second five-year term as a Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. 

  When he joined the CPSC in 2009 at the beginning of the Obama Administration, Mr. Adler was already recognized as a leading consumer protection scholar, teacher, and advocate.   Mr. Adler, I truly appreciate your willingness to continue serving the public in this position.  

  I want to thank all of you again for your willingness to serve your country in these positions, and I look forward to hearing your testimony.

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Minority Statement

• Senator John R Thune

  Ranking Member

  U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transporation
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  Minority Statement

  Senator John R Thune

  U.S. Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, delivered the following prepared remarks at today’s hearing to consider nominees to the Department of Transportation, Department of Commerce, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission:

  Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing to consider several nominees to senior positions in the Department of Transportation and the Department of Commerce, as well as the re-nomination of the current Acting Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). 

  The Department of Transportation plays a key role in the infrastructure of the nation, and it is important that its senior leadership be in place to work with Congress and an array of stakeholders as we seek to improve safety and maintain and expand the nation’s transportation networks. These transportation networks fundamentally underpin our nation’s economy, so it is important that those who directly oversee these networks have the experience and skills necessary to manage this critical enterprise.  

  I will be asking Mr. Mendez and Mr. Rogoff about their perspectives on some of the challenges facing the Highway Trust Fund, as well as their broader views on the state of the nation’s transportation networks. These nominees already have track records of valuable service at DOT, and I suspect there will be considerable support for their nominations. 

  The Department of Commerce plays an important role on a diverse range of issues, from managing satellite programs within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to managing the federal government’s radio spectrum holdings. Senior leaders at the Department of Commerce must manage a wide range of challenging programs. If confirmed, Mr. Andrews and Mr. Jadotte will have no shortage of issues and problems to tackle. 

  I’m guessing that Mr. Andrews may have observed many nominees from this dais and thought to himself, “I can do that.” [Or, maybe he was just thinking that while looking at us, Mr. Chairman.] Well, now he’ll have the chance.

  I will be asking Mr. Andrews about his views on how best to manage the risks facing the Department of Commerce, particularly with respect to its satellite programs. I am also interested in Mr. Andrews’s views on the progress of the FirstNet program, the nationwide public safety network that will be funded by the proceeds from the broadcast spectrum auction currently planned for next year. 

  Finally, Mr. Chairman, the Consumer Product Safety Commission plays a leading role in overseeing the safety of a wide variety of consumer products. This is important work and I am looking forward to hearing how the commission is faring in meeting its mission and obligations. As I’ve stated previously, the CPSC is a creature of Congress, created in 1972 by the Consumer Product Safety Act. As such, its authority is very carefully bounded by the law.  However, I am aware that some have characterized the commission as being too unaccountable and overreaching as a regulator that does not always abide by the boundaries prescribed by Congress. 

  I will be asking Mr. Adler, who has served as the acting Chairman of the CPSC over the past eight months, about issues such as third-party testing, where Congress mandated that the CPSC pursue opportunities to reduce testing burdens, but where the commission has thus far failed to adopt any meaningful reforms. Another issue surrounds the Buckyballs case, where many legal experts observed an apparent overreach of federal regulatory power when the CPSC sought to pierce the so-called corporate veil of a lawful corporation selling a legal product—a step traditionally reserved for cases of fraud or criminal conduct. 

  All of us support the CPSC’s mission of ensuring consumer safety, but I am hoping that Mr. Adler will be able to address my misgivings about what appears to be a regulatory agency that has ignored some of its Congressional moorings. 

  Mr. Chairman, before we turn to our nominees for their prepared remarks today, I would like to underscore the importance of two pressing issues that relate to matters that this Committee is closely involved with. One of course is the on-going effort to ensure that the Highway Trust Fund is solvent in the coming months as we work on a longer-term reauthorization bill that I hope will return to the dedicated trust fund that addresses our nation’s surface transportation infrastructure needs but also the upcoming expiration of the Internet Tax Moratorium that is set to expire on November 1^st.

  Particularly with this Committee’s role in establishing the initial Internet Tax moratorium in 1998, we all must act before the upcoming August recess because a failure to do so will result in tens of millions of Americans receiving notifications from their Internet and wireless phone provider about new taxes that could kick in just before holiday season if Congress doesn’t act.

  I raise this topic because the tax moratorium has been instrumental when it comes to ensuring that broadband infrastructure investments are made, which is a win-win for not just consumers but our economy.

  I have been working with Finance Chairman Wyden on a permanent extension of the Internet Tax moratorium (S. 1431) and I’m pleased to report that as of today, we have a majority of the Senate supporting this legislation. I have appreciated the work of Senator Ayotte on this legislation and would note that all Republican Commerce Committee members and four of our Democratic colleagues are cosponsors of this important bill.

  It is my hope that in addition to addressing the looming Highway Trust Fund gap, that we also pass our bipartisan legislation before the August recess to ensure that American consumers and businesses aren’t faced with new charges and unnecessary taxes on their phone and cable bills come November.

  With that, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to the testimony from our witnesses, and thank you for holding this hearing. 

Testimony

• Mr. Victor M. Mendez

  to be Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation
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• Mr. Bruce H. Andrews

  to be Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce
  Download Testimony (127.67 KB)

• Mr. Peter M. Rogoff

  to be Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy, U.S. Department of Transportation
  Download Testimony (62.14 KB)

• Mr. Marcus D. Jadotte

  to be Assistant Secretary for Industry and Analysis, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
  Download Testimony (132.53 KB)

• Mr. Robert S. Adler

  to be a Commissioner, Consumer Product Safety Commission (Reappointment)
  Download Testimony (165.22 KB)