WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator John Thune (R-SD), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, delivered the following prepared remarks at today’s hearing on the nominations of Debra Miller to the Surface Transportation Board, Arun Kumar to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, and Paul Jaenichen to be Administrator of the Maritime Administration:

Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing today to consider the nominations of Debra Miller to be a Member of the Surface Transportation Board, Arun Kumar to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, and Paul Jaenichen to be Administrator of the Maritime Administration.

I want to thank each of our nominees for being here and for their willingness to serve the nation. 

As the committee knows well, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) plays an important role as the independent federal agency with regulatory authority over freight railroads. Among other things, the STB is charged with resolving railroad rate and service disputes and reviewing proposed railroad mergers.

Ms. Miller has had a distinguished career in the transportation sector, including her service from 2003 to 2011 as Secretary of the Kansas Department of Transportation under both Governor Sebelius and Governor Brownback. In that capacity, Ms. Miller managed more than 3,000 employees and a $1 billion budget. She was responsible for a state highway system spanning 10,000 miles, as well as overseeing shortline railroad grants and rail planning – something I can relate to as a former state rail director. I look forward to hearing her views on how the STB can help maintain a strong national rail network while also serving the interests of shippers, particularly small shippers, who often have difficulty bringing a case before the STB. I am also interested in hearing about Ms. Miller’s major rail initiatives during her time as Transportation Secretary for Kansas, and how her experiences there will shape her approach to issues that are brought before the STB.

Our nominee to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, Mr. Arun Kumar, has achieved success in the private sector. I look forward to hearing from Mr. Kumar about how he will measure success in terms of creating a favorable environment for U.S. export growth. I will also be asking Mr. Kumar what role he anticipates playing as Congress considers Trade Promotion Authority.

After serving at the helm of the Maritime Administration as Acting Administrator since June of this year, I am pleased to see that Captain Paul Jaenichen has been nominated to lead this important agency.

Captain Jaenichen has a distinguished 30-year career in the United States Navy as a submarine commander, and brings a wealth of maritime experience to bear in this position, should he be confirmed.

Mr. Chairman, while we must fulfill our obligation to carefully examine the qualifications of these nominees, I expect that we will work together to advance these nominations through the committee and hopefully the Senate in a timely manner, as we have done with several other Commerce Committee nominees this year. I have to note, however, the irony of our holding this hearing on a day when the Senate has fundamentally changed the way it will consider such nominations. I think the dramatic rules change that we witnessed earlier today will have a lasting and damaging impact on the Senate and possibly even on the quality of nominees confirmed to executive and judicial positions, because they will now require less bipartisan consensus to be confirmed. Nevertheless, Mr. Chairman, I thank you for holding this hearing, and I look forward to the testimony from our witnesses.

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