Senate Committee Hearing to consider Amtrak Board Nominees (June 2023)

[lordsigma]

Note: mods may want to combine with another thread I opened on the Coscia petition but wanted to post details about the hearing itself.

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, will convene a full committee nominations hearing on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. ET to consider nominations for the Amtrak Board of Directors and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Nominees:

Joel Matthew Szabat to be a Director of the Amtrak Board of Directors (PN13)
Anthony Rosario Coscia to be a Director of the Amtrak Board of Directors (PN14)
Christopher Koos to be a Director of the Amtrak Board of Directors (PN15)
Alvin Brown to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board (PN114)


Link to details including live stream:

Nominations Hearing: Amtrak and NTSB

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, will convene a full committee nominations hearing on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. ET to consider nominations for the Amtrak Board of Directors and the National Transportation Safety Board.

www.commerce.senate.gov

Interestingly only 3 of the Amtrak picks are being considered at this time. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Tester freeze the three Amtrak choices since we still don’t really have a full slate that follows in the spirit of the infrastructure law.

 

[jis]

RPA has a related petition:

Demand a Better Amtrak Board!

Rail Passengers Association has made securing a voice for passengers in the Midwest, West, and the South a key plank of our advocacy over the past few years, including as part of this year's advocacy push during RailNation:DC.Thanks in part to our...

www.votervoice.net

It primarily focuses on the fact that the Biden Administration has chosen to ignore the Authorization Bill requirements placed on the Board structure and that there is no chance of the proposed candidates being approved until a full slate consistent with the Authorization requirements.

Interestingly, the block that has been placed by multiple Senators (bipartisan) cannot be unblocked by the partial slate being considered in the Senate Committee. So this all seems like a Kabuki Dance of sorts.

It is distressing to me to see how poorly the Amtrak Board issue is being handled by the present ostensibly Amtrak friendly administration.

 

[AmtrakFlyer]

Senators remain concerned about geographic balance of Amtrak board - Trains

WASHINGTON — Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation struck two disparate themes during a hearing today (Wednesday, June 21) for three nominees for Amtrak’s board of directors. One, they remain concerned that President Joe Biden’s board nominees board do not meet...

www.trains.com

Surprisingly in-depth report