[VIDEO]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation delivered the following opening statement at today’s Executive Session to consider several presidential nominees including: Stephen Carmel to be Administrator of the Maritime Administration, Laura DiBella to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner, Timothy Petty to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, Michelle Schultz to be a member of the Surface Transportation Board, Ethan Klein to be Associate Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and Trent Morse to be a member of the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority:

“Stephen Carmel is nominated to be Administrator of the U.S. Maritime Administration. I believe he has a clear vision to rebuild the U.S. shipbuilding ecosystem, which is very important to our economy and to our national security. I am pleased to support his nomination and glad that he supports the Jones Act and is committed to addressing sexual misconduct at the Merchant Marine Academy. Laura DiBella is nominated to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner. She made clear she supports the Jones Act as well. I support and appreciate her clear comments [about] maintaining the independence of the Federal Maritime Commission and will support her nomination.

“Dr. Timothy Petty is nominated to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere. Dr. Petty has significant water [and] geoscience policy experience, which I believe is important in assisting NOAA. Dr. Petty also supports a NOAA Organic Act, the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund and other priorities.

“Lastly, Michelle Schultz is nominated to serve another term [on] the independent Surface Transportation Board, and as the Surface Transportation Board prepares to consider whether to approve the largest railroad merger in U.S. history, between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, we must leave no room for doubt about the importance of an independent Commissioner without political pressure. So I appreciate her commitment to review merger decisions based only on the record before the Board. I was pleased to see her recognize the importance of the Board acting impartially.

“I will not be supporting the other nominees. Dr Ethan Klein nominated to be [Associate] Director for the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Frankly, there were answers that I found were insufficient on several issues – [it’s] important [to have] guardrails -- whether it was AI or aviation safety. And I do not support Mr. Morse's nomination today. We were hoping to see more financial paperwork disclosure which we did not see. So, I can't support this nomination at this moment.”  

###