Democratic News

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:

U.S. Senate and House Democratic leaders, including Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, today filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in Trump v. Slaughter challenging President Trump’s unlawful attempt to remove Rebecca Slaughter from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC’s mission is to protect the American public from unfair, deceptive and anticompetitive business practices. Lawmakers argued that President Trump’s attempt to remove Commissioner Slaughter without cause jeopardizes the integrity of independent federal agencies and undermines the FTC’s ability to enforce civil antitrust laws and protect the public from fraudsters and monopolists.

U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, called on the Trump Administration to release as much economic data as possible before the Fed’s meeting in early December and resume normally scheduled data releases as soon as possible.

U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M), member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, set the record straight on the Republican government shutdown and questioned three nominees to key transportation boards about their statutory obligations to act independently. Sen. Luján led Democrats at today’s hearing on Trump transportation nominees John DeLeeuw to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and Richard Kloster and Michelle Schultz to be Members of the Surface Transportation Board (STB). Ms. Shultz is a current STB member and is nominated for a second term.