WASHINGTON, D.C. – During today’s Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing, Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) considered five nominations to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Surface Transportation Board (STB), and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
Chairman Cruz noted the qualifications of the nominees, while also emphasizing the need to refocus the CPSC on its core mission of protecting consumers rather than advancing a partisan agenda.
Chairman Cruz’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, are as follows:
“Today we’ll hear from five nominees: Thomas Chapman, for another term on the National Transportation Safety Board; Edward Eppler, to serve as Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Transportation; Karen Hedlund, for another term on the Surface Transportation Board; and Brien Lorenze and Karen Sessions, to serve on the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
“Mr. Chapman, a Democrat nominee, has served on the NTSB since 2020, where he has focused on highway and traffic safety, saying ‘that is where our greatest safety challenges lie.’
“Prior to joining the Board, Mr. Chapman spent six years as minority aviation counsel for this Committee where he worked on bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the FAA, TSA, and NTSB. He previously spent more than 30 years working in the aviation industry.
“Mr. Eppler, nominated to serve as chief financial officer of the Department of Transportation, has spent decades as an investment banker, including as Global Head of Aerospace and Defense at Goldman Sachs. This private sector experience will be an asset at DOT as Mr. Eppler manages a more than 100-billion-dollar annual budget. We know he can oversee a large, diverse portfolio.
“Karen Hedlund, a Democrat nominee, has served since 2022 on the STB, which oversees the economic aspects of railroads, including rail mergers. Ms. Hedlund previously spent more than 30 years in private practice as a bond attorney and as a consultant advising state governments on transportation infrastructure projects. She also served as the Federal Railroad Administration’s deputy administrator and as the Federal Highway Administration’s chief counsel.
“Finally, we have two Republican nominees for the Consumer Product Safety Commission: Brien Lorenze and Karen Sessions.
“Mr. Lorenze currently serves as the CPSC’s executive director, where he works with acting Chairman Peter Feldman to implement a data-first approach to enforcement. Mr. Lorenze has previously worked in data analytics and held senior positions in government.
“Ms. Sessions currently serves as a Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Transportation. She also served in the first Trump administration, including as a senior appointee at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and worked in management roles in the telecommunications industry. She has held elected office in Florida.
“The CPSC has a straightforward mission: protecting American consumers from unsafe products. But under the Biden administration, the CPSC pursued a radical environmental and regulatory agenda. One Biden-appointed commissioner claimed gas stoves poses unacceptable hidden hazards and, when asked about CPSC’s authority to ban them, said, ‘Everything’s on the table.’ The Biden administration tried to use the CPSC’s regulatory power to advance the Democrats’ long running war on oil and gas.
“I am confident Mr. Lorenze and Ms. Sessions will help refocus the CPSC on protecting consumers from unsafe products, not advancing the Leftist agenda to fiddle with the earth’s thermostat.”
###