The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee held a hearing on September 25 on what will probably be the last transportation-related nominations to come before the panel in this Congress.

Two of the nominees were re-appointments: Carl Bentzel to a second term on the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), and Thomas Chapman to a second term on the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). (Both men used to work for…wait for it…the Senate Commerce Committee. If you want to be a member of a federal regulatory commission or board, the surest path is to work for the Senate committee of jurisdiction for a while.)

The other nominee was Lanhee Chen, seeking his first term as a member of the Amtrak Board of Directors. Chen has never worked for Senate Commerce, but there was a bit of an insider element. Since Chen had been the top policy advisor for Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT)’s 2012 presidential campaign, Romney came before the Commerce Committee to introduce and vouch for Chen. (Romney also complimented the décor in the recently renovated SR-253 committee room.)

The background questionnaires and prepared statements of the witnesses can be read here:

• Carl Bentzel, FMC – questionnaire, testimony
• Thomas Chapman, NTSB – questionnaire, testimony
• Lanhee Chen, Amtrak – questionnaire, testimony

The hearing was sparsely attended (only six Senators showed up, one remotely), but all three nominees were questioned.

Maritime

Carl Bentzel was asked repeatedly about the spectacular increase in D&D activity during COVID. (Not Dungeons and Dragons – detention and demurrage, with detention being the overdue fines you pay for keeping a shipping container for too long, and demurrage being the late fees that you pay when you don’t pick your cargo up at the port on time.)*

Bentzel said that during COVID, about $12 billion in D&D fees were assessed, far more than ever before, and the confusion as to whether some of the fees were excessive led Congress to put some clarity in the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022. These stipulations were then implemented in a FMC rule finalized in February 2024 which became final on May 28.

Committee ranking member Ted Cruz (R-TX) asked about the disruptions in international shipping caused by the Houthi faction in Yemen targeting merchant vessels going in and out of the Red Sea. Cruz was clearly trying to get Bentzel to accuse Iran and China of violating international shipping law by backing the Houthis, but Bentzel tried his best not to make such an accusation directly. Bentzel did say that 80 percent of Suez Canal shipping is now being diverted elsewhere because of the Houthis, a type of disruption not seen since the Barbary Pirates over 200 years ago.

Bentzel was also asked about a pending labor action by East Coast dockworkers. He said that the FMC is supposed to stay out of collective bargaining disputes, and that their role is just to advise shippers of their rights, which they did in a September 23 industry advisory notice.

Safety

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) asked about the recent high-profile runway incursions and near-misses at U.S. airports, and Chapman said that the technology exists to prevent such incursions, but all parties (controllers and flight crews) have to have it installed and operational. He said that the recent incursions were a “red flag” in front of an otherwise outstanding aviation safety record for the last 15 years.

Chairman Maria Cantwell (D-WA) noted the recent 25^th anniversary of the Bellingham, Washington pipeline explosion, and asked if recent upgrades to the NTSB budget would help them get more active in pipeline safety investigations. Chapman said that yes, they would, but that pipeline operations are a very niche sector, with a very small number of qualified experts, so it is not easy for a small agency to recruit people with pipeline expertise.

When it came to the recent increase in automotive fatalities, Chapman cited alcohol impairment, excessive speed, and distracted driving as causes and noted that all three can be addressed with in-vehicle technologies. NTSB has made formal recommendations on passive alcohol detection technology and driver monitoring systems for vehicles, and the agency is also encouraging states to move from a .08 blood alcohol standard to a .05 standard.

Cantwell also asked about the NTSB investigation into the door falling off of the Boeing airframe being operated by Alaska Airlines. She asked Chapman to endorse the bill that she and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) introduced last month that would allow the FAA to make surprise inspections of aviation manufacturers instead of giving the manufacturers two months notice. Chapman said that personally, he thought it a good idea, but he was not sure if the NTSB had made an official recommendation.

Amtrak

Lanhee Chen told his story of going to the Fullerton, California Amtrak station as a child to watch the trains come through and collecting model trains. He promised to bring his (extensive) background in public policy, finance, and corporate governance to support Amtrak’s twin missions of business-like operations and public benefit.

The central thrust of Senate questioning of Chen, like all Amtrak nominees, is to get the nominee to commit to keeping all existing long-distance routes running. This is typically the case because the House of Representatives keeps the Northeast Corridor financially supported, and the Senate does the same for the long-distance routes. Both Cantwell and Roger Wicker (R-MS) exacted promises from Chen of full support for long-distance service, with Wicker also inviting Chen to the forthcoming grand opening of the resumed New Orleans to Mobile service on the Sunset Limited line.

Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) asked about recent Amtrak fare increases, and Chen said he looked forward to digging into that issue. (Ed. Note: Chen did not say it, but the big reason for the fare increases is that, pre-COVID in FY 2019, Amtrak operating expenses were 52 cents per passenger-mile, and in FY 2023 they were 71 cents per passenger-mile. Costs increase by 37 percent, and either fares have to go up, or federal operating subsidies have to go up.)

The last questioner to arrive, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), confused everyone in the room by asking Chen about Amtrak “safety” when he meant “security.” For the record: airlines and railroads address safety by preventing passengers from being injured or killed in accidents; airlines and railroads address security by trying to prevent people from murdering their passengers.

The hearing closed with Cantwell giving committee members until close of business on Sept. 30 to send written follow-up questions to the nominees, who will then have another week to respond. The likely timetable is for the committee to then approve these nominees in mid-November when the Senate comes back, and hope to get them into the ginormous unanimous consent package of nominees confirmed at the end of each session of Congress.

*Although, in keeping with the Dungeons and Dragons theme, all appointees to federal regulatory commissions should have to swear that their alignment is Lawful Neutral.