[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] this full Committee Nomination hearing will come to order. This morning the committee will consider four nominations the key transportation positions within our jurisdiction. Nominees before us today are eric soskin, the nominee to be Inspector General for the department of transportation. Robert primus who is been nominated to be a member of the Surface Transportation Board. Sarah feinberg, nominated to be director of the amtrak board of directors, and chris coons was been nominated to be a direct of the amtrak board of directors. The Inspector General for the part of transportation overseas critical audits and investigations of dots programs with the end goal of ensuring that our National Transportation system is safe, efficient, and effective for the american people. Eric soskin the numbered for the some portable. Mr. Soskin is a senior trial counsel in the federal Programs Branch at the u. S. Department of justice where he h has served since 2006. During his tenure at the justice department, he has managed complex litigation and he was chosen for a detailed assignment as policy council in the office of the assistant attorney general Civil Division. Ce earlier in his career mr. Soskin served as clerk for a Federal District court judge. He is a graduate of Williams College and earned his law degree from Harvard Law School. As the independent federal agency which handles the economic relation of various modes of surface transportation, the work of the Surface Transportation Board is vital. Robert primus has been nominated to serve as a member of the Surface Transportation Board. He has a distinguished record as a longtime staff member to multiple members of the u. S. House of representatives. He has served in senior roles in the house including chief of staff and Senior Advisor. While working with former congressman michael ruppercaseletter during the time he was Ranking Member michael capuano, on railroads, pipelines and hazardous materials, mr. Primus gained valuable expertise on matters involvingli a rail policy. His legislative experience includes work on the surface transportation reauthorization act of 2015. After graduating from Hampton University mr. Primus began his career on the hill with the late senator frank lautenberg, a distinguished member of this committee. The amtrak board of directors provides guidance and direction the National Railroad passengeri corporation, or amtrak. Sarah feinberg is one of the two nominees before the committee today to be a director of the amtrak board of directors and she joins us by video link. Ms. Feinberg has notable experience in Passenger Rail matters. She is currently interim president of new york city transit, the largest Transit System in north america. 20152017 she served as the acting administrator and administered of the federal Railroad Administration, and while serving in this role she was the transportation, she was transportation secretary anthony fox designee to the amtrak board. Ms. Feinberg formerly served as chief of staff at the u. S. Department of. S transportation,n private sector roles and as a special assistant to the president and Senior Advisor to the chief of staff under resident obama. Mayor chris koos has also been nominated to serve ono the amtrk board of directors and he joins us today byra video. He has served as the mayor of normal illinois since 2003 and the principal achievement for his municipality during this time was the development and construction of a multimodal station servicing amtrak ridership in downstate illinois on Lincoln Service texas eagletr trains. Previously he served as councilmember for the town of normal and he is a Small Business owner vicki served our country as an infantry platoon leader with the armies 101st division. I want to thank all the nominees for testifying today and for your willingness to serve in these important instrumental transportation sector roles, and also want to thank senator cantwell for her cooperation in our preparation for this hearing, and recognize or no for any opening remarks. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Today, we have nominees for three agencies is extremely important transportation missions. The first is the amtrak board of directors. Amtrak faces a series of critical challenges in the near future as we deal with the severe decline in travel as a result of the covid19 pandemic. In an effort to address these challenges amtraks management has proposed severe cuts in service including reducing longdistance trains to three days a week and deep staffing reductions are either very concerned that hes cut specifically harm communities served by amtrak and threaten the longterm viability of our National Rail network. I hope that my colleagues will step up in this next covid package and make sure that there is support for amtrak, the communities and the workforce. Amtrak also w needs leadership d the police went two excellent nominees for the amtrak board of directors here, Sarah FeinbergService Administrator of the federal Railroad Administration as the chair mitch and from 20152017 and then her current role as president of new york city transit. Duringk her time at fra she stopped amtrak board and is well aware the challenges facing amtrak and the importance of rail service to kyrgyz across the nation. Were also joined by chris koos, mayor of normal, illinois. Hee, serves, his cfius or by two amtrak routes so is very familiar with amtraks operations and to be aware of the value it provides to small and mid sized communities. We are joined by Robert Primus was limited to serve as a member of the Surface Transportation Board, stb plays a a very Important Role in resolving railroad rates and service disputes as well as reviewing Railroad Mergers and restructuring activities. Mr. Primus has a long career as a congressional staffer including working on these activities in the house of transportation infrastructure so i look forward to hearing his views on these are important issues. Finally, with the nomination of eric soskin to be Inspector General of the u. S. Department ofnt transportation. The Inspector General of dot plays a key role in that only preventing waste, fraud, and abuse but also ensuring that thn agency carries out its core Safety Mission for our nations transportation network. One area the ig is curly investigate is the federal Aviation Administration certification of the 737 max and the faas subsequent response to two crashes involved in the aircraft. I would mention, mr. Chairman, i saw yesterday i find by the faa on South Carolina for f intimidation of employees who are part of the faa certification process. The very issue we tried to fix in it on legislation that we worked on together and the legislation the wind administrator was before the committee basically told us he didnt agree that there were any problems, and yet now we see them issuing fines. Clearly there is a problem and clearly there is intimidation and one independent workforce whoo is going to basically that the engineers the engineers. Let them do e the work and not have fear of intimidation or reparation. Anyway, i look at that interesting talbot yesterday mr. Chairman, and looking for to getting back to those issues. The Inspector General act of 1978 specifically states the ig should be appointed without regard to political affiliation and solely based on integrity and devastated a building and accounting, auditing, financial analysis, law, management analysis of Public Administration or investigation. I will be asking questions because i am concerned that i want to know that you have the experience that lines up with this important position that oversees so many infrastructure jobs in the United States and definitely plan to ask you questions. Intent to nominate mr. Soskind on may 18, the same day a longtime employee of the d. O. T. Inspectors office was removed by the president. Im concerned the timing of these things. So i hope we can spend some time addressing thank you mister chairman for this hearing and i look forward to hearing from the nominees thank you senator cantwell and two ofour members would like to say words of introduction and i now turn to senator young thank you mister chairman. I am delighted today to introduce to the committee and to the senate the nominee for Inspector General for the department of transportation eric soskin. Eric is a fellow hoosier, we had an opportunity to speak yesterday and eric and his years in the indianapolis area as i did. Erics experience as a career Civil Servant and his valuable expertise in the law will bring competence to the important position that he aspires to hold at dot. Following his early years in indiana eric went on to study mathematics and political economy at Williams College n and graduated with high honors from harvard law. T school. Today eric serves as a senior trial counsel for the department of justice rswhere he has successfully spearheaded major litigation about the constitution, Administrative Law and National Security for numerous agencies across the Us Government over the last 14 years so he has extensive experience. Prior to joining the doj eric worked for judge paul diamond in the us District Court for eastern pennsylvania. Us far eric has built a reputation as an exemplary Civil Servant and a tremendous legal advocate and im delighted that hes taking on the challenge of Inspector General at the department oftransportation. He has Great Potential to bring objectivity, accountability and integrity to dot which is precisely what we want from this yo position. Eric, thank you. Thank you for someone with your incredible credentials, someone of your caliber and your hard work and service, for your desire to serve in this capacity. Mister chairman i thank you for the opportunity to introduce this great hoosier to our committee. Thank you senator young and im told senator durbin is ready to join us via video link. Are you there, richard . I am here, can you hear me . Yes good, thank you for giving me a few moments to introduce chris coons of illinois, hes been ria dear friend of mine for many years. Those of us fortunate enough to represent small town Rural America know theres an ongoing battle to save downtown. Virtually every one of those iscommunities out of normal illinois has done over the leadership of its mayor chris coons whos been in that position for 17 years and the t most important element in saving downtown normal is the fact that he suffered on served on Amtrak Service. Normal turns out to be the a number two station in the state of illinois for amtrak passengers , over 240,000 a year. With the home of illinois wesleyan university, chris decided to build an intermodal facility in vedowntown normal as the anchor for the redevelopment of downtown. I helped him secure a 22 million tiger grant and we moved forward with the beautiful facility. He capitalized on that and turned it into on 73 million more in downtown. You have to see it to believe it. It really does make you feel good that amtrak is at the heart of this effort and chris is an amtrak passenger and as you mentioned senator a wicker atthe outset hes also a Small Businessman in the normal community. He always wants to keep people moving. His business sells Running Shoes and bicycles so in addition to his love for amtrak he has a passion for people on the move. Im glad to be getting a few words of support for chris today. Heres a dear friend of mine and hes tackled challenges and has a vision which i think amtrak will benefit from. It was chris koos who decided his torn out of normal electric ai all the town people and for that he received national recognition. Hes sejust a step ahead time and again and im honored to call him a friend and i think he will be a great asset when it comes to the future of amtrakry. Thank you very muchsenator durbin and also senator young. We appreciate you spending time with us today and vouching for these nominees so thankyou so much. At this point i want to recognize the witnesses for opening statements. As is the custom, your full statements will be placed in the record at this point and we ask that you summarize your testimony in five minutes or under so mister soskin, you arerecognized. Senator wicker, Ranking Member cantwell and distinguished members of the this committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I appreciate your consent for placing my full statement in the record which i will summarize. Thank you for arrangingthis hearing consistent with Public Health guidance and thank you to the president for nominating me to serve as Inspector General of the department of transportation. It is a profound honor and id like to thank senator young of indiana for his words of introduction. Our plgreat Hoosier State always remains a place i long to be. Im likewise grateful for the support of my family, friends and colleagues, especially my wife, a naturalized us drcitizen who came fearlessly to this country as an adult to study accounting and realize her dreams. She inspires me every day and has made me the luckiest person i know. Id also like to thank our two children erin and les will bring so much curiosity and joy to my life. I am so proud to be the father of each of you. At an early age i learned that Public Service is a high calling and have aspired to heed that call. My father, a lawyer was a leader in fighting to protect the civil rights of institutionalized persons. My mother began her career as a librarian before becoming an expert on emerging technologies, education and training. My career in Public Service has beeninspired by many mentorse along the way. I wish i had the time to recognize them all today for the roles they have played. Since entering Harvard Law School in 2002 i been committed to Public Service joining the department of justice as a career Civil Servant and representing the United States with independence and integrity for 14 years. As a litigator olwith the federal Programs Branch i provide leadership in a vast array of matters representing agencies from across the entire executive branch and the legally difficult, highstakes and politically difficult lawsuits that affect the lives of millions of americans and involve hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds. Managing many of these cases at one time as a generalist one of my core skills is digging deeply into the complex details of new statutes, programs and factual situations to quickly understand the issue and objectively assess the challenges they entail. Law enforcement agencies are among my most important clients and my practice involves leading cross functional teams, directing factual investigation and communicating orally and in writing with many types of stakeholders. Throughout my career with the department of justice across three administrations i have upheld the highest standards of professionalism of the department. These are all skills that will then themselves to my successful tenure as Inspector General of the department of transportation. My experience working across Government Agencies have led me to recognize the Critical Role of the Inspector General in each agency in combating waste fraud and abuse and advancing efficiency and effectiveness and the delivery of Government Programs and it should be like me a leader passionate about upholding Public Confidence in our federal institutions and sustaining our democracy by ensuring accountability and thereby delivering the results are public is entitled to expect from their government and as ig i will provide oversight for ndthe department and ensure core dot values are upheld including safety for the traveling public and