▶ 0:20:15Chair Cruz: Chair cruz: good morning. Senate commerce committee will come to order. We are here for the nomination of steven bradbury to be deputy secretary of the department of transportation. If confirmed, Mr. bradbury will serve as the department's second-in-command, overseeing day-to-day operations and critical safety policies for our nation's transportation system. Mr. bradberry is exceptionally well-qualified for this position.
▶ 0:20:39Chair Cruz: He served as general counsel of the department from 2017 to 2020 one and briefly as acting secretary of the department. As d.o.t.'s chief legal counsel, he oversaw a team of 500 attorneys and support staff. He oversaw a rulemaking and enforcement as well as regulatory reforms, saving the department $98 billion. In 2020, he received the secretary's distinguished service award.
▶ 0:21:09Chair Cruz: For -- prior to the first trump administration, he was a partner at major law firms in washington, D.C. and dealt with various transportation matters, including a consequential airline merger and one of the largest automotive recalls in history. Mr. bradbury also led the office of legal counsel at the department of justice and he clerked the united states supreme court. His legal and policy credentials are of the highest caliber.
▶ 0:21:42Chair Cruz: He is also suited for aspect of the role that cannot be captured in a resume, recognizing that lives are indirectly in your hands, listening to accident victim families and taking action to prevent future tragedies. More than many public servants, he has had to grapple with the fact that public policy has real-life consequences. He knows with power comes responsibility.
▶ 0:22:10Chair Cruz: He will work closely with secretarduffy to help keep travelers safe and responsibly invest in infrastructure. I have made it clear that safety, particularly in the aviation sector, must be his foremost priority. To that end, he is ready to eliminate nonstatutory policy objectives that have been detracting from the department's core safety measure.
▶ 0:22:40Chair Cruz: I have emphasized congress's role in the importance of providing -- complying with congressional oversight. He is prepared to be forthcoming with congress, in line with commitments secretary duffy made to this committee to turn over information we have requested. As I noted, Mr. bradberry is a smart regulator.
▶ 0:23:03Chair Cruz: He has a track record of cost savings and he will come on board at a time when the administration and the american people are particularly focused on government efficiency. With Mr. bradberry, we get someone with experience to drive intelligent chains -- change, the kind of change that improves outcomes while saving taxpayers money. I have received over 20 letters of support for Mr.
▶ 0:23:26Chair Cruz: Bradberry from major transportation groups representing sectors from aviation to ports and waterways. I support his confirmation and look forward to hearing more about his approach to the department. With that, I will recognize the ranking member for opening remarks.
▶ 0:23:44Sen. Cantwell: Mr. bradberry, I appreciate you being here today. I would like to recognize unwelcome two individuals who are here. Both of them have been active in continuing the focus on safety. Thank you for that advert -- advocacy. We are here now because we need leadership at d.o.t. That recognizes safety is the top priority.
▶ 0:24:13Sen. Cantwell: There is no issue about saving dollars if you are not saving lives. I think what has been wrong at faa and dot overall is that we have had too much of a light touch on important issues. So I do have concerns about your record. During your time at doj, you authored it is known as the torture memo justifying the use of waterboarding and other torture techniques.
▶ 0:24:40Sen. Cantwell: I will not go through the whole list of situations that arose from that, but alarming, they found evidence that your legal analysis were written with a goal of allowing the ongoing cia program to continue.
▶ 0:24:58Sen. Cantwell: These legal opinions were so contrary to what the country stood for that the senate refused to confirm you as assistant attorney general during the bush administration and congress passed an amendment to the 2016 ndaa codifying the legality of the torture methods you bent the law to justify. We cannot afford in the aviation sector someone who thinks we can bend the law to an outcome.
▶ 0:25:26Sen. Cantwell: Your record of using the law selectively to predetermine the outcome raises questions about the time at d.o.t. During the first trump administration. You were responsible for overseeing the department's regulatory actions and president trump's regulatory reform agenda. You orchestrated the rollback of multiple safety requirements under the guise of advancing a reform agenda.
▶ 0:25:54Sen. Cantwell: For example, just nine days after the first of the two fatal boeing crashes in 20 your office sidelined a proposed safety management system rulemaking for aviation manufacturers like boeing.
▶ 0:26:14Sen. Cantwell: If someone adds up all the costs that the max crashes have done to the aviation sector, it is way more costly, way more costly than any efficiency someone has suggested. What that analysis did was the industry had agreed -- the faa had agreed that we needed a mandatory safety management system. Why? Because that is the gold standard for aviation safety.
▶ 0:26:46Sen. Cantwell: Why was it sidelined? According to a bloomberg article titled the trump d.o.t. Blocked safety rule deemed critical in the 737 max probe, the council -- you used your general counsel position to shelve the draft rule. The former faa official who chaired an industry committee asserted the transportation department under Mr.
▶ 0:27:16Sen. Cantwell: Bradberry unleashed a restrictive policy that has run amok, undercutting faa workers to enhance safety and sidelining this. This is particularly alarming given the focus on safety and the fact that we passed a mandatory sms rule.
▶ 0:27:39Sen. Cantwell: After you sidelined the rule, you used the authority of the general counsel office to impede the committee investigation into the 73. As you noted in your testimony today, the general counsel's office was involved in the faa response to the 737 max disasters. Your involvement, I would say, does not show for the better.
▶ 0:28:02Sen. Cantwell: According to the committee december 2020 investigative report on the max crashes, your office intentionally withheld relevant information requested by the committee. And improperly redacted information and documents hindering the committee oversight into the investigation.
▶ 0:28:21Sen. Cantwell: A report -- the report found evidence that your staff intervened in preventing the faa from engaging with the committee on the investigation and the report concluded the faa cooperation with the committee has bordered on obstruction.
▶ 0:28:38Sen. Cantwell: As chairman wicker at the time said himself during a committee hearing on june 17, 2020, the only conclusion we could reach based on the record is that the faa has deliberately attempted to keep us in the dark. By that I mean our investigative staff, our committee, and me. I was here when senator wicker made those statements. I consider him a southern gentleman who sometimes pulled his punches.
▶ 0:29:08Sen. Cantwell: He did not pull his punches that day. As I noted at the time, the findings give me serious concerns about your commitment to the transparency that congress and the american people deserve. The families of the 737 max crashes wrote to chairman cruz to express their concerns. They voiced concern about the role of obstructing the investigation.
▶ 0:29:37Sen. Cantwell: I asked unanimous consent to enter their letter into the record.
▶ 0:29:40Chair Cruz: Without objection.
▶ 0:29:41Sen. Cantwell: From the general counsel's office, you saw the loosening of requirements for truck drivers and vehicle safety was been called into question. We need a leader on safety who is going to make in the number one priority could not modify the rule to suit the industry.
▶ 0:30:10Chair Cruz: Mr. bradberry, we will not recognize you for your opening statement. >> Mr. bradbury: thank you. Chairman cruz, ranking member cantwell, and distinguished members of the committee, it is the highest honor of my life to come before you today as the president's nominee to be deputy secretary of transportation.
▶ 0:30:35Chair Cruz: I am profoundly grateful to president trump for placing his trust in me and I am deeply thankful to secretary duffy for his confidence and his growing friendship. I also want to thank my family for their love and support. I am forever grateful for my wife, the love of my life, who is here to support me today.
▶ 0:30:59Chair Cruz: And for our three amazing children, each of whom has grown to be an accomplished role model for me. I learned from them. Let me take a moment term member my mother, the daughter of irish minors from butte, montana.
▶ 0:31:19Chair Cruz: She raised me as a single mom in portland, oregon, ironing clothes for $.75 an hour and working nights in a bakery to supplement social security checks. She was the kindest, most selfless person I have ever known and it was only because of her unfailing support and encouragement that I came to be the first in our family to attend four year university.
▶ 0:31:46Chair Cruz: After graduating from stanford university and later from the university of michigan law school, I was drawn to the practice of law here in the nation's capital. Early on, I had the tremendous fortune of clerking for judge james buckley on the U.S. court of appeals in D.C. and justice clarence thomas on the supreme court. Two of our greatest jurists and greatest americans. Coming from complete opposite backgrounds, both have had a profound influence on my life and career.
▶ 0:32:17Chair Cruz: That career has included more than 20 years of private practice in major law firms in washington and nearly 10 years of extensive prior service in the executive branch. In the mid to thousands, I headed the office of legal counsel at doj, advising the president and executive branch officials on compliance with the constitution and laws of the united states.
▶ 0:32:40Chair Cruz: During the first trump administration, I was the senate confirmed general counsel of d.o.t., managing legal matters and supervising more than 500 attorneys across the department. For the last year and a half of the ministration, I performed the duties of deputy secretary. Among other things, helping lead the department sponsor covid. At d.o.t., safety is paramount.
▶ 0:33:09Chair Cruz: I have the deepest appreciation for the department's safety mission. That mission is exceptionally important in no small part because the liberty and prosperity of the american people depend on's the nation's transportation systems and infrastructure. I believe I know the department well and I have great affection and respect for the dedicated career staff of d.o.t..
▶ 0:33:35Chair Cruz: If confirmed as deputy secretary , I will devote myself to helping the secretary advance safety and efficiency through faithful application of the authorities and resources granted by congress, in accordance with the constitution and policy directions of the president, of particular importance in light of the terrible aviation crashes of recent days.
▶ 0:34:00Chair Cruz: I believe I can effectively assist the secretary as he works with faa to upgrade our nation's air traffic control operations and improve the effectiveness of safety oversight and enforcement.
▶ 0:34:12Chair Cruz: I expect to assist in advancing smart regulatory reforms that promote safety and affordability while maintaining competitive markets and incentives necessary for innovation, as well as in supporting cost beneficial infrastructure improvements of national importance. In all these endeavors, I would be an advocate for transparency with congress and the public.
▶ 0:34:40Chair Cruz: And I would stress the importance of maintaining open and candid channels of communication with this committee and all other committees of jurisdiction. I pledge to you if confirmed I would bring these values to work with me every day at the department of transportation. With the senate's consent, I am eager to partner with secretary duffy to get to work for the american people. Thank you, Mr. chair.
▶ 0:35:09Chair Cruz: Let's start with this. If you are confirmed as deputy secretary of transportation, what legacy would you like to leave at transportation and infrastructure?
▶ 0:35:22Mr. Bradbury: I would like the legacy to be that the department had achieved greater efficiency in directing the dollars to the projects of most national importance for the american people. Basically, the greatest bang for the buck. Of the american taxpayer in terms of infrastructure.
▶ 0:35:43Mr. Bradbury: And we need to assess how the department exercises the discretion congress has given it with regard to funding programs to ensure that we are focusing our attention on safety and efficiency in those projects and we need to improve the capacity and expand the capacity of infrastructure in the united states. Those are the things I hope we can achieve over the next four years.
▶ 0:36:09Chair Cruz: This past month has been harrowing for air travel. This past month, there have been fatal aircraft accidents here in washington, D.C., in philadelphia and alaska, and just yesterday in arizona. Fortunately, all the passengers and crew survived the crash in toronto early this week.
▶ 0:36:35Chair Cruz: How would you help restore confidence in air travel and maintain a safe national airspace? >> we need to bring resources to bear immediately. I think the secretary indicated he is doing this, to review all the safety systems we use in air traffic control and the faa. We to upgrade those systems.
▶ 0:36:56Chair Cruz: There has been talk for decades about improving efficiency and effectiveness of the systems, making sure we have up-to-date technical systems, yet we still see systems are obsolete. They have not performed the way they need to perform. The process of upgrading is too slow. We need somehow to breakthrough. We need new thinking on it.
▶ 0:37:22Chair Cruz: I think that is what the secretary is focused on, but we also need to improve and expand capacity and training of new air traffic controllers, get the best and brightest in there, and we have to take a hard look at that process and capabilities of air traffic controllers.
▶ 0:37:40Chair Cruz: We still have the safest air system in the world, but we cannot fall down on the job and these recent disasters are a horrible reminder that we need to be constantly vigilant because we have a zero-tolerance for commercial air disasters.
▶ 0:37:55Chair Cruz: Yesterday, secretary duffy published an op-ed in which he said, america's air traffic systems need an urgent upgrade. D.o.t. Is addressing aging networks and systems. It is taking a look at personnel , boosting recruitment of air traffic controllers. The faa reauthorization act of 2024 requires maximum hiring of air traffic controllers for the next five years.
▶ 0:38:26Chair Cruz: Should the faa continue to exempt safety critical staff like controllers from any potential hiring freezes or layoffs?
▶ 0:38:35Mr. Bradbury: The secretary will make that judgment, but he has been clear that all safety critical officials are exempt from the recent cuts and the focus and air traffic controllers fall into that category. We need more air traffic controllers. We need a faster pipeline and larger capacity and clearly congress has spoken on that and it is a major priority.
▶ 0:39:00Mr. Bradbury: >> to clarify with the secretary has said, there has been news coverage of the reduction of force at the faa. My understanding is it is less than 1% of the workforce and secretary duffy has said no air traffic controllers were included and no safety critical positions were included. Is that your understanding?
▶ 0:39:20Mr. Bradbury: I heard those statements and that is consistent with what I know to be his focus that as we achieve greater efficiencies in funding and staffing through the department, that those cuts, where appropriate, will be made without compromising safety and he will ensure that safety critical staffing is sufficient to address those needs.
▶ 0:39:41Chair Cruz: In his confirmation hearing, secretary duffy may commitment to this committee and I want to one -- run through a few of them now to make sure you and he are on the same page. To make this easier, the answer to each of these questions should be yes.
▶ 0:39:59Chair Cruz: You work with my office to ensure that the new center for advanced aviation technology created by the faa reauthorization act of 2024 is established at dallas-fort worth and consistent with congressional intent.
▶ 0:40:12Mr. Bradbury: I will certainly support the secretary's efforts in that regard.
▶ 0:40:17Chair Cruz: Will you prioritize the renewal of tech stocks neap assignment authority on reasonable terms before its expiration in march of 2025?
▶ 0:40:29Mr. Bradbury: I strongly support nepa authority being assigned to states that have the capability of undertaking complex nepa assessments. I understand texas is one of those states and I think this is a good, efficient process.
▶ 0:40:50Chair Cruz: Five deep water port applications have languished. We will you -- will you commit to expediting the applications?
▶ 0:41:03Mr. Bradbury: I intend to look into that and making sure applications are moving forward quickly and there are not any unnecessary, unreasonable delays . I totally support the effort.
▶ 0:41:16Chair Cruz: Will you commit to reviewing penalties issued to against spacex and curtailing bureaucratic overreach?
▶ 0:41:27Mr. Bradbury: Yes. I support further streamlining efforts with regard to commercial space licensing regulation.
▶ 0:41:34Chair Cruz: Will you commit to providing my office with a dot staff rating for all discretionary rent applications over the last four years in which the california high-speed rail project received an award?
▶ 0:41:46Mr. Bradbury: I understand the secretary received that request and will be responding to that. I will work with the secretary to make sure this committee and you get what you need.
▶ 0:41:58Chair Cruz: He said yes and I will take that as a gas as well. Do you agree that pipelines are one of the safest modes of surface transportation and the dot should let data drive regulatory decisions?
▶ 0:42:10Mr. Bradbury: Yes.
▶ 0:42:12Sen. Cantwell: Mr. chairman, thank you. Mr. bradbury, I brought up the s&s rule in my opening statement and I'm assuming you know enough about safety management systems. Safety management system is about continuous improvement and analytical approach, so basically means when you come up with a problem you will stop and fix it. You cannot keep moving forward.
▶ 0:42:42Sen. Cantwell: In this article reported -- put it on the chart. We know the rule was halted nine days after the max crash. Why did you stop the rulemaking from happening?
▶ 0:42:56Mr. Bradbury: I do not know that I stopped it.
▶ 0:42:59Sen. Cantwell: That is what is reported in the paper and I mentioned the faa person in charge of the process said the industry and everybody who wanted to move forward when it was cemented and then it was pulled, so here in Mr. bradbury: certainly we go through review of every regulation. In that regulation, there were questions on merits about which entities it should apply to and how it would apply to small businesses or small entities.
▶ 0:43:27Sen. Cantwell: Those are the kinds of questions that need to be addressed.
▶ 0:43:31Sen. Cantwell: So you are saying you might have killed to sms rule because you did not want to to apply to small manufacturers? We still do not have one. Our committee has worked hard to get one, but I have questions about this. You did stop it from happening. There was a recommendation to move forward on it and your office stopped it.
▶ 0:43:52Mr. Bradbury: Senator cantwell, let me say I strongly support safety management systems as approach to regulation.
▶ 0:44:01Sen. Cantwell: Mandatory.
▶ 0:44:03Mr. Bradbury: I would support mandatory safety management and I would work with this committee to make sure we have them in place not just in aviation but in other transportation sectors because I think it is a smart way to regulate. You put the onus on the operators and manufacturers to avoid safety problems, defects. He put it on them. They have to come up with the system to do it and then you hold them accountable.
▶ 0:44:31Sen. Cantwell: Would you agree with the decision to allow the boeing company to continue to deploy max's after the first crash?
▶ 0:44:39Mr. Bradbury: That was an agonizing period and I know the experts at faa were looking hard at it, looking at what might have been involved in that. The secretary's office -- I was assisting the secretary. We were very closely monitoring the professionals at the faa and we supported their decision to ground the 737 max. In hindsight, a lot could be said for doing it sooner.
▶ 0:45:11Mr. Bradbury: It was an unprecedented situation for the to ground an entire fleet of aircraft like that, but I think they made the right decision and we were very involved.
▶ 0:45:20Sen. Cantwell: The right decision?
▶ 0:45:22Mr. Bradbury: To ground the plane.
▶ 0:45:24Sen. Cantwell: The faa went to seattle after the indonesian crash and basically did not do any kind of thorough review. Again, a safety management system would require analysis. Of critical features. But the faa, filled with light touch people met which we have tried to root out and why we tried to pass strong legislation , we do not want a light touch in aviation.
▶ 0:45:52Sen. Cantwell: We cannot have an efficiency approach or being counter approach because that is not saving lives. In reality, it is not saving money either, so we need an faa and dot and general counsel who is going to stand up to get these rules in place.
▶ 0:46:06Mr. Bradbury: I agree. I agree that we need strong safety management systems with accountability, with real penalties. We need to be tougher on boeing. We need to be tougher on railroads, as we have seen with the east palestine disaster. >> when this committee passed -- we did with the faa do.
▶ 0:46:32Mr. Bradbury: We mandated a safety management system. That still is now rolling out, but you were still there when we passed that. You could have just said let's go. But you did not. Do you know why?
▶ 0:46:48Mr. Bradbury: I do not recall the ins and outs, but --
▶ 0:46:52Sen. Cantwell: Do you see what I am saying about that? You had this rule in your back pocket. We passed it and said now do this. You could have said let's get going. But you did not. Did you have any thoughts about that? I have one more issue I want to get to.
▶ 0:47:11Mr. Bradbury: I never stopped regulatory efforts directed at safety in order to achieve cost savings's or meet the president's two for one requirement on rulemaking. We never stopped safety critical rules for that reason.
▶ 0:47:29Sen. Cantwell: Here's one that is really bothersome now. That is this letter that came out that now shows this week that 80 bs -- it was routinely turned off by the military. I have it for the record.
▶ 0:47:53Sen. Cantwell: The question was can undo to the sensitive nature supporting the movement of impersonal -- of important personnel, the army aviation brigade at fort belvedere will execute 100% of their missions with ads-b off. That was june 8, 2023.
▶ 0:48:14Sen. Cantwell: So the military was saying -- the reason this is important is because the obama administration said let's have a rule and let's not have these people exempted from the rule. The trump administration said we are going to write a rule and they are exempted. By the way, it is really only in these few instances in these few times and then we find this letter that basically says it is 100% of the time we are not having that turned on.
▶ 0:48:43Sen. Cantwell: So you were involved in rulemaking that was different than the prior administration attempt to try to rein this in, so I get it. I have been in the private sector. There is bureaucracy in the private sector. Big is a problem. Big is a problem everywhere, but mac this instance, what this country needs now is people that will adhere to safety first. It is the gold standard.
▶ 0:49:12Sen. Cantwell: It will help us lead in the next generation, but we cannot do it if we continue to have people who fall into this we are going to allow this exemption, allow this to happen, do this in the name of efficiency. I'm sure we will have more time, Mr. chairman, but if you have a response that you know of now to the issue, great. If not, I will take it for the record.
▶ 0:49:37Mr. Bradbury: I think the secretary will want to work with the secretary of defense with regard to military aircraft in civilian airspace in the U.S. to ensure that systems needed for safety are used as appropriate. And that is an example of something where there needs to be coordination.
▶ 0:49:58Sen. Cantwell: Like, for the record, your thoughts on the former obama rule on the rule he proposed exempting them. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 0:50:11Chair Cruz: Thank you. The ranking member and I think are that military policy of routinely turning off ads-b on flights in and around reagan and other airports, even on routine training missions, was completely indefensible and needs to be altered.
▶ 0:50:34Chair Cruz: I suppose for clarity I should point out that in a letter the ranking member quoted from written in 2023, and in 2020 three joe biden was president. Lloyd austin was secretary of defense. It was a democrat administration that followed the policy of turning off ads-b out.
▶ 0:50:55Chair Cruz: I think we are now agreed on both sides of the aisle that was a mistake, but to be clear you will -- were not at the department of transportation in 2023.
▶ 0:51:04Mr. Bradbury: Correct.
▶ 0:51:05Sen. Cantwell: I do not think anybody knew that was their policy. When we had a briefing, we never heard that was their policy appeared this just came to light on some whistleblower or someone in the community saw this happening and said there is this letter and this is what the policy really is or at least this is what somebody stated to eleanor holmes norton.
▶ 0:51:28Sen. Cantwell: They came close --
▶ 0:51:31Chair Cruz: They came close to telling us that they do not say 100%. 100% is not surprising and I think it is indefensible. I feel confident that policy will change by this administration unilaterally or that congress will make that policy change. Given the tragedy that happened over dcaa.
▶ 0:51:57Sen. Fischer: Rural communities rely heavily on the essential air service program. It provides them with connectivity and access typical services. In my home state of nebraska, we have communities served by essential air service.
▶ 0:52:17Sen. Fischer: It provides these communities not just with increased opportunity to connect with the outside world but it serves to help them attract business, attract visitors, and drive local economies.
▶ 0:52:31Sen. Fischer: Yesterday in our meeting to get to know each other and have a good conversation, you mentioned looking at potential reforms to the essential air service and you said including examining the subsidies that airports receive.
▶ 0:52:50Sen. Fischer: Are you willing to commit to me and the committee that you stand with rural america and ensure that our airports are able to maintain essential air service that meets those needs?
▶ 0:53:07Mr. Bradbury: Yes, senator. I appreciated our chance to meet together. Thank you for being available to me. The secretary in his hearing made it clear he is a strong supporter of essential air service and I know how borten it is to small and medium communities across the country and clearly it has strong support in congress.
▶ 0:53:29Mr. Bradbury: Whatever proposals may have been made to reconsider that and phasing out I do not think that is realistic and I do not expect to be pushing for anything approaching sunsetting or eliminating essential air service.
▶ 0:53:43Mr. Bradbury: There are still decisions that the department makes in implementing the program and examining whether communities are meeting the metrics stated for the program and that is a process that happens periodically, a very important process and sometimes communities come into the program and that is something the secretary will look at and I expect to assist him in that with an eye to preserving effectiveness of the program.
▶ 0:54:19Sen. Fischer: I also appreciated the opportunity to show you my frustration with fhwa. They seem to be struggling to provide any kind of clear, consistent guidance across their division offices. As I stated yesterday, I have heard from state department of transportation that there is a lack of that consistent guidance from U.S.
▶ 0:54:43Sen. Fischer: Dot regarding requirements needed for states such as to justify building back better after a disaster. If confirmed, how would you work across the federal highway administration to ensure that division offices are consistent that they are clear in guidance to our state dot's?
▶ 0:55:08Mr. Bradbury: It requires strong leadership from the head of fhwa and secretary to those field offices. Consistency is critical. It also making clear that the states have a strong role in deciding the use of the funds that come in from the highway trust fund, but we need a focus on safety, efficiency, capacity, resilience of infrastructure and
▶ 0:55:40Mr. Bradbury: Not to be distracted by other goals, policy goals that may not be necessary that we divert from those central important goals of safety and efficiency. I think that efficiency is critical and working with the state dot.
▶ 0:56:02Sen. Fischer: I hope we can work together on that. We can certainly see cost savings when things are more streamlined and made available to the states so they can get those projects out there and get them going. On real service, americans want safe and reliable real service. With amtrak, that is not always fiscally responsible.
▶ 0:56:30Sen. Fischer: Nor have they been cooperative with state rail partners who are operating profitable real service across the network. I have some legislation on that, the amtrak transparency act. It would require them to have open board meetings, to state partners come and requires disclosure of executive bonuses hearing I am sure you recall the articles that came out about those bonuses several months ago.
▶ 0:57:02Sen. Fischer: Totally indefensible that they were given. At the d.o.t. Deputy secretary, how will you address concerns over amtrak fiscal responsibility and ensure they work well with their state partners?
▶ 0:57:18Mr. Bradbury: I appreciate those goals and definitely look forward to working with you and this committee on any legislation that would address that. With regard to the current situation with amtrak is -- there's so much additional funding provided to amtrak. There is so much money in the system.
▶ 0:57:41Mr. Bradbury: We need to take a careful look and ensure it is being used efficiently and effectively and there should not be any wasteful spending, unnecessary bonuses that do not make sense. Certainly they need to cooperate closely with states and local interests on their passenger service.
▶ 0:58:08Mr. Bradbury: Just before covid hit, amtrak was on the brink of finally being in the black for the first time across their network. Of course that is still -- that still assumes a lot of grant money coming from congress. Real tragedy for amtrak, what covid did and it is still coming back but we really need to take a hard look at the economics.
▶ 0:58:40N. Fischer: Thank you.
▶ 0:58:43Chair Cruz: Senator blunt rochester.
▶ 0:58:56Sen. Blunt Rochester: My office has been flooded with calls and messages from delaware ian's -- delawarians concerned about firing freezes. Secretary duffy promised me he would follow the law. Congress authorized and appropriated dollars through programs such as the bipartisan for structure law to help communities fund critical projects and to bring our nation's infrastructure into the 21st century.
▶ 0:59:23Sen. Blunt Rochester: President trump's funding freeze executive order's's and secretary duffy or recent cancellation of electric vehicle charging programs ricks the law. Does the president or any cabinet secretary have authority to withhold funds congress has appropriated in the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law?
▶ 0:59:50Mr. Bradbury: The secretary and all of us at dot need to follow the law. Where things are required by law, we need to comply with those requirements. Where funding programs have some modicum of discretion at certain points in the process, I do believe it is fair for the president and secretary to take a hard look at how the discretion has been exercised and what decisions have been made, whether that is consistent with the legislative purpose,
▶ 1:00:22Mr. Bradbury: Whether it makes good sense or is wasteful, and various things may follow from that. It may be that the president may wish to propose to congress that a program be rescinded or repealed. It may be --
▶ 1:00:37Sen. Blunt Rochester: Which makes sense. The president can propose that. Your answer is they cannot break that law. Do you believe the cancellation of the national electric vehicle infrastructure funding by secretary duffy is legal?
▶ 1:00:51Mr. Bradbury: Well, I do not know all the ends announce of what is happening right now with particular funding programs. I'm confident the secretary is focused on complying with the law and following through on the president's instruction to pause programs, audit them, look at how the money is being used, what the effect of it is. I think that is a healthy process.
▶ 1:01:23Sen. Blunt Rochester: The problem is we work hard on behalf of the american people to pass legislation, got funding, people started programs, shovels are in the ground -- I do not think it is appropriate to pause something that we passed in law. The department sets the corporate average fuel economy standards. Secretary duffy's first action was to reverse those standards.
▶ 1:01:49Sen. Blunt Rochester: We know it is no secret that transportation is one of our largest contributors to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The science is clear. Why are we going backwards?
▶ 1:02:00Mr. Bradbury: I do not believe the secretary canceled the standards. He directed there be a review of the standards and that a proposal be put forward to reset -- change the standards or potentially resend the previous standards.
▶ 1:02:21Mr. Bradbury: It clearly reflects a view that standards in recent years have gone beyond what the program was designed to achieve through corporate average fuel economy. It was becoming an instrument --
▶ 1:02:37Sen. Blunt Rochester: Did you say he has not or it is caused? -- paused? He has not?
▶ 1:02:46Mr. Bradbury: I believe he directed to review the standards and propose replacements.
▶ 1:02:54Sen. Blunt Rochester: Propose, not change or stop. I personally think this reversal is bad for business. I think it is bad for automakers who are seeking certainty from us as the government and it is bad for the environment as well as a bad decision for lowering the cost of goods for american families.
▶ 1:03:20Sen. Blunt Rochester: As deputy secretary of transportation, you will also once again playing an outsized role in government operation of vital safety programs. There are numerous public reports detailing max investigation conducted by the committee. Senator cantwell shared clearly some of those concerns. We believe the safety of our families should be a nonpartisan issue.
▶ 1:03:48Sen. Blunt Rochester: I have some more questions I will submit for the record because my time has run out. I yield back.
▶ 1:04:01Sen. Blackburn: Congratulations on the nomination. We look forward to getting you confirmed and getting you to work because there is a lot that needs to be done. I appreciated our visit. I did want to talk with you for a moment about banning federal procurement of chinese drones. That is legislation I have had. It has been signed into law.
▶ 1:04:31Sen. Blackburn: We know the ccp never stops lying, cheating, stealing. It is kind of their business model. Even though we happen able to ban some of these companies from the drones and even though they are on the commerce department entity list, they are still, because of some of these affiliations and murky corporate structures and partnerships, they are still selling ev
▶ 1:05:04Sen. Blackburn: Chargers into the U.S. and that needs to come to a stop because these chargers really grab massive amounts of consumer data. If they are going to be charging stations and programs, this is something that needs to be reviewed. Where are you when it comes to dealing with these chinese entities and will you work with us on this?
▶ 1:05:35Mr. Bradbury: Absolutely I will work with you. This is a serious concern not just at the particular areas you reference book across the board with lots of chinese products coming into the U.S., including ev's and other products and components to go into them. It is a national security concern in terms of sensors collecting data and where that data goes and who controls it. Is it the ccp?
▶ 1:06:04Mr. Bradbury: It is also an economic concern because these products are often subsidized by the chinese government and undercutting U.S. industry and potentially gutting U.S. industry. It is a serious concern. I know the president is very focused on that and I look forward, if I'm fortunate to be confirmed, to helping support that effort.
▶ 1:06:29Sen. Blackburn: Talk to me about raising the pilot age. The last administration, their ambassador refused to participate in this. As you know, keeping the pilot age where it is as pretty much a giveaway to the pilot union and we have a lot of pilots who would like to keep flying, some to move from long hauls to regional flights.
▶ 1:06:56Sen. Blackburn: I think they should have that option.
▶ 1:07:01Mr. Bradbury: That is something that should be looked at seriously because some of our more experienced pilots want to keep flying and they may have opportunities to move from long-haul flights.
▶ 1:07:14Mr. Bradbury: They may be interesting -- interested in continuing their careers in regional or short-haul flights and it seems like something that we should be open to that possibility, just as the secretary has suggested it would be good to keep some of our experienced and seasoned air traffic controllers on the job, so artificial age limitation or required retirement age may not be in the best interest of the country.
▶ 1:07:46Sen. Blackburn: One thing I did want to put on your radar, during president trump's first term, d.o.t. Took steps to combat human trafficking and transportation. I know you are aware of that. We would like to see those steps again. This is an area where I have done a lot of work. There is opportunity for you all to support that and we would appreciate that.
▶ 1:08:15Sen. Blackburn: Memphis -- we talked about memphis a little bit. Of course we are the logistics hub. All of the class one railroads are there. The port of memphis is there. Fedex of course, which is the largest express carrier in the world, is there.
▶ 1:08:37Sen. Blackburn: So our logistics needs are incredibly important and just as we were so grateful that secretary duffy made his first trip to tennessee and north carolina to see the damage which also runs through memphis, from north carolina to california, all across the country come out we appreciated his attention to that and the aftermath of hurricane helene, but we would
▶ 1:09:08Sen. Blackburn: Like to get you to memphis and see firsthand some of our needs there as we are the logistics hub of the country.
▶ 1:09:18Mr. Bradbury: I would welcome that opportunity and those facilities are critical to our national freight network and the economy, such as every american.
▶ 1:09:37Chair Cruz: Senator baldwin
▶ 1:09:39Parents Sen. Baldwin: Thank you for the opportunity to meet and have discussions prior to this hearing. During secretary duffy's hearing, I asked about the department of trans-rotation finalized rule to discontinue manufactured products -- we talked about buy america standards and rules.
▶ 1:10:00Parents Sen. Baldwin: To discontinue this waiver that had been in place for 40 years and has allowed the federal highway projects administration to sidestep imac america rules. It is a straightforward idea. When we use taxpayer dollars to build infrastructure, we should be using american products. We should be supporting americans -- american small businesses and workers.
▶ 1:10:30Parents Sen. Baldwin: I asked secretary duffy for his commitment on following through on this buy america rule and I wanted to ask the same of you. Are you committed to this final rule as written?
▶ 1:10:43Mr. Bradbury: I am and I think the president will have a strong emphasis on buy america. We did in the previous administration -- and I would expect that to be redoubled with the rule change.
▶ 1:10:57Mr. Bradbury: We now include engineered products in the buy america requirements and we need to be candid that that is going to present challenges, but I welcome the opportunity to discuss with you the example you gave of being proactive and going to those foreign manufacturers when there are instances when there is no other option available in getting them to invest in the U.S.
▶ 1:11:24Mr. Bradbury: To an -- two support drops businesses in the U.S. and that is what the buy america requirement is designed to achieve. We have to work hard at it, but I think we will be committed and we are not going
▶ 1:11:43Sen. Baldwin: That is important to hear it it is about job creation here in the united states, bringing jobs we have lost back and keeping many here. On the topic of safe the, I wanted to reference something the ranking member noted in her opening comments. I am concerned about that record at the department of transportation when you are last there. In 2019, our committee open an investigation into the crashes of the two boeing max aircraft that killed 346 people.
▶ 1:12:20Sen. Baldwin: You lead the department of transportation's office of general counsel at that time when chair wicker's staff compelled evidence and it suggested that you intentionally withheld relevant information requested by committee.
▶ 1:12:36Sen. Baldwin: I am quoting from the report, an improperly redacted information in produced documents, hindering the committee's oversight investigation." chair wicker staff report concluded that the level of cooperation by faa and dot was unacceptable and at times bordered on obstruction.
▶ 1:13:01Sen. Baldwin: It is -- this is cited in a republican report. How can we trust you are the right person for this job went and sounds like you are not the right person in your previous job at the department of transportation?
▶ 1:13:18Mr. Bradbury: I appreciate the question, senator, because I really would like an opportunity to respond on this point. The department went through what was the most intensive set of investigations I think in probably the history of the department with regard to the 737 max disasters. I think it was completely appropriate.
▶ 1:13:44Mr. Bradbury: It was not just a senate commerce committee, it was also the house tni committee at the same time. The faa was inundated with requests and I believe the secretary child made the right decision that it was -- secretary chao made the right decision that it was important for the office of the secretary to make sure there was a full and efficient response to those oversight requests.
▶ 1:14:08Mr. Bradbury: What we were doing was attempting to facilitate the response to the oversight request, not impede them, not block them or stonewall the request.
▶ 1:14:20Sen. Baldwin: I have to cut you off because of a couple of additional questions. You can more fully answer if you would like in writing after the hearing. I want to ask a series of yes or no questions. Yes or no, do you support privatizing air traffic control system?
▶ 1:14:35Mr. Bradbury: This is not --
▶ 1:14:39Sen. Baldwin: Yes or no.
▶ 1:14:40Mr. Bradbury: This is not something I'm going to propose or push --
▶ 1:14:45Sen. Budd: Code-1 -- Sen.
▶ 1:14:49Baldwin: That air service? Mr.
▶ 1:14:50Bradbury: No.
▶ 1:14:52Sen. Baldwin: Repealing the jones act?
▶ 1:14:54Mr. Bradbury: No.
▶ 1:14:56Sen. Baldwin: Discretionary grants at the department of transportation?
▶ 1:15:00Mr. Bradbury: No.
▶ 1:15:03Sen. Baldwin: Thank you.
▶ 1:15:04Chair Cruz: Senator schmitt.
▶ 1:15:08Sen. Schmitt: Thank you, Mr. chairman. I want to congratulate you Mr. bradberry. I enjoyed our visit in the office and I think your track record and your results for leadership puts you in a really good position to help lead this department that in many ways has lost focus of its core mission. I would point out I have seen you in this committee more times that I ever saw pete buttigieg, which is an interesting fun fact. I wanted to talk a little bit about we in our office talked about 21st century airports.
▶ 1:15:43Sen. Schmitt: And having grown up in the shadow of lambert in st. Louis, it is embarking on this new mission, a lot of opportunities and we talked about it but I just wanted to reinforce the point, look forward to working with you on that and may be you come out to missouri and see not just lambert but the mother dot assets.
▶ 1:16:02Mr. Bradbury: I look forward to that, too.
▶ 1:16:08Sen. Schmitt: On the topic of infrastructure in general, china is in many ways coming for our lunch and a whole host of things and moving at rapid speed on a lot of things. The one belt road initiative in our country is sort of hopefully get back to focusing on real transportation projects here, not woke taglines. What are some things that can be done to help streamline that process, approvals?
▶ 1:16:38Sen. Schmitt: Could you talk about challenges with the way current new pub plays out in these projects?
▶ 1:16:45Mr. Bradbury: Absolutely. We have a real opportunity to undertake some fundamental review and reform of tha process and the permitting. Bob slcm it is a critical priority for the president. Infrastructure projects depend on those permits getting efficiently resolved so the project can move forward. The president has issued an order to ensure that happens.
▶ 1:17:13Mr. Bradbury: I think there is going to be a complete review of the regulations across the executive branch. Each department and agency with an important state in infrastructure projects will be redoing their niipa regulations. I look forward to working with ceq, council of environmental quality, at the white house and all of the other departments and agencies and across government effort to streamline niipa and there is a lot that can be done to streamline it and focus the
▶ 1:17:43Mr. Bradbury: Review on the types of issues that I think congress intended when it conceived of niipa. It should not hold up projects for years.
▶ 1:17:54Sen. Schmitt: Between your time previously and now come couple of significant cases have been handed down. Epa versus west virginia, and of course the low provide case for the chevron deference was overturned thankfully. Could you talk about how you see the interaction between the department and the legislature changing a little bit or what you foresee with the shifting tides?
▶ 1:18:21Mr. Bradbury: With the lope of right decision, it is very clear we can't creatively interpret statutes to expand our authority into new areas. That is discretion that resides with congress in terms of changing expanding the law and the jurisdiction of agency. And I think the courts are to be strict are now in interpreting statutes to ensure we stay in our proper balance.
▶ 1:18:50Mr. Bradbury: The major questions doctrine, very important. I think that implicate some of the things that dot has been doing in recent years. When it comes to massive new regulatory efforts on the part of departments like dot that have economic impacts and lives of americans across the economy, it is clear the supreme court has said, wait a minute, there's got to be a clear authorization and statute from congress before the agency can entertain that
▶ 1:19:22Mr. Bradbury: Kind of transformational rule. I really think that is critical restraint. And we see that I believe with the cafe program, for example.
▶ 1:19:33Sen. Schmitt: One last question, under the faa -- I think we talked about this in my office -- the office of commercial space transportation, or ast. Which is responsible for licensing and regulating all commercial rocket launch and reentry activities. Ast is a total mess right now. Would you work with me on helping try to streamline that and cut out some of the bureaucracy and get things right with ast?
▶ 1:20:02Mr. Bradbury: Absolutely. We did work hard to commercial -- streamline the commercial regulations last time but it is clear we need to do much more and we need to streamline it further. It is an important function but we needed to be much more efficient.
▶ 1:20:19Sen. Schmitt: Thank you. Congratulations. Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:20:24Chair Cruz: Senator hickenlooper.
▶ 1:20:27Sen. Hickenlooper: Thank you. Mr. bradberry, I grew up reading the science fiction writer ray bradberry. You are the third bradberry I have met. It is an unusual name. Anyway, I appreciate your journey through stanford, michigan, and all your service both in the legal field and government.
▶ 1:20:55Sen. Hickenlooper: I want to talk a little bit about impaired and distracted driving. Obviously, it is a big issue. 13,000 people died in alcohol impaired accidents last year nationwide. In colorado, one out of every three highway deaths is connected to some form of impairment. We have a standard for impairment with alcohol but we don't have any standards yet for people driving while high, marijuana, thc.
▶ 1:21:26Sen. Hickenlooper: How should dot work with the department of justice and hhs to develop a science-based impairment system that we can address this with?
▶ 1:21:39Mr. Bradbury: That is a very interesting question. Just as you said, we don't have a blood test or breath test as I understand it for being high on marijuana driving. It is a growing problem in the country.
▶ 1:21:53Mr. Bradbury: I think ntsa has put funds in and worked with local first responders and sheriff's offices on training for local police and sheriffs and first responders who get to a scene to assess whether a driver is high on marijuana. And it is really a physical assessment at the scene.
▶ 1:22:15Mr. Bradbury: It is very important to have that training and capability available with our local law enforcement and first responders so there needs to be a lot of support for that. I believe the justice department could play an important role therethrough justice grants, programs, and their law enforcement relationships. So that is certainly the first way I would think about assessing that.
▶ 1:22:43Mr. Bradbury: I know there are technological solutions that are being discussed and potentially are on the horizon and that congress has directed the department ntsa in particular to look at those options for potentially being part of the new motor vehicle. That is something we need to take a hard look at. I am not sure the accuracy and reliability is yet there but we need to continually assess the availability, the cost of that technology, the accuracy and reliability.
▶ 1:23:13Mr. Bradbury: Because that could be a solution. But it needs to be something that is accepted by the american people if you're going to talk about something that you put in a new motor vehicle.
▶ 1:23:24Sen. Hickenlooper: It will take the right process.
▶ 1:23:25Mr. Bradbury: I think we are closer for drunk driving and that is something that may be on the horizon and very important, as you say, 13,000 drunk driving deaths a year. Let's get that number down.
▶ 1:23:39Sen. Hickenlooper: That number has plummeted over the decades. The national highway transportation safety board has done a great job. But still, 13,000 is too many. It wasn't too many years ago it was 30,000. In terms of aviation safety, we are seeing too many accidents and they are not all major airports. I look at airports and so much of it is the volume and they are big enterprises.
▶ 1:24:11Sen. Hickenlooper: Dia, denver international airport, is a massive enterprise. I was concerned with some of the recent formulas, now going to look at birthrates rates in the state as a function of how some allocations of federal infrastructure investments will be made. That is concerning. But I also look at it in terms of the smaller airports, which in some of the western cities we don't have that high birth rates and we do obviously -- certain people try to encourage that as much as possible.
▶ 1:24:42Sen. Hickenlooper: We have always pursued efficiency when we look at government spending in our workforce and try to target your goals on things like public safety. I think in terms of our small airports, what is your sense of being able to make sure we have the staff and the staff of the proper experience to address this at a time where we are facing cutbacks?
▶ 1:25:07Sen. Hickenlooper: I worry those are in many cases view it as the people most expendable. It there commitment you can give us to make sure we preserve, if anything, expand that skill base within our workforce?
▶ 1:25:22Mr. Bradbury: I'm sorry, I talking about staffing at airports? Airport authority?
▶ 1:25:29Sen. Hickenlooper: The faa. To a certain extent, the infrastructure in the smaller airports -- in most cases, it is a blend of federal and local dollars.
▶ 1:25:40Mr. Bradbury: That grants the faa administers for new terminals, new runways, etc., expansions at airports, a very sizable grant program that is administered by faa. We need the staff at faa to administer the program effectively.
▶ 1:26:00Mr. Bradbury: I think as we look at achieving greater efficiencies, doing more with less at the department of transportation, it is incumbent upon the secretary -- and I will help them in this regard -- to ensure those cuts are done in a way that preserves our capability, we have the adequate staff to administer the programs that by law we need to administer.
▶ 1:26:20Sen. Hickenlooper: I appreciate that, making sure we have the adequate step is key.
▶ 1:26:25Chair Cruz: Thank you. Senator brown.
▶ 1:26:30Sen. Britt: Welcome to committee. Nice to see you. I think some of the things -- at least one of the things I will ask you has been asked but I have to do it and hear it from you as well. This is not that topic but we were clearly involved in this committee in the faa reauthorization.
▶ 1:26:48Sen. Britt: We made significant attempts in the faa's aviation rulemaking role to improve the ability for the faa to timely provide answers, provide technical standards to enable new innovation in the aviation. I come from the air capital of the world where we manufacture many of the planes that are flowing today.
▶ 1:27:16Sen. Britt: The challenges we face keeping up with technology and safety are significant. In part, the challenges are attributed to the need for an additional level of workforce at the department for purposes of completing the task but also having a workforce that has necessary technical and experience capabilities. You need an experienced workforce so that we can provide safe and highly technical advice and approvals at faa.
▶ 1:27:47Sen. Britt: You tell me to make me feel comfort in large part I'm asking you how you will implement the faa reauthorization bill.
▶ 1:27:56Mr. Bradbury: I really appreciate what congress has done with faa reauthorization and the support for the aviation system. The safety of the system but also the technical upgrades that are needed. That is a major focus. Major focus I know for the secretary.
▶ 1:28:16Mr. Bradbury: We are looking at it in terms of air traffic control but as you suggest, it implicates all aspects of aviation industry and it is critical for faa and the department of transportation as a whole to stay up to pace with investments in technology. I think that is a new sort of attitude and approach being brought to bear right now with the president and secretary across the board.
▶ 1:28:41Mr. Bradbury: We need the latest tools, data, and data analytics and computer capabilities. I think that is what the secretary is bringing to bear and looking at the systems and ensuring that they are up to speed and approved, etc. We need the people. The people at faa and in the department who can -- who are capable and knowledgeable about that. It is a big emphasis.
▶ 1:29:12Sen. Moran: I appreciate that. Rules, policy, guidance has to be timely and accurate, appropriate. That requires a highly educated trained workforce as well as the mindset and leadership that recognizes its importance. This is the question I think you have been asked before because this is a very rural committee but essential air service is usually significant component. Kansas has five airports that utilize essential air service.
▶ 1:29:43Sen. Moran: We are one of the most prolific essential air service states in the country. I know you have written about this but I think you have indicated in your testimony that you will be supportive of essential air service and I want to ask that question, you support essential air service program and of confirmed we support your role as the deputy secretary?
▶ 1:30:03Mr. Bradbury: I will. The president and secretary made clear, firm support for essential air service. Clearly congress as a whole and is committee strongly support it. I don't know I personally have written on essential air service. I know some of the theoretical arguments for and against. It was originally intended to be temporary. It obviously is important and congress has made the judgment it is here.
▶ 1:30:34Mr. Bradbury: We need to support it. I'm definitely on board with that.
▶ 1:30:38Sen. Moran: I'm sorry I suggested you wrote about something you may not have written about. I don't know whether this has been asked, but we are still in recovery in kansas and across the country with the disaster come the tragic accident that occurred at reagan several weeks ago now.
▶ 1:30:57Sen. Moran: I have an agreement with the faa, the secretary, that the operations in regard to the army helicopters at reagan will remain paused during the ntsb investigation and that we would be notified if there was a change -- a plan to change that feature. Does that comport with what you know? I should feel comfortable in believing that is still the case today?
▶ 1:31:26Mr. Bradbury: I am not up to speed on that. I don't know, but I'm sure the secretary will follow through on his commitment to you. I certainly would support that. It seemed to me that was a horrible accident that was entirely avoidable. Just a terrible tragedy.
▶ 1:31:47Sen. Moran: I think I have 19 seconds but I will yield. >> senator kim. Sen. kim: I guess I just wanted to start by talking about massive priority in new jersey.
▶ 1:32:05Sen. Moran: One of the largest construction infrastructure projects in the nation is occurring right now between new jersey and new york called the gateway project area I know the federal government can get involved in every single infrastructure project come every single transportation project in the nation. But I believe there needs to be some process of triaging, prioritizing. I want to ask you, do you believe the gateway project is a critical infrastructure project that has both regional and national implications?
▶ 1:32:35Sen. Moran: Yes. As I mentioned yesterday, I definitely view that as a national cash project of national importance. We need to ensure that it is done efficiently and that the dollars are well spent. That is true for every major infrastructure project we fund.
▶ 1:32:57Sen. Moran: But that one, that connection up and down the northeast corridor from new jersey to new york and the role the new york metropolitan area plays, certainly, of national importance.
▶ 1:33:09Sen. Kim: I don't discount the need to make sure we are being good stewards of the resources of this nation and the project so far is on-time and under budget, so we are excited about that. I guess I wanted to ask you, can we count on your support to keep this project going come the funding going? It is already underway and as you know, putting the brakes on any construction project, let alone one of this magnitude, can be debilitating and raise costs even more.
▶ 1:33:38Sen. Kim: I wanted to hear from you if we can count on your support for this.
▶ 1:33:41Mr. Bradbury: I will support the secretary in the department's commitment to projects such as gateway project. I will not be making that decision -- any of those decisions myself, but I understand the importance of the project. Worked on it the first time around.
▶ 1:34:03Mr. Bradbury: I think we had a good discussion about the tunnels and what could be done with the existing tunnels and the new tunnels that are in the planning. I would hope to be involved in a very supportive way in helping the secretary follow through on these projects.
▶ 1:34:22Sen. Kim: As we are investing in this, big reason we are doing so is to be able to make transit for passengers, commuters more reliable -- amtrak, I told you about the challenges. A lot of questions about funding for amtrak, proposals in the past here in this building about slashing amtrak funding. Do you think amtrak is funded to the level it needs to be or do you believe there is room for cuts or greater investment?
▶ 1:34:49Mr. Bradbury: I think it is always incumbent upon us to take a hard look at how the money is being spent, whether it is achieving the goals, whether the system is being operated efficiently.
▶ 1:35:03Sen. Kim: Do you think the funding for amtrak is achieving its goals from your experience before the department of transportation? What did you feel?
▶ 1:35:14Mr. Bradbury: As I mentioned earlier, we were very hopeful back at the end of 2019, looking at coming into a new year were for the first time amtrak was projecting it would be in the black across its network. And of course in the bottom fell out with covid. I look forward to taking a hard look, senator. To be frank.
▶ 1:35:44Mr. Bradbury: Because there is a lot of money in the system. We just to ensure that it is appropriate and it is being well spent.
▶ 1:35:52Sen. Kim: I don't discount that, but I hope I can hit home how critical this is for reliability , for people to be able to get to and from work. One of my colleagues as she about your role or your perspective on privatization of air traffic control. You said you were not going to necessarily be the one that pushes that proposal. Do you believe privatizing air traffic controllers is a good idea?
▶ 1:36:16Mr. Bradbury: Canada has done this with transferring air traffic control to a nonprofit corporation. It was seen as a very efficient solution. As I think you know, president trump did put forward the idea, support the idea in 2017. Congress deliberated and did not accept it.
▶ 1:36:43Mr. Bradbury: We see in the recent the faa reauthorization as I understand it, there were further debates. Again, it was not something that was made part of faa reauthorization. My comment is that I don't anticipate that I will be spending time promoting or pushing the secretary of recommend to the president this because it just isn't something that has been embraced by congress as a whole. There are good arguments for it.
▶ 1:37:15Mr. Bradbury: It may be a good solution down the road. But that will be for congress to judge and decide.
▶ 1:37:20Sen. Kim: Thank you. >> thank you for being here, Mr. brad berry I recognize myself. You are being asked to be confirmed as the deputy secretary of transportation for the united states of america. The first question I asked, what is the most common form of transportation that americans use on a day-to-day basis?
▶ 1:37:44Mr. Bradbury: The automobile. Americans love their cars. We have billions of trips by auto every year in the united states. >> let's talk about the car business. What is the impact of regulation after regulation after regulation on the auto industry in terms of the cost of automobiles?
▶ 1:38:07Mr. Bradbury: Regulations have costs. Those costs are passed by the manufacturers down the line to the american families come the americans who buy those automobiles are want to try to buy those automobiles. The effect is on affordability of new automobiles. That is a critical issue. We want to automobiles to be affordable. We want americans to buy more new automobiles.
▶ 1:38:32Mr. Bradbury: It is not just to support the auto industry as an important part of our industrial base but it is because new cars and trucks are safer, significantly safer than old used vehicles. It is a -- statistics show that. Affordability is not just an economic issue, it is a safety issue.
▶ 1:38:53Sen. Moreno: Thank you. If you look at the constitutional role of the federal government, would you agree it is uniquely the role of the federal government to regulate interstate commerce?
▶ 1:39:04Mr. Bradbury: Yes. The constitution gives that to congress.
▶ 1:39:08Sen. Moreno: I think with the founders had in mind, not give any individual state the ability to do something different that would impede congress. Standards that would cross state lines that you have one federal standard. Is that fair to say?
▶ 1:39:31Mr. Bradbury: The cafe program, fuel economy standards. One thing we emphasize in the first trump administration was the goal of having one federal standard. I believe that is what congress decided on. It is important that we have that consistency. You cannot really build different fleets of vehicles for different states in the united states.
▶ 1:39:59Mr. Bradbury: That is not an efficient way for an auto manufacturer to function.
▶ 1:40:04Sen. Moreno: It adds cost to the car and cost the government because the government has to look at these waivers. In your mind, when you have california that is had a carve out for 51 years, the ability to set a different set of emissions standards, has that made the auto industry healthier or less healthy?
▶ 1:40:24Mr. Bradbury: I think as you have indicated, it has a post because that are passed along to car buyers all over the country in every region of the country. When congress first conceived of this exception for california it is because of the terrible smog experience in the l.a. Basin primarily and new vehicles have gotten much cleaner in terms of the smog causing pollutants. There is a real question whether it still makes sense.
▶ 1:40:53Mr. Bradbury: But when you start talking about the climate regulations, the greenhouse gas restrictions and carbon dioxide restrictions of california on automobiles, inevitably, that affects the fleet across the country and it affects the affordability and cost that american families are forced to pay for new motor vehicles in every region.
▶ 1:41:16Sen. Moreno: Fair to say the people I represent in the state of ohio are paying more money for the automobiles that they buy because of rules by out-of-control bureaucrats in california.
▶ 1:41:28Mr. Bradbury: Yes.
▶ 1:41:30Sen. Moreno: I think we will go back to the constitution, what the constitution had in mind as I did not want to have crazy state people making decisions for the rest of the country. When you have california, which is saying, by 2030, you can't basically have two thirds of the cars have to be electric and by 2035 all of them have to be electric -- actually move that forward, it seems like those are guidelines that greta thunberg thinks is important but I don't
▶ 1:42:00Sen. Moreno: Think automotive engineers do. I will ask you this straight out, I think senators think they are pretty powerful people. I think politicians think they're pretty powerful people. Do you think politicians can been the laws of physics?
▶ 1:42:12Mr. Bradbury: No I don't, nor the laws of economics.
▶ 1:42:17Sen. Moreno: I don't know they know that. I think when you look at it and say, let's do more, reduce this, we are all for that. I don't think there's anything special about california or californians that they should have better air than ohioans. I think we have to be realistic about what is technologically possible.
▶ 1:42:37Sen. Moreno: I think this will pass to after 51 years that we go back to our constitutional principles of one federal standard that is actually achievable and attainable based on what we understand technology to be.
▶ 1:42:51Sen. Moreno: I also think, and I want to ask your response to this, do you think giving the industry's certainty sang, here is the rules of the road for the next 10 years so that they don't have to worry about some lunatic in california coming up with a rule that is completely unattainable, do you think that would be healthy for auto industry to compete worldwide?
▶ 1:43:13Mr. Bradbury: Absolutely. I think that's what congress intended. Unfortunately, in recent years we have seen dramatic swings and regulatory landscape. You hear from automakers all the time that that is the last thing they want to see. The swings. Regulations cannot achieve an aspirational result.
▶ 1:43:42Mr. Bradbury: I think we need one reasonable federal standard. I really believe that is what congress intended, particularly from the fuel economy.
▶ 1:43:50Sen. Moreno: Thank you for your testimony and look forward to working with you once confirmed. I recognized senator lewin.
▶ 1:43:57Sen. Lujan: Thank you for being with us today. I'm going to start with some yes or no questions. I would appreciate if you could keep them to a simple yes or no if at all possible. We follow the law?
▶ 1:44:10Mr. Bradbury: Yes.
▶ 1:44:14Sen. Lujan: Is improving safety on a road was a priority?
▶ 1:44:18Mr. Bradbury: Yes.
▶ 1:44:21Sen. Lujan: Jubilee technology plays a role when making cars safer?
▶ 1:44:25Mr. Bradbury: Yes.
▶ 1:44:26Sen. Lujan: Do you support the utilization of technology in cars to reduce collisions like radar and lidar?
▶ 1:44:35Mr. Bradbury: Yes. I see a lot of positive innovation, a lot of investment in these new technologies which really have a great potential to save lives.
▶ 1:44:47Sen. Lujan: Yes or no, you support the utilization of advanced driver assistance systems to reduce roadway fatalities?
▶ 1:44:56Mr. Bradbury: Yes. We see the automakers investing in this. We see car buyers interested in the technology. This is a different question from whether technology should be mandated by the federal government.
▶ 1:45:21Mr. Bradbury: That is the calculus, cost-benefit calculus because again, we can go 100% on everything as a mandated requirement of the federal government but it is going to affect the bottom line. It is going to affect the affordability of the vehicles. That always has to be kept in mind. One thing critically important is to preserve the incentives that the industry has to invest in this new technology and continuing improvements.
▶ 1:45:47Mr. Bradbury: Not necessarily dictated by the government to do it, but to do it because it makes their products better, more attractive, more valuable to customers and safer. Safety has got to be the objective. But affordability is unavoidable component.
▶ 1:46:06Sen. Lujan: Which is more important?
▶ 1:46:07Mr. Bradbury: Safety is always more important.
▶ 1:46:11Sen. Lujan: You answer the question. I am almost out of time. I appreciate you saying that because safety matters. People die on the roads. In the early 1990's, I was hit head-on by a drunk driver. Thank god I am here. But there are 10,000 people a year who are not. You know them, we know them. My colleagues know them.
▶ 1:46:33Mr. Bradbury: And 40,000 to 41,000 fatalities on america's highways every year, that number is persistent and we need to drive it down.
▶ 1:46:43Sen. Lujan: I appreciate you saying that. You support autonomous vehicles?
▶ 1:46:45Mr. Bradbury: I am very excited about autonomous vehicles. Lujan would you mandate this in a thomas vehicles?
▶ 1:46:52Mr. Bradbury: What technology?
▶ 1:46:59Sen. Lujan: The safety features.
▶ 1:46:59Mr. Bradbury: We need a consistent national framework for the development of autonomous vehicles, automated vehicle technology.
▶ 1:47:12Sen. Lujan: Would you mandate technology in a thomas vehicles? -- in a thomas vehicles or they can do whatever they want based on making it more affordable?
▶ 1:47:20Mr. Bradbury: Those are not the two choices. I would be reluctant to mandate technologies and tell the industry how the vehicle needs to operate. I think we want to preserve incentives to innovate and offer new products, and then we need to ensure safety through a process of certification or a process of testing.
▶ 1:47:44Mr. Bradbury: That is really what we need, a framework that is reliable, repeatable for testing autonomous vehicles systems to ensure safety. And then -- this is the way our system has worked for auto safety in this country. Other countries may do it differently. They may dictate upfront what the requirements are and require preapproval certification.
▶ 1:48:08Mr. Bradbury: We recognize we want to reserve incentives for investment and improvements in industry subject to testing.
▶ 1:48:18Sen. Lujan: Do you support the use of driver monitoring technology both inside and outside?
▶ 1:48:24Mr. Bradbury: I think that it's a question that will depend on the accuracy and reliability of the technology and the cost impact of the technology. As I indicated, I look forward to -- and I know this is a subject of great importance to you, and to many members.
▶ 1:48:44Mr. Bradbury: I look forward to working with you and the members to understand better the capabilities and the technology and look forward to talking with the folks at ntsa as they have collected comments and input in connection with their advanced notice, proposed rulemaking.
▶ 1:49:01Sen. Lujan: You on your own submitted comments to the record in this case and you said, if ntsa were to mandate installation of technologies that could at any point take over control of the vehicle on the road, all americans freedom to use our cars and trucks would be conditioned on the operation of that technology and could be snatched away. All this technology is required in autonomous vehicles.
▶ 1:49:22Sen. Lujan: I'm not even gotten to what I'm trying to get to it you're correct, I care about saving people's lives in a bipartisan way, working with one of the most conservative senators he rick scott out of florida, we under the biden administration come under pete buttigieg, they dropped the ball and did not finish the rulemaking. I asked secretary duffy about this. I did not know this, he shared his wife survived a head-on collision as well. He knows what is going on here. That is the reason I'm trying to get to the bottom of this.
▶ 1:49:52Sen. Lujan: When we talk about autonomous vehicles, innovation in america, america should be the driver here. It will be expensive it is going to be expensive. But we need to keep people safe so when they choose to buy that vehicle, they're not going to die and they're not going to get killed on the road. I certainly hope we can get to this place and just get something done. My last question about following the law is do you commit to follow the law concerning finalizing the impaired driving -- .
▶ 1:50:21Mr. Bradbury: We will follow the law as directed by congress with regard to that. We will proceed forward. As I indicated, I look forward to seeing the information that has come in and talking to industry, talking to those who know more than I do about what that technology can achieve. I believe that was what congress wanted ntsa to do.
▶ 1:50:49Mr. Bradbury: I recognize that some forms of that technology may be closer than others. For example, the technology in a starter button that can sense through the skin blood alcohol content may prevent a car from being started. That may be closer on the horizon in terms of accuracy and reliability.
▶ 1:51:10Sen. Lujan: I know I'm over time, but it might surprise you if you're not aware that subaru, their cars already have this technology. They are driving on the roads in other countries. Not here yet but nonetheless, the technology has been proven. If you go to the auto shows like I like to do, you can get in them and check it out. Incredible. This legislation did what it was supposed to. He got the market to respond. Major auto manufacturers are filing the patents to do this.
▶ 1:51:40Sen. Lujan: It is quite incredible when you can touch those conditions and you let the innovation just get out there and solve these problems. We can save lives. Thank you.
▶ 1:51:52Sen. Moreno: Very fast question back to you, let's say we do that. Mandate everything. As a former car dealer, let's load up the car with every option possible. The price of cars has gone from $40,000 to $50,000. People will buy less cars not because they don't want the technology, they can't afford it.
▶ 1:52:12Sen. Moreno: What is better, a newer fleet of cars where people buy more new vehicles or these insanely expensive really cool cars with all kinds of crazy technology that nobody affords so they keep your old car? What makes the entire fleet safer?
▶ 1:52:29Mr. Bradbury: You put your finger on it. The average age of the automobile in the U.S. fleet is approaching 13 years. This is a serious national problem. We have older -- we have cars that are 25 and 30 years old on the road that have gone through 4, 5, 6 different owners. These are far less safe in highway crash than newer vehicles. Affordability is a critical component of safety.
▶ 1:52:59Mr. Bradbury: It also is a critical component of economic happiness and quality of life for americans. We should want americans to buy more new vehicles. That really should be the goal. That is why I say it has to be a balance.
▶ 1:53:16Sen. Lujan: I just don't want people to die. We can find common ground.
▶ 1:53:22Sen. Moreno: I recognize senator peters.
▶ 1:53:26Sen. Peters: Thank you. Mr. bradbury, congratulations on your nomination. Thank you for spending some time in my office on a variety of questions.
▶ 1:53:40Sen. Peters: One of the key responsibilities of the department of transportation through the national highway traffic safety administration, as you well know, is to thoroughly and transparently investigate and hold accountable auto company so when their vehicles are operating in an unsafe manner on our roads. This is especially true for autonomous vehicle technology when that is in play.
▶ 1:54:05Sen. Peters: As you know, I strongly believe autonomous vehicles will play a huge part in improving roadway safety. But that can only be achieved if there is public trust, which we talked about in my office in these technologies. That comes with full transparency and accountability so the public truly trusts the technology and its capabilities. To understand exactly what they are dealing with.
▶ 1:54:36Sen. Peters: Tesla has been probably the worst actor in this space. There is currently an open investigation into tesla's "full self drive" which it is not, they market it as full self drive technology, and there is a history of tesla misleading consumers regarding what that technology is actually capable of doing. Unfortunately, that has led to deaths as a result of that.
▶ 1:55:04Sen. Peters: My question for you, given elon musk's close relationship with the president and his significant role digging into the operations of every agency through his so-called doge, are you fully committed and will you commit today to ensuring the department of transportation holds tesla accountable if you are confirmed?
▶ 1:55:24Mr. Bradbury: Yes. I believe the secretary was very firm in saying he would not treat any particular company favorably vis-a-vis other companies. In other words, we would have a fair and objective approach, particular regard to ntsa's recall investigations on these important issues.
▶ 1:55:52Mr. Bradbury: So I can make that commitment, yes.
▶ 1:55:55Sen. Peters: Good. In our meeting, we discussed the role of congress in making the law versus the role of the executive branch and enforcing the law and faithfully executing the law. You tell me if the president disagrees with certain programs, he should ask congress to act to change them. You confirmed that is how the system -- I don't want to misquote you but you said that is the way it should act, is my understanding.
▶ 1:56:25Sen. Peters: However, this administration does not seem to respect the separation of powers and appears to be pursuing an agenda to pick and choose which laws to enforce and pick and choose which grant funding to follow through on as well. Many of these grant programs from great lakes port infrastructure development to new bridge funding to passenger rail projects are certainly absolutely essential to michigan and states across the country.
▶ 1:56:51Sen. Peters: Legally awarded funding for these projects should not be ripped away because the president may have a political issue with it. My question for you, if confirmed, will you oppose any attempt to enjoy infrastructure funds that have already been announced for infrastructure projects through the department of transportation?
▶ 1:57:08Mr. Bradbury: Senator, first of all, as we know a huge amount of additional spending and money has been announced and has been awarded in recent weeks and months. I believe it is entirely fair for the president and the secretary to want to take a hard look at how that money is being spent.
▶ 1:57:33Mr. Bradbury: In lots of these programs come as I indicated earlier, there are points in the process where there is discretion for the secretary and decisions can be made. I think we need to audit all of those and take a hard look. I believe that is what is really happening. I think that is a fair process. I think the american people expect that. We want to ensure we are prudently and responsibly using the taxpayer dollars.
▶ 1:57:59Mr. Bradbury: That is not the same thing as the executive branch overriding the role of congress in its appropriation function and is lawmaking function. I absolutely agree that the constitutional structure is congress makes the laws, congress appropriate the money come the executive branch implements those programs. But in lots of these programs, there is some discretion assigned to the executive branch and exercised.
▶ 1:58:28Mr. Bradbury: We just need to be insured that that is being exercised responsibly and we are not inserting unnecessary requirements that detract from the effective use of the money, for example. As I mentioned, there may be cases where the president believes a program is simply not -- is wasteful or not achieving a useful purpose and needs to be reconsidered. I think it is fair for the president to put that forward.
▶ 1:58:58Mr. Bradbury: To congress.
▶ 1:59:00Sen. Moreno: Senator markey.
▶ 1:59:04Sen. Markey: Thank you. Mr. bradbury, ivan and congress long enough to remember when the auto industry said it is not cost-effective to put airbags in vehicles. It raises the cost of the automobile. Did not want to do it. Thought it. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved because of airbags.
▶ 1:59:33Sen. Markey: What price you put on that come on those lives saved? It is a rhetorical question. Mr. bradbury, thank you for being here. In the last few doge and mass layoffs.
▶ 1:59:53Sen. Markey: Despite assurances from secretary duffy that public safety workers would be spared and critical categories of workers such as faa technicians and engineers that inspect aircraft were fired or you di aircraft were fired or you d -- were fired. Muscat's group say they are rooting out waste. You worked at the department of transportation during the first trump administration. Did you witness significant waste and excess during your tenure? During the trump years?
▶ 2:00:25Mr. Bradbury: The department of transportation has important practical role. I think the career staff at d.o.t. Carries out that role with dedication and professionalism. I admire them greatly. It was not my experience that there was a lot of excess staffing. I do know staffing has increased considerably since then. The funding has increased considerably. There are a lot of new people.
▶ 2:00:56Sen. Markey: That is not accurate. When he left, there were 57,000 in place at the department of transportation. Today as we sit here, they're not 57,000 employees. As you just observed, you did not witness excess when you were there with those 57,000 workers will stop today, the workforce is the same. So obviously, I am a little confused.
▶ 2:01:26Sen. Markey: Where the excess might have been created.
▶ 2:01:28Mr. Bradbury: If I may, we can always get more efficient. Industry does that and there's always a need to take a look at where we can do more with less, where we can improve outcomes.
▶ 2:01:43Sen. Markey: That is a different question. That is a different question. You could have made it a lot more efficient if that is what you're saying during our time at the trump administration. I wish you had. But to then impose that on department of transportation with the same number of employees I think is unfair. Without question, this is going to be a difficult subject area.
▶ 2:02:15Sen. Markey: The burden of proof to prove there is excess is clearly on the administration, not just assertion of it given there is plenty of opportunity for it to be rooted out in the previous administration. For sake of the argument, let's say d.o.t. Has suddenly become bloated over the last few years. If an administration were intent on winning out excess, you agree to find the positions to cut without risking public safety would take a little time?
▶ 2:02:45Mr. Bradbury: It is an important goal, critical. I think the secretary is committed to that. It needs to be managed. I would look forward to being involved in helping him manage that process.
▶ 2:02:59Sen. Markey: It is fair to say it would take time given four years during the first trump administration, would take time now to identify that excess?
▶ 2:03:07Mr. Bradbury: It is --.
▶ 2:03:13Sen. Markey: Just you can trust approach with what doge boys are doing inside of agencies right now, they're doing just the opposite. They are slashing without having done the evaluation that professionals like yourself had an opportunity -- they have no professional background.
▶ 2:03:32Mr. Bradbury: My impression is what is involved is very smart new analytical tools that have -- perhaps have not been used in government previously can very efficiently identify areas of obsolescence, areas of waste, areas of inefficiency. We can address those.
▶ 2:03:56Sen. Markey: Oh I don't think four weeks is enough time to have analytical tools applied to an area of expertise where there's been no access to it up until just january 21 of this year. That is where the problem sets and because plenty of people like yourself were not able to do it. With all due respect to the doge boys, I don't think they have a superior knowledge of the internal workings.
▶ 2:04:24Mr. Bradbury: I'm not a software engineer. I am not a brilliant tech person. But it does seem sensible to bring in some of those --.
▶ 2:04:33Sen. Markey: I don't have a problem with bringing in new approaches but software is only the information you bring into it. It is who writes the analytics. It doesn't have anything to do with zeros and ones come it has to do with what was the assessment of the actual factual information put into it. Four weeks is not enough time to figure that out no matter how smart you are. You can write an algorithm only with the information given to you. There's no way the administration is conducting a careful review of the cuts and its impact on public safety.
▶ 2:05:04Sen. Markey: There is no reason that doge is tying probationary employees first. Not because they are the most expendable or worse performance, but because they are the easiest of fire. That is what it is all about. It can directly endanger american lives if it is not done correctly.
▶ 2:05:23Sen. Markey: That is why today this morning I sent a letter with 12 of my senate colleagues to secretary duffy urging to seize these dangerous workforce cuts and demanding answers about where the layoffs and bios, the firings were happening within the department. So we can understand where the cuts are in sewer the safety risks may be. Otherwise, it is just reckless endangerment. Thank you, Mr. chairman. I look forward to working with you.
▶ 2:05:52Mr. Bradbury: Thank you.
▶ 2:05:54Sen. Moreno: Senator cantwell.
▶ 2:05:57Sen. Cantwell: I wanted to go back maybe on what my colleague was just asking, do you think there is a possibility that elon musk has conflicts of interest as it relates to the faa?
▶ 2:06:10Mr. Bradbury: Certainly has business interest through spacex that faa is involved in regulating, licensing, and so I think it is important to be diligent that conflicts are not involved.
▶ 2:06:30Sen. Cantwell: What would you think those conflicts look like?
▶ 2:06:34Mr. Bradbury: I don't know what the specifics would be.
▶ 2:06:37Sen. Cantwell: . You know what the law says.
▶ 2:06:40Mr. Bradbury: Yes. I think the president has made it clear.
▶ 2:06:44Sen. Cantwell: The president exempted him illegally, I'm sure, from the conflict of interest. Now he has for a conflict of interest so I'm just trying to understand from you as a general counsel and the nominee where you think that would cross the line. We already know he basically has launched interest and we know he got mad because he got fine for launching at a time when the faa told him not to launch and then said that guy should be fired.
▶ 2:07:14Sen. Cantwell: There are all sorts of issues right there. It now I'm asking, what you think would be the bright lines you would be concerned about?
▶ 2:07:22Mr. Bradbury: I think the individuals involved in these activities, as I understand it come are coming in as employees of the department. Maybe on a temporary basis.
▶ 2:07:35Sen. Cantwell: Do you think he should be an employee of that department if he has business before that department? I'm pretty sure that doesn't exist anywhere.
▶ 2:07:44Mr. Bradbury: I'm pretty sure elon musk is not an employee of the department. The people involved in the activities under the supervision of the secretary are employees of the department and go through all of the conflicts checks and requirements that are necessary for those two on board those temporary employees in terms of what they are engaged in. I believe there is a conflicts check process that --.
▶ 2:08:11Sen. Cantwell: Do you think you should sign a conflict of interest agreement making sure he avoids conflict of interest?
▶ 2:08:17Mr. Bradbury: I don't --.
▶ 2:08:21Sen. Cantwell: Why wouldn't that just be good prudent business? Given this issue have we just had this crazy, unfortunate, tragic situation where dod and faa were not talking to each other. Clearly, no one was in charge of the responsible for why in god's name are we allowing these two paths to intersect so closely.
▶ 2:08:43Sen. Cantwell: And now we have this increase -- this committee has dealt with this a lot -- this increase in demand for spectrum and faa launch and everybody has lots of different issues of when they want to do various things. It is already a challenged environment.
▶ 2:09:01Sen. Cantwell: Why would we -- why wouldn't we be concerned that somebody who has already taken a swing at the agency because they have commercial interests, that they wouldn't be influencing this whole safety regime which has been the center of our discussion this morning?
▶ 2:09:19Mr. Bradbury: I viewed the whole doge effort as a way to take a hard audit look at systems, personnel, staffing, funding, and regulations to identify potential areas of inefficiency, things where it is not --.
▶ 2:09:41Sen. Cantwell: I heard that answer and I appreciate that. I'm not focusing on doge as much as I'm focusing on where true conflict of interest. So why don't you take that for the record and decide where you think a conflict of interest is and where you think that line would be crossed and that would be very helpful to know from you. Thank you.
▶ 2:10:23Chair Cruz: Thank you. My final question is required of all nominees. If confirmed, you pledged to work collaboratively with this committee to provide thorough and timely responses to the committee's requests and to appear before the committee when requested?
▶ 2:10:38Mr. Bradbury: Yes.
▶ 2:10:40Chair Cruz: I have 23 letters of support from various organizations for this nomination to be deputy secretary transportation. I ask unanimous consent they be inserted in the hearing record without objection, so ordered. Senators will have until the close of business on friday, february 21 to submit questions for the record. The nominee will have until the close of business on monday, february 24 to respond to those questions. That concludes today's hearing will step the committee stands adjourned.