▶ 0:21:02Chair Cruz: Good morning, the senate committee on commerce, science and transportation will come to order to consider the nominees for three safety agencies within the department of transportation. With us are Mr. derek barrs, nominee for the administrator of the federal motor carrier safety administration. Mr.
▶ 0:21:26Chair Cruz: Jonathan more than, nominee for the administration or -- administrator of the national highway traffic safety administration and Mr. paul roberti nominee for the administrator of the pipeline and hazardous materials safety administration. Americans want a transportation system that is fast, convenient, reliable and above all, safe. President trump and safed -- and secretary duffy have made safety the top priority.
▶ 0:21:55Chair Cruz: And the three nominees intend to make it there is as well. As a young deputy sheriff in florida, Mr. barrs responded to a nighttime collision between a logging truck and a car full of young adults. Ever since, he has spent his career working to improve large truck and motor carrier safety. Mr.
▶ 0:22:18Chair Cruz: Barrs served for nearly three decades in law enforcement, rising from deputy sheriff to the head of florida department safety and motor vehicles. He is deeply familiar with the fmcsa, having enforced federal motor care -- federal motor regulations and managed fmsca grants in the state.
▶ 0:22:45Chair Cruz: As administrator, he hopes to modernize the regulations governing the nation's trucking and blessing industries. Mr. morrison is equally dedicated to the mission. Ensuring that cars on the road are safe and reliable. This will not be his first time at the agency.
▶ 0:23:08Chair Cruz: He served as the chief counsel during the first trump administration and, having worked at a leading tech company over the last four years, he recognizes that safety standards must keep up with automotive innovation. The third nominee, Mr.
▶ 0:23:26Chair Cruz: Roberti is ready to manage the transport of hazardous materials including the movement of oil, natural gas and other critical american energy products over 3 million miles of pipeline in the country. That is in addition to hazardous materials that we moved by truck, rail, water, or air.
▶ 0:23:54Chair Cruz: I am hopeful that ranking member cantwell and I can broker an agreement on an overdue reauthorization that could be implemented by the new administrator. Like Mr. morrison, he served during the trump -- the first trump administration as chief counsel of the agency to which he has been nominated.
▶ 0:24:13Chair Cruz: In that role, he cleared backlogs of hundreds of enforcement matters and in various roles in rhode island state government, he modernized the pipelines, increased their safety and shared what he learned with other states. I am excited to hear what he can bring to the federal agency this time around. I look forward for a hearing for all of our nominees and I now turn to ranking member cantwell.
▶ 0:24:40Sen. Cantwell: Thank you, as we's -- as you stated we are here to consider these three nominee years. Mr. barrs, Mr. roberti and Mr. morrison. Each of these agencies has an important responsibility to protect the health, and safety of the traveling public, goods, and our environment.
▶ 0:25:07Sen. Cantwell: Unfortunately since january we have seen a drop in oversight and enforcement actions, potentially letting bad actors get away with violating safety and consumer protection laws. I hope our nominees will share their thoughts about the numbers and what plans we need to have in place.
▶ 0:25:25Sen. Cantwell: As the federal motor ok or administration is responsible with enforcing truck safety laws and vetting more carriers, the trucking industry is essential to the movement of goods across the country with 70% of the total value of kabbalah -- commodities shipped traveling by truck, so big responsibility. Over 5000 people are killed in large truck crashes each year.
▶ 0:25:56Sen. Cantwell: The federal motor carrier safety administration has closed 78% fewer cases this year compared to last year, so we will want to ask about that. Since it cannot shut down bad trucking companies, this lack of action could mean unsafe trucking companies continuing to operate or fraudulent actors or people scamming consumer services.
▶ 0:26:22Sen. Cantwell: I hope that you agree that the plan to address this decline is a serious issue. Mr. roberti, the hazardous materials safety administration is a federal watchdog responsible for ensuring that explosive and toxic materials are travel -- are transported safely.
▶ 0:26:45Sen. Cantwell: Accidents involving hazardous materials have severe consequences and over the past 20 years pipeline incidents have resulted in more than 1000 injuries and $11 billion in damages. Two train derailed in northern mississippi during the same weekend resulting in hazardous material spills.
▶ 0:27:07Sen. Cantwell: One derailment caused a large fire that forced the evacuation of more than 100 residents and the other required 50 firetrucks to respond. It has opened the fewest pipeline enforcement cases during the first six months of this administration than any other over the past two decades and we want to understand what is going on and ensure we have strong pipeline safety laws on the books and they are being enforced.
▶ 0:27:37Sen. Cantwell: I wrote to the deputy administrator sounding an alarm about this trend and I hope to get further information about this. Finally, the national highway traffic safety administration is responsible for enforcing federal motor these standards to ensure that americans in their cars are safe. Its investigations are responsible for initiating nearly 2000 vehicle recalls affecting 300 million people in the last 20 years.
▶ 0:28:07Sen. Cantwell: We want you to play an aggressive oversight roles such as were carling things such as the dakota airbag malfunctions which killed 28 people. However, they have opened 25% fewer investigations into vehicle safety this year and I do not know why but let's find out. And this is especially concerning since consumer reports found that investigations have hit an all-time low.
▶ 0:28:36Sen. Cantwell: So, we need to understand what this trend is about and reverse it to focus on safety. Mr. chairman, I look forward to asking these nominees and I need to make sure we have hard-working inspectors, investigators and agencies doing their job and not taking shortcuts on safety. And I welcome our former colleague, senator scott for being here. We miss him on the committee. But maybe someday he will be back.
▶ 0:29:05Chair Cruz: Thank you and now I would like to recognize our colleague and friend from the great state of florida, senator rick scott.
▶ 0:29:17Sen. Scott: Members of the committee, I am honored to introduce derek barrs, president trump's nominee for the administrator of the federal motor carrier safety administration. He has amazing father to two kids and a dedicated public servant.
▶ 0:29:34Sen. Scott: He joined the madison county sheriff's office in 1991 and spent the next 30 years serving his community, 20 of which were focused on commercial motor vehicle safety before retiring as chief as a florida highway patrol. Federal -- president trump has called on him to serve his citizens again.
▶ 0:29:57Sen. Scott: One memory I have of him is tarring -- is touring quincy together in 2018 when we visited homes impacted by hurricane michael. He showed his dedication to improving the lives and safety of those around him. He is a proven leader and problem solve our tour works -- who works to understand people and the problems they face. He partnered with the florida trucking association to establish the troopers and truck drivers initiative.
▶ 0:30:27Sen. Scott: A trooper would spend a work day in a truck with an experienced driver while a new truck driver would spend a day on patrol with an experienced trooper. This facilitated a deeper understanding of the roles and responsibilities while making the highway safer for truckers, citizens and law enforcement personnel.
▶ 0:30:46Sen. Scott: He worked with fncsa and with other transportation partners including the florida trucking association and legislature to successfully enact laws aimed at aligning florida with federal safety standards.
▶ 0:31:03Sen. Scott: He has passed and it about safety -- passionate about safety and I look forward to seeing what he will do with secretary duffy and president trump to improve american roadways and make traveling safer for everyone. I urge my colleagues to advance your nomination quickly. You will not be disappointed, and thank you chairman and ranking member.
▶ 0:31:24Chair Cruz: Thank you. I would like to recognize our colleague from the great state of rhode island, senator whitehouse.
▶ 0:31:32Sen. Whitehouse: Thank you, I am here to introduce paul roberti of north kingstown, rhode island and on his hearing as his fitness to serve as the administrator of the pipeline and hazardous materials safety administration. I had the good fortune of working with him in the rhode island attorney general's office where he was an assistant attorney general and chief of the regulatory division super vetting by their supervising matters I had.
▶ 0:32:02Sen. Whitehouse: He served under democratic and republican attorneys general with distinction, dedication and a strong work ethic. We managed risk consulting at ernst & young llp where he provides consulting services to public utilities focusing on compliance and regulatory mandates. He was the chief economic and policy advisor at the rhode island public division of carriers where he advised on energy policies and grid modernization.
▶ 0:32:31Sen. Whitehouse: This would be a second stint for Mr. roberti as he served as chief counsel during the first trump administration. I hope all will honor the fulfillment of the obligations to protect public safety and the environment. There is work to be done. In january they failed to finalize a rule to update safety requirements or repairing leaks. The rule was developed in consensus with industry directed by bipartisan legislation and signed by president trump himself.
▶ 0:33:02Sen. Whitehouse: Leaks can be deadly, as the bellingham disaster showed. Not to mention the economic cost of thousands of tons of more methane spewed from pipelines and regulated facilities. The trump administration withdrew a draft rule on co2 pipeline safety, a very bipartisan measure that came through the senate, which will delay the buildout of carbon capture infrastructure contrary to solid support in this body.
▶ 0:33:33Sen. Whitehouse: I hope that paul will ensured that it honors its mandate to protect the safety of the environment and finalize much needed updates to gas leak repair and co2 pipeline safety standards. I appreciate the opportunity to introduce him today.
▶ 0:33:48Chair Cruz: We appreciate you joining our committee. I recognize Mr. barrs for his opening statement.
▶ 0:33:55Mr. Barrs: Chairman, ranking member and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you as nominee for the administrator of the federal motor's administration. I am honored by the trust placed in me to serve in this critical role. I want to thank my family, friends and colleagues for their unwavering support and I am grateful for my parents for their long life encouragement.
▶ 0:34:23Mr. Barrs: I wish my mother could be here today but I know she is watching probably and having. The trucking industry touches our lives and commercial drivers share the road with us every day. These professionals are the backbone of our economy and work long hours off and away from their families to ensure that we have the goods that they -- that we rely on. I understand the delicate balance between enhancing safety and enabling freight movement.
▶ 0:34:52Mr. Barrs: I salute and value the american truck driver and thank them for their work. I am a multigenerational floridian raised in madison county and that instilled the values of faith, family, community, responsibility and service. My journey began with the madison county sheriff's office driven by a deep desire to serve my community.
▶ 0:35:14Mr. Barrs: I am grateful to the individuals who invested in me and shaped my path and strengthen my commitment to service which led to a 34 year career spanning public and private sectors. Within the 25 years dedicated to commercial motor vehicle safety. I retired as a chief and highway patrol in 2020 with experiences that continue to be a cornerstone in my life.
▶ 0:35:40Mr. Barrs: I remain sir -- I remain committed to serving my committee where we operate a successful driver training school and helping prepare the next generation of safe and professional drivers. I have witnessed the devastating aftermath of crashes and stood beside first responders and comforted grieving families and seeing how a single moment can ripple through an entire community.
▶ 0:36:07Mr. Barrs: In 2023, 5000 lives were lost in large truck and bus -- bus crashes. These are not statistics but parents, children, colleagues, and friends. Every life lost is one too many. No one should have to see the horrific aftermath of a crash like I and so many first responders have seen. No family should endure that loss. If confirmed I would make roadway safety my top priority.
▶ 0:36:38Mr. Barrs: My work has always emphasized open communication and collaboration with safety organizations and I understand what actions -- I do understand that the actions impact the entire industry and I am committed to making sure they are balanced and transparent. I will strengthen relationships between government stakeholders working together to ensure roadway safety and address critical issues.
▶ 0:37:03Mr. Barrs: During my time, I served the fmsca lead and our troopers worked diligently to make a positive different on the roadways. I witnessed the importance of strong partnerships to advance safety. At the national level, I served as a chairman of the national vehicle chairman alliance and the president of the transportation industry membership.
▶ 0:37:31Mr. Barrs: I helped advance initiatives and connected augmented technologies and data sharing across districts. I am grateful for the dedicated fmcsa employees who work to improve commercial vehicle safety. If confirmed, I would be honored to lead this team in fulfilling the mission to reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities involving large trucks and buses.
▶ 0:37:55Mr. Barrs: I want to ensure the agency operates with integrity, transparency, accountability, and efficiency. I thank you for your time and consideration. If confirmed, I look forward to working with you and your teams to advance our shared goals of roadway safety and the efficient transportation of goods. For president roosevelt, I am right to be the man in the arena and I welcome your questions.
▶ 0:38:20Chair Cruz: Thank you. Mr. morrison, you are recognized for your opening statement.
▶ 0:38:27Mr. Morrison: --
▶ 0:38:29Chair Cruz: Please push the button on your micro zone -- microphone.
▶ 0:38:34Mr. Morrison: Good morning. It is a distinct honor to appear before you today as the nominee for the administrator. I am greek -- deeply grateful for the trust placed in me with this nomination. I want to recognize my parents who are watching this morning. I would also like to thank my family, friends, colleagues and mentors for my support -- for their support and guidance.
▶ 0:39:04Mr. Morrison: I want to recognize my wife, who is with me today who has been my foundation, inspiration and motivator and I would like to thank her for her support and sacrifice. I spent my entire career in the automotive and technology fields.
▶ 0:39:20Mr. Morrison: I started my career at the california car association where I worked in legal policy issues and lead a compliance consulting company to implement regulatory requirements. I was appointed as chief counsel to the agency where I work shoulder to shoulder with a fantastic team of highway safety attorneys, economists and other researchers and professionals.
▶ 0:39:45Mr. Morrison: After president trump's first term I was hired by apple where I worked with leadership and a host of them aging engineers and designers including working through regulatory implications of cutting edge technologies. I humbly believe that the culmination of my experience qualifies me to be the next administrator. Why am I passionate about this? I believe that the motor vehicle has been instrumental to the success of the american public.
▶ 0:40:13Mr. Morrison: Ready access to a car or truck expands a personal, professional and recreational horizons well beyond any other transportation technology and it has so much to do with the ability to achieve the american dream. Our relationship with the automobile is facing several challenges as is the automotive industry. I would like to mention free. -- three. First, this comes at a great cost.
▶ 0:40:41Mr. Morrison: Each year we see 6 million crashes, millions of injuries and tens of thousands of fatalities. With the pandemic the nation saw an increase of 36,000 crash fatalities, already unacceptably high to 43 thousand in 2021. While they have gone down since, we are several thousand higher than before the pandemic.
▶ 0:41:06Mr. Morrison: Each number represents a parent, child, sibling, spouse and friend and everybody in this room has likely been affected by a crash or somebody who is severely injured or killed. Despite this, every year 50% of those killed chose not to wear a seatbelt. One third involved a driver who decided to use drugged -- drugs or have the extra drink.
▶ 0:41:32Mr. Morrison: 30% involved a driver who chose to speed reducing reaction times and far too many involved drivers who chose to drive distracted. Since a vast majority have been caused by human choice or error, we need to double down on countermeasures to behavioral risks starting with reinvigorating the partnership with states and law enforcement to emphasize the importance of traffic enforcement action and removing unsafe drivers.
▶ 0:42:01Mr. Morrison: Second, the vehicles are safer than ever, but not enough people are buying them resulting in the oldest fleet in U.S. history averaging 13 years. The vehicles are far more expensive than ever. Ensuring a supply of affordable vehicles that meet consumer needs and wants are critical. We can support this by ensuring regulations meet the need for motor vehicle safety without imposing undue costs or design restrictions.
▶ 0:42:32Mr. Morrison: This means identifying unintended barriers to innovation and pursuing robust but design neutral performance standards. And providing room for continued safety innovation is a hallmark of the act and is critical to enabling safety improvements.
▶ 0:42:48Mr. Morrison: Technologies such as software vehicles and alternative powertrains and automated vehicles pose potential benefits in terms of safety and efficiency that are complex and introduce risks unique to the application. We cannot sit back and wait for problems to arrive. We must demonstrate strong leadership.
▶ 0:43:10Mr. Morrison: For av's this means deep and sustained engagement with industry, and experts and the integration of a safety network with guidance and regulation. The realization of the benefits depend entirely on consumer trust which must be rooted in safety. The technical and policy challenges must be addressed.
▶ 0:43:37Mr. Morrison: Failure to do so will result in products that the public will not accept and the agency will not tolerate. I look forward to the hearing and earning your support.
▶ 0:43:46Chair Cruz: Thank you. Mr. roberti, you are recognized.
▶ 0:43:51Mr. Roberti: Chairman cruz, ranking member cantwell and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to be here. It is an honor to be nominated by president trump and I am grateful to secretary duffy for his trust and confidence in my ability to lead the pipeline and hazardous materials safety administration. I am pleased to be accompanied by my three sons, christian, ethan and william.
▶ 0:44:22Mr. Roberti: And my two brothers, dino and peter and some close friends and colleagues who traveled from new york, and new england today. My friend jake, and kim, and paul, from massachusetts. I would also like to thank senator whitehouse for his kind introduction and commitment to public service and leadership on behalf of the citizens of rhode island.
▶ 0:44:51Mr. Roberti: I have come to washington to serve the nation from rhode island where I grew up as a son of schoolteachers who fostered a culture of learning, loyalty and hard work so that each of my brothers and I could build a future called the american dream.
▶ 0:45:08Mr. Roberti: My pathway to public service began 35 years ago and through various positions and state and federal governments I always relied on an inner moral compass to do the right thing and see that my actions and decisions reflected the interests of average citizens who expected good government for those charged with serving the public interest. My career took me into energy and utilities from very early on.
▶ 0:45:37Mr. Roberti: I was amazed at the complexity of the energy systems that delivered vital services to society, powering our economy and way of life, and at the same time achieving reliability and affordability for the consumers that ultimately paid the bills. The vast network of pipelines in our nation represents the kerner storm -- cornerstone of our economy and achieving energy independence.
▶ 0:46:05Mr. Roberti: The energy products moving through pipelines keep us warm at night, drive manufacturing and help ensure that the electric. Never fails. The reliability and safety of these systems literally can spell the difference between life and death. When I was a public utilities commission or, I learned that some of our pipelines data back to 1850, installed before the civil war when abraham lincoln was still a member of congress.
▶ 0:46:38Mr. Roberti: And these vintage, cast-iron systems, resulted in preventable tragedies such as allentown, pennsylvania and east harlem new york. It galvanized my drive to advance pipeline safety.
▶ 0:46:52Mr. Roberti: To realize the president's vision for unleashing american energy, we must instill great confidence that our transportation systems are safe, whether it be natural gas moving through pipelines, crude oil over the rail rate -- railways and lithium batteries in airplanes or the fireworks that marked the fourth of july celebrations, ensuring the safe movement of hazardous materials throughout the nation's
▶ 0:47:22Mr. Roberti: Transportation systems must always be top priority. I am honored to be considered to lead the dedicated workforce as they strive to maintain and enhance the safe movement of hazardous materials across all modes of transportation including pipelines. Today, we face many threats and challenges to our pipeline infrastructure.
▶ 0:47:47Mr. Roberti: Physical and cybersecurity threats for bad actors and whether individuals or nationstates pose a steady and growing risk to the safe and reliable operation of our pipeline systems. The best defense requires constant vigilance and close coder nation with federal, state and local partners as well as collaboration with industry.
▶ 0:48:11Mr. Roberti: And if a bad incident occurs, the same defensive measures are equally critical in the context of emergency response and recovery. Allow me to close on a positive note. New technologies, engineering advances and innovation offers substantial opportunities to advance safety while lowering costs for the american consumer.
▶ 0:48:38Mr. Roberti: For example, the power of advanced capabilities like artificial intelligence cannot be leverage for obtaining higher quality risk assessments to evaluate the integrity of pipeline systems and harnessed towards the development of better technologies for containing hazardous materials.
▶ 0:48:56Mr. Roberti: If confirmed, I not only commit to being a fair and effective regulator but also to seek opportunities for unleashing american ingenuity to advance safety and bring us closer to the goal of zero incidents. Thank you chairman and ranking member. I look forward to answering the committee's questions.
▶ 0:49:19Chair Cruz: Thank you. Let us start with you. The united states has reciprocity with mexico and canada, such that all three countries recognize each other's commercial driver's licenses. The state of texas and the texas trucking association have flagged with drivers with fraudulently issued mexican cdl's are coming into the U.S.
▶ 0:49:44Chair Cruz: And might not actually have the experience to drive safely on the roads and could potentially be violating U.S. laws. Can you discuss your views on this issue. And, if confirmed will you work with me in my office to fix this problem?
▶ 0:49:59Mr. Barrs: Safety is paramount, as we discussed earlier, with my career in law enforcement making sure that all drivers are safe and qualified which matched -- must be the utmost importance. If confirmed I am committed to addressing this issue.
▶ 0:50:19Mr. Barrs: I will work closely with the department of -- the texas department of public safety and I understand this is concerning and we will work with your office to make sure that all drivers in our country are safe.
▶ 0:50:30Chair Cruz: Thank you. Mr. roberti. In a recent pipeline he safety hearing, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle asks if they have been taking a lax approach to pipeline safety enforcement. Can you tell us about your safety enforcement record as the former chief counsel and how you plan to appropriately enforce the pipeline and hazmat transportation rules?
▶ 0:50:58Mr. Roberti: Thank you for the question. As you know, my last stint, we processed 800 enforcement cases in effective inspection and a program within a safety agency. That goes to the heart of our mission.
▶ 0:51:23Mr. Roberti: If confirmed, I will assure you that I will bring that same transparent and effective approach to making sure that we have a strong enforcement program.
▶ 0:51:32Chair Cruz: Thank you. Mr. morrison, how should you encourage automakers to build safe and reliable vehicles without relying on costly government mandates that raise vehicle prices for consumers?
▶ 0:51:47Mr. Morrison: That is a great question. The first thing is making sure that automakers understand the expectations for safety. Remember we have federal motor vehicle safety standards and the agency has brought authorities and automakers have the responsibility to recall vehicles within five days of a defense performance.
▶ 0:52:13Mr. Morrison: There is an automatic regulation working in the background making sure automakers understand that and to ensure that their designs are robust. You do need regulation with new technologies and that is something that is clear, but only once the technology is well understood by the agency and industry. Usually after the development of standards.
▶ 0:52:36Chair Cruz: Freight fraud and theft has become a rampant problem. Fmcsa must remain a safety agency, but there are things I can do with their role overseeing motor carrier safety that would stop fraud. For example, it is updating its registration system.
▶ 0:52:59Chair Cruz: As a part of that, it will stop issuing new mc numbers and require more thorough identity verification. I am working on legislation to enhance fmcsa's ability to identify and stop fraud. If confirmed, will you work with me on ways to stop fraud. What is the most promising strategies?
▶ 0:53:24Mr. Barrs: You are exactly right, this is a nationwide issue that is causing major issues again with the trucking industry and our economy. I look forward to working with you on this particular issue and all the different partners we have two ensure that bad actors are penalized and go to jail the way we need to and we can work together to make sure that happens.
▶ 0:53:52Mr. Barrs: I look forward to working with you on this particular issue moving forward.
▶ 0:53:56Chair Cruz: Thank you. In the 2020 pipes act, congress authorized test programs for pipeline operators to evaluate innovative new pipeline safety technologies. However, we have heard that you received no request to engage in the test programs due to the amount of red tape that the biden administration required for approval.
▶ 0:54:23Chair Cruz: As administrator, will you plan to work with the pipeline industry to encourage the use of test programs to advance new pipeline technologies without the imposition of nonstatutory red tape including by removing the nonstatutory requirements that the biden administration placed on the test programs?
▶ 0:54:47Mr. Roberti: There has been a lot of criticisms about special permit process and as I stated in my testimony, I am a big believer that innovation and new technologies are the leading edge for shifting the regulatory paradigm towards better safety.
▶ 0:55:09Mr. Roberti: And so, I do not know what is going on regarding those programs and the processing of those requests, but I will certainly commit to making that a priority to look into that situation and see ways of streamlining and removing red tape, so we can be faster and -- in pursuing opportunities to bring more opportunities and advanced safety.
▶ 0:55:38Chair Cruz: Ranking member cantwell.
▶ 0:55:40Sen. Cantwell: Gentlemen, I could fill this roster from reports from the gao or inspector generals about the problem we had in the faa where organizational design authorization was given to boeing to have inspectors work with the faa. That is still the system we have today.
▶ 0:56:04Sen. Cantwell: What we found was that there were those retaliating against the oda members and basically saying you might lose your job or this might happen if you take a strong enforcement measure. We learned in aviation that was a big mistake. We have corrected that by passing a new law that protects those oda members from retaliation.
▶ 0:56:30Sen. Cantwell: This department of transportation issued a new rule saying that you can retaliate. I want to know from you whether you believe that you are going to protect these inspectors from that kind of retaliation? Will you commit to being a strong policeman and making sure there is no political interference on those inspectors?
▶ 0:56:52Mr. Barrs: Thank you for the question. Throughout my career in law enforcement and I mentioned earlier that enforcement is key in making sure that the bad actors mentioned are dealt with accordingly. In the inspectors and officers have a diligent job to do to make sure that they can carry out the missions and place these bad actors out.
▶ 0:57:17Mr. Barrs: It is important to do that and we worked together with them to give them the tools in the toolbox that they need to address these issues.
▶ 0:57:25Sen. Cantwell: So, no political retaliation?
▶ 0:57:29Mr. Barrs: Senator, I am looking forward to making sure they are able to do their job, and that is what is important.
▶ 0:57:36Mr. Morrison: From my experience working with fantastic investigators in the office of compliance and office of investigation, you really need a robust and honest back and forth relationship and you need to analyze the data to determine whether or not there can be noncompliance. So insuring that level of trust is commendable.
▶ 0:58:00Sen. Cantwell: And making sure they are not harassed.
▶ 0:58:03Mr. Morrison: Absolutely.
▶ 0:58:04Mr. Roberti: I would say that, in my history of the inspection and enforcement teams, they know how important what I think they do is to carrying out the safety.
▶ 0:58:23Mr. Roberti: And I would impose no effects on them exercising their duty subject to my oversight as administrator to make sure that we are fair, transparent and impartial in the way we cite operators.
▶ 0:58:37Sen. Cantwell: Quickly Mr. morrison, what are your priorities in setting regulations. The emergency brake issues for trucks? What are your first priorities?
▶ 0:58:50Mr. Morrison: The first meeting when I get in, I need to make sure that I am up to speed with the agency.
▶ 0:58:57Sen. Cantwell: Is there anything that bothers you that we need regulation on?
▶ 0:59:02Mr. Morrison: I mentioned this in my testimony, during the first term we worked on autonomous vehicle safety framework and taking comment from the public and working to get a sense of the state of technology. The state of technology has moved forward and we are at the point where we need to find ways we can build guidance documents and regulations.
▶ 0:59:28Sen. Cantwell: I will ask some more on the record on that. You mentioned the cybersecurity problem and pipelines are now, you do not threaten the united states anymore, you might, but sending a submarine into our waters or a plane into our airspace, you use a pipeline system or some other system to cause failure. What do we need to do to accelerate our protections of our U.S. pipelines?
▶ 0:59:56Mr. Roberti: The cybersecurity jurisdiction resides in the department of homeland security. During my last time, we negotiated and executed an interdepartmental agreement to help bolster our presence in control rooms, working with the transportation security administration.
▶ 1:00:25Mr. Roberti: We also engage directly with the department of energy. I think across the federal landscape there needs to be full engagement information sharing. And thinking about how we can leverage resources. We have inspectors out in the field. Tsa does not. We work to partner with them to bring more visibility and put an eye on some of the important factors that operators should be doing.
▶ 1:00:54Sen. Cantwell: Doesn't colonial tell us we need some time -- some kind of task force. You mention the private sector and I am a big believer of encouraging that dialogue. The problem is you are in the bowels of d.o.t. And this is a big infrastructure issue in the U.S.. How do we get it elevated so we are putting the best cyber minds on this task?
▶ 1:01:20Mr. Roberti: As I said in my testimony, this is a top priority for me. The threat factors are always constant and changing and always evolving. I think what you need are people who come into these positions to have that at top of mind. Those are the things that should wake any administrator up at 2:00 a.m.
▶ 1:01:50Mr. Roberti: That should drive extra activity towards coordinating with other federal agencies, the fbi, department of energy and the department of homeland security so that we have constant information sharing, and to be thinking about in the field from a physical and cyber perspective where is the next wave of attack going to be based upon what we have witnessed.
▶ 1:02:19Mr. Roberti: In my experience and I have a lot with this, working in prior positions, it is never the moment that the attack of today is an indicator of future threats. It does not necessarily replicate what that next threat factor and attack will be. And that is where we need tremendous vigilance.
▶ 1:02:44Sen. Cantwell: We are way out of time. I am glad you have such fervor on that point. Thank you.
▶ 1:02:50Chair Cruz: Senator blackburn.
▶ 1:02:54Sen. Blackburn: Congratulations to each of you. Mr. barrs, I want to come to you. I know that the chairman talk to you about the fake cdl's, but there is another issue we have heard a good bit about and it is during the obama years, they would not prohibit individuals who do not speak english and could not read english from
▶ 1:03:24Sen. Blackburn: Having commercial drivers license is. And, one of the things that secretary duffy has done is to look at this and to end this practice. It is a public safety issue. So, I would like for you to speak for a moment about the need to have people who can read and speak english as commercial drivers in making our highways safer.
▶ 1:03:53Mr. Barrs: Thank you for the question. You have -- you are right and I mentioned that my career speaks for itself in law enforcement. I have been a roadside inspector, inspecting commercial motor vehicles and understanding the difficulty that it places on me as the inspector of having to communicate with someone who cannot communicate with you.
▶ 1:04:18Mr. Barrs: If I am doing a level one inspection, a full inspection of the vehicle and having to check the brakes and so forth, I need to communicate with the driver not only for the safety of the roadway drivers but me as the inspector. It is extremely important that that driver is able to at least have a conversation and understand the commands and road signs for safety.
▶ 1:04:43Mr. Barrs: It is safety first and that is where my experience comes into this as understanding the effects.
▶ 1:04:50Sen. Blackburn: We are a logistics hub in tennessee and the memphis area with all five class one railroads with a port and fedex, so this is something that during previous administrations, there was quite a bit of concern. Mr. morrison, I would like to come to you.
▶ 1:05:16Sen. Blackburn: Auto engineering and innovation is something we do well in tennessee, as we have several automakers there. We want to continue to set the pace when it comes to auto innovation and autonomous vehicles. They are something that have a lot of work being done around the is. And, we want to make certain that we are setting the standards on this, and that it is not china or someone else.
▶ 1:05:49Sen. Blackburn: That is setting the standards. What I would like to hear from you is what specific steps you feel like you can take so that we stay in the driver's seat, when it comes to global auto and autonomous innovation.
▶ 1:06:06Mr. Morrison: Fantastic and thank you for asking. From what I have heard is that there may have been a lack of federal leadership in this space meaning a lot of engagement to understand that technology, and what are the protocols for development and future deployment plans. The last thing you want to do is to spend billions of dollars and then have the federal government shut the door on the pathway.
▶ 1:06:37Mr. Morrison: That has a major chilling effect and that is something you have to avoid.
▶ 1:06:40Sen. Blackburn: And we need national standards.
▶ 1:06:43Mr. Morrison: You might have heard secretary duffy has made it a core part of his mission to establish a federal framework.
▶ 1:06:56Sen. Blackburn: One item we want to highlight, there is legislation, the she drives act, something that senator fischer and I have worked on. What we know is that women are 75% more likely to be injured and 17% more likely to die in auto crashes.
▶ 1:07:21Sen. Blackburn: One of the gaping holes was that crash test dummies were all male configurations and not female. So, this would require the utilization of those female crash dummies, as you are doing these tests.
▶ 1:07:42Sen. Blackburn: I just wanted to highlight that with you, as you are modernizing testing protocols, the consideration needs to be given in that regard. And my time is about to run out. I will get you to do this one on the record for me, a response on the record.
▶ 1:08:03Sen. Blackburn: The 2022 gao report showed that it failed to complete 17 of 22 mandated rulemakings by the deadlines. And these deadlines are set in law and not suggestions. And not requirements. I would like to have you submit what you would do to decrease these long delays when it comes to the rulemaking and implementations. Thank you.
▶ 1:08:32Chair Cruz: Thank you. Senator klobuchar.
▶ 1:08:39Sen. Klobuchar: , thank you for senator lujan for helping me go first. Distracted driving, Mr. morrison, I have done a lot of work, like many of our senators. We have lost constituents including a 19-year-old from eden prairie, who died so young involving another driver when she was a passenger.
▶ 1:09:02Sen. Klobuchar: You mentioned that too many crashes involved distracted drivers and the importance of working with local law enforcement and I think people do not understand how many it is. Early on I worked on drunk driving a lot and this has done some good things, but it has kind of taken over. Can you talk about the work you will do and I was thinking back to secretary hood who did a lot early on. Talk about what you would like to do on distracted driving.
▶ 1:09:32Mr. Morrison: Thank you for your question and leadership in this area. We have over 3000 fatalities going back the last five years that are distracted and that is undercounted.
▶ 1:09:47Mr. Morrison: Unlike impaired driving where there is a blood test or breathalyzer where you can tell someone is impaired, with distracted driving is much more difficult because you do not have the ability to determine if someone was using the phone so that is undercounted. The messaging that the agency puts out is very important and I would look to double down on the messaging and work with law enforcement.
▶ 1:10:14Sen. Cantwell: And --
▶ 1:10:16Sen. Klobuchar: And spot that -- spot checks with the information. And catalytic converter theft. Last week senator moreno who knows a little bit about cars down there, he and I introduced the part act to provide law enforcement officers with tools and resources that they need to crack down on the crimes.
▶ 1:10:43Sen. Klobuchar: It tasks the updating of motor vehicle prevention standards that are marked with a line d number. Criminal cartels and organizations who engage in these thefts. Do you commit to working with us on this issue.
▶ 1:11:02Mr. Morrison: It creates a huge amount of inconvenience and it is a very expensive part to replace. If that bill passed, I will be looking forward to it.
▶ 1:11:13Sen. Klobuchar: Mr. barrs congratulations. According to recent reports, fmcsa enforcement efforts have slowed and there is not a quarter leave motors sick -- motor carrier safety report. Can you talk about how law enforcement acts as a deterrent to unwanted and unsafe behavior and will you move these other reports along if you get into this position?
▶ 1:11:42Mr. Barrs: Yes. It is very important to make sure we are strengthening enforcement, compliance and uniformity to make sure things across the board are the same. I look forward to being understand with what is going on in the agency on where there are some of these potentials happening and making sure that the investigations are being completed, and we are taking bad actors off the roadways and carriers out of service or
▶ 1:12:12Mr. Barrs: Whatever interventions that need to take place as well.
▶ 1:12:13Sen. Klobuchar: Yesterday the senate judiciary committee with senator grassley and durbin had a bipartisan hearing on retail theft and one of the eye-opening things was cargo theft. And how these crimes impact the entire food chain and supply chain. I had no idea how much was going on.
▶ 1:12:38Sen. Klobuchar: One dairy protein expert company reported an average of one to three break-ins per month in containers of dry milk powder. If confirmed will you work to commit to combat these crimes as opposed to committing these crimes?
▶ 1:12:52Mr. Barrs: That is a large yes. And working closely with all of the different stakeholders has got to be a focus. In the time that I worked on the law enforcement advisory board, that has been one of the key points to work collaboratively with all of the different stakeholders and I look forward to working with you and others on this.
▶ 1:13:15Sen. Klobuchar: I had a question on cybersecurity and I heard it was asked so I will just confound the other members like when you ask a question here and ask it again. I will look back at your answer and it means a lot that senator whitehouse introduce to. Thank you.
▶ 1:13:33Mr. Roberti: Thank you.
▶ 1:13:34Chair Cruz: Senator moreno.
▶ 1:13:37Sen. Moreno: Thank you for your willingness to serve the country. Not shockingly, I will start on the car side of things. I think it is important to set the stage because there are a lot of things that are partisan and a lot of things that can be bipartisan. Safety that is asked -- is extremely bipartisan because there is not a republican I know that what would want our roads to be less safe.
▶ 1:14:06Sen. Moreno: You talked about this in your testimony and we need to dive deeper. Talk about where we are today with the age of the fleet. The average car, how old is that right now?
▶ 1:14:17Mr. Morrison: The average age with 300 million vehicles. It's approaching 13 model years old. The safety implications are profound.
▶ 1:14:32Mr. Morrison: But a few years ago there was a study evaluating the model age of the vehicle and found a vehicle that is 12 to 15 model years old versus a vehicle that is zero to six model years old, there is a 19% higher chance of a fatality in a crash. A profound impact. Getting the age of the vehicle down is critical.
▶ 1:14:55Sen. Moreno: One thing we should hyperfocus on is how to reduce the age of the fleet. How do we get the average back to 8, 9 years old where it used to be? It's about automobile affordability. I want to tick through statistics. 10 years ago, you had to produce cars that generally had a fuel economy rating somewhere around 35 miles per gallon. 35 mpg's. Pretty high.
▶ 1:15:26Sen. Moreno: We are around the same age. Back when we where a kid that would've been good. 10 years later, it became 39 miles per gallon. 35 to 39. That is decently achievable over a decade. Under the biden administration, they wanted that to be 50 miles per gallon in two years. 34 to 39 over a decade. 39 to 50 over two years. Is that achievable?
▶ 1:15:58Mr. Morrison: That is being evaluated at the agency.
▶ 1:16:00Sen. Moreno: It's insane. Places like california where insane goes to get crazier, you have the ability for california to set different standards. Thanks to this congress california no longer can set a different admissions standard or caffe target or luxury vehicle mandate. Thanks to our leadership of the chairman, I give him credit, car companies no longer have to pay these outrageous finds. -- fines.
▶ 1:16:32Sen. Moreno: Last year car companies pay to test will almost $3 billion in credits so they could avoid these fines. Who pays those that who pays that money? Is it the car companies?
▶ 1:16:48Mr. Morrison: At the end of the day the consumer will pay for that.
▶ 1:16:50Sen. Moreno: How do they pay for it? Something else that happened during the biden era.the average car price went up $8,000. Almost 20%. Somebody shopping for a car five years ago and shopping for a car today, an increase of 20%. What is a result? I'm holding onto my car. That is how the cars got older.
▶ 1:17:14Sen. Moreno: If we can get the idea of driving down the price of automobiles -- would you be willing to take a leadership position as president trump is renegotiating trade deals with other countries to harmonize? Ohio, california, new york, florida, one set of standards. Now let's make it that any car that's qualified as a standard in america or europe or south korea or australia, one set of standards.
▶ 1:17:45Sen. Moreno: Would you commit to leading that effort?
▶ 1:17:49Mr. Morrison: If the president asked, absolutely.
▶ 1:17:50Sen. Moreno: How do we drive down the price of automobiles by getting rid of insane federal regulations? I don't drink at all. Yet in the infrastructure of law which has to do with roads and bridges they snuck in a provision that starting in 26 model year vehicles I have to have an impairment detection device in my vehicle. Is that going to be free?
▶ 1:18:15Mr. Morrison: No technology is free.
▶ 1:18:18Sen. Moreno: Why would I have to have an impairment detection device in my car? That is not lower the price of cars, right? If the northstar is safety, we should have total and complete consensus around this idea of lowering auto prices. Mr. chairman, because I ask you about this every time I see you, we should have a totally separate hearing on what we can do at the federal government to lower the price of automobiles.
▶ 1:18:50Sen. Moreno: One affording a car is out of reach for most americans, that has grave implications for jobseekers, for the ability to get the hospitals, the ability to have personal freedom. We need to drive down the cost of automobiles. I hope when you are confirmed in that agency, you are there to get that done and drive down the cost of automobiles. I'm over my time. Thank you for your time.
▶ 1:19:16Chair Cruz: Senator lujan. Several lujan here's a thought. Just eliminate seatbelts from cars, eliminate backup cameras from cars, stop making them out of metal. Make the metal plastic in this find the cheapest car that we can sell to the american people and modernize the fleet. More people will die. I don't know if my colleagues know this but there was not a provision snuck into a piece of legislation that is going to save people's lives in america. You and I met.
▶ 1:19:48Chair Cruz: I asked the same questions to secretary duffy. I was surprised to learn that his wife also survived a horrible crash. I don't know if you know this, senator moreno, but I survived a head-on car collision when I was driving home from a basketball tournament because the guy was drunker than shit and drove into me in front of my church come in front of the place where my grandfather is buried. I'm a person of faith like you. Somebody helped save my life that night.
▶ 1:20:17Chair Cruz: 10,000 people die a year in america because we want to talk about self-driving car's. I can go to states and jump in a cab and there's no driver. That's safe? We can't install technology that nine auto manufacturers have filed patents. This legislation worked. The markets are reacting. In europe, you can get in a car that has this technology available not just to tell if you are drunk but to tell if you are impaired.
▶ 1:20:47Chair Cruz: The technology exists. 14 suppliers. I'm not an auto person. I understand those are the folks that the automatic treasurers work with. They content -- auto manufacturers work with. If I sold cars, I would see with the latest and greatest is. You would be surprised how much technology exists today.
▶ 1:21:11Chair Cruz: These are not the questions I planned but when someone suggest that legislation was snuck into a bipartisan bill -- I don't think rick scott is a liberal member of his committee. Senator o has been a driver of this legislation. I have been proud to earn the support of my colleagues from across the country to get this done. We have got to find a way to do it. My question to you, Mr.
▶ 1:21:40Chair Cruz: Morrison, this piece of legislation called the holt act, pondering the family legacy to a drunk driver. There are rules currently pending at the department of transportation. I'm disappointed under secretary pete buttigieg and president biden this was not finalized. We worked on it bipartisan in both chambers and got this done. We negotiated with manufacturers. Everyone was at the table.
▶ 1:22:12Chair Cruz: Someone from mothers against drunk driving is in this room. I hope we find that many people are dying in our states. So that we can all get behind this technology. Can I get your commitment that you will make progress on moving forward the existing rulemaking pursuant to the hall tax?
▶ 1:22:31Mr. Morrison: Absolutely. As I said will be met, and I enjoyed our productive meeting, I'm not in the building now. It is a day when priority to get into the state of the technology. The technology dot has been working on. The state of the technology being involved elsewhere. Sen. luján: I appreciate that. There should be no question that existing technology works. Some people are driving cars that do this already. It is working.
▶ 1:23:03Mr. Morrison: Another issue I care about is ensuring that trucks have side underwrite guards to prevent cars and pedestrians and bicyclists from being crushed underneath. As a result, the cost of installing the sidebar exceeds the benefits. To reach this estimate they make assumptions and their cost-benefit analysis that includes whole categories of preventable deaths of vulnerable road users I don't understand that.
▶ 1:23:32Mr. Morrison: If it is going to be studied it should be studied. What you can pedestrians and bicyclists as preventable deaths for road users, cost-benefit analysis of any future rulemaking's on site underr ide?
▶ 1:23:54Mr. Morrison: I will work to make sure it's being considered. Sen. luján: Mr. barrs, we see the dangers that come with heavy freight traffic on highways. Especially along I-40 and I-25, the major arterials in my state where constituents have raised concerns about safety. Truck crash tests are up 60% nationwide since two thousand nine, including 5500 lives lost last year.
▶ 1:24:20Mr. Morrison: What steps will you take to make sure the fmcsa is protecting drivers on the roadways?
▶ 1:24:31Mr. Barrs: Working closely with law enforcement officers to make sure they are doing the aggressive traffic enforcement that needs to be done. Also going and doing the inspections that need to be done and preventative -- finding violations well before they happen so we can prevent those crashes from happening and doing regular routine inspections are critical. Sen. luján: Mr.
▶ 1:24:59Mr. Barrs: Chairman, I have more questions that I was submitted to the record. I just hope we can find common ground on public safety. I heard my colleague say that is something democrats and republicans agree on. Do we or don't wait? It is time to put up or shut up when the get these rules in place, to choose to save the american people are not. I hope we can find common ground to get this done. It is not easy to talk about almost dying.
▶ 1:25:30Mr. Barrs: Sometimes things happen for a reason. I guess I learned that if god gives you another chance, you better do something with it. Thank you for the time.
▶ 1:25:42Chair Cruz: Senator peters.
▶ 1:25:45Sen. Peters: , Mr. morrison congratulations on your nomination. As the chair -- ranking member of the surface transportation subcommittee, two top priorities are saving lives on our roadways and making sure the automotive industry has a regulatory certainty it needs to continue to innovate and compete on a global scale. Helping us reach security goals.
▶ 1:26:15Sen. Peters: My question for you, sir, is ntsa plays a key role that ensuring certified vehicles are recognized and accepted in other markets, which is critical to the american auto competitiveness of our industry. Will you ensure that ntsa supports the mission to prevent nontariff barriers on american autos?
▶ 1:26:47Mr. Morrison: It's important part of the mission working with countries on trying to create regulations and that is something I would forward to doing.
▶ 1:26:58Sen. Peters: It will pursue a bigot to a framework for autonomous vehicles that includes subjective testing standards and rulemaking. I'm concerned by the reports as much as over half of the office of automation safety, which I pushed to found has been terminated and staffing cuts at nhtsa.
▶ 1:27:24Sen. Peters: The office is responsible for can got rulemaking efforts related to autonomous vehicles and other safety technologies which experts tell us will take a high level of technicality and expertise, not to mention manpower to figure this out. A couple of questions for you. Can you commit to fully staffing office of automation safety to ensure they can competently and successfully carry out rulemaking relative to cutting-edge technologies?
▶ 1:27:54Mr. Morrison: I have seen media reports. I am not in the building yet. I have seen reports about staffing. I know secretary duffy mentioned it a number of times, there are gaps that need to be filled to achieve priorities.
▶ 1:28:14Sen. Peters: You will be committed to fully staffing?
▶ 1:28:16Mr. Morrison: I will be committed to hiring up to make sure.
▶ 1:28:24Sen. Peters: Can you believe the agency can carry out multiple rulemaking related to autonomous vehicle and make progress on the over doesn't overdo rulemakings mandated by congress if it faces significant personnel cuts?
▶ 1:28:38Mr. Morrison: Again, I'm not there now. I don't know how the gapping is allocated. I will look to make sure we have adequate staff to complete our mission.
▶ 1:28:49Sen. Peters: What actions do you believe are necessary to ensure deployment of autonomous vehicles is safe, transparent, also ensuring the united states is at the forefront of innovation? Please tell me your thoughts about what we need to do.
▶ 1:29:04Mr. Morrison: We need federal leadership in the space. That involves in large part using convening authority of the federal government. Meeting with the developers, meeting with safety experts to understand the state of the technology now, the development pathways at various entities, and making sure the industry understands what the agency believes is the appropriate path forward.
▶ 1:29:33Mr. Morrison: Getting that understanding, having the industry gaining an understanding of the agency's perspective is something that may have been lacking and that's a major gap I look to fill. That will involve guidance and regulation.
▶ 1:29:48Sen. Peters: What specific risks do you see to the united states if we do not remain at the forefront of innovation, especially with china's major strides in this area? They are investing massive amounts of money. This is the future of transportation. What are your concerns?
▶ 1:30:11Mr. Morrison: That we have a for an adversary of this country investing in critical resources -- and critical resources into this industry and looking to push things forward. I'm not over there but I heard some develop mental pathways they are approaching are not as robust as the industry is used to. That gives me pause to be concerned.
▶ 1:30:35Mr. Morrison: If they win the technological race they will be the ones sending -- setting global standards and their technology will be deployed around the world and that is something we cannot have.
▶ 1:30:45Sen. Peters: Mr. roberti, the commerce committee is working on a pipeline safety reauthorization. Perhaps as quickly as you can just give the committee what is top of mind to you as top issues the bill needs to address.
▶ 1:31:03Mr. Roberti: Certainly from the last reauthorization there's a number of outstanding mandates. That is a high priority to complete this mandates. Looking forward, not being at the agency yet I hope to engage with your staffs and offices to come to some conclusions on what would be best in that authorization.
▶ 1:31:28Sen. Peters: Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:31:31Chair Cruz: Thank you. Senator markey.
▶ 1:31:36Sen. Markey: Mr. morrison, let's start with an argument in your testimony. Regulations raise car prices. This argument is not new. Automakers have always thought common sense safety regulations by saying they are too expensive. Let's look at a few examples. In 1961, the new york times reported on the fight to require seatbelts and vehicles.
▶ 1:32:06Sen. Markey: The new york times reported that, "car manufacturers still are adamant in their position that safety must be keyed to cost. Is this contention prevails, the seatbelt will be an optional item of extra cost." was the government right to require seatbelts in every vehicle?
▶ 1:32:29Mr. Morrison: Sen. markey: Sen.
▶ 1:32:33Markey: Absolutely. Good. Here's a headline from 1975. Industry resist car safety costs. It documents how the auto industry lobbied against requiring airbags in every vehicle. Mr. morrison, was the government right to require airbags in every vehicle?
▶ 1:32:55Mr. Morrison: Eventually yes.
▶ 1:32:55Sen. Markey: Yes. That brings us to today. The headline from june 24, 2024. Auto makers urge reconsidering the breaking rule.
▶ 1:33:17Sen. Markey: Repeal its rule issue last year requiring automatic emergency breaking in new vehicles in part based on costs. Mr. morrison, I understand the trump administration is currently reviewing that automatic emergency breaking rule.
▶ 1:33:36Sen. Markey: Given the automakers' history of opposing common sense safety rules, do you agree that safety regulators should be skeptical of industry's arguments?
▶ 1:33:52Mr. Morrison: Regulators need to do their own homework. One of the important aspects of the safety standard is practicability which has cost implications. That is something the agency needs to do.
▶ 1:34:06Sen. Markey: Here's my message to you, Mr. morrison. The automakers have cried wolf far too many times for us to take their arguments seriously. That is the answer I want to hear. There cost and permitting these requirements, course. These measures might save your daughter, your son, your father or mother or brother. To me that is worth it. That is why we have seatbelts.
▶ 1:34:37Sen. Markey: That's why we have airbags. That's why we need emergency breaking to make sure we protect family members who otherwise would be injured or die. Mr. roberti, I hosted you in massachusetts in 2018. Thank you for coming after the pipeline explosions destroyed dozens of homes and killed a young man. You know safety save lives, Mr. roberti.
▶ 1:35:07Sen. Markey: Will you finalize the 2023 draft rule requiring my pipeline safety law passed in the trump era is finalized?
▶ 1:35:20Mr. Roberti: Yes.
▶ 1:35:23Sen. Markey: Thank you. Mr. roberti, we have seen elon musk's doge staff commended agency after agency and sabotage our government's ability to keep the public saved from the faa to the national weather service. Mr. roberti, if doge told you to fire inspection enforcement staff and keep our system safe, would you do it?
▶ 1:35:50Mr. Roberti: The answer is that the critical safety -- critical safety positions include inspection and enforcement personnel. They are not part of any layoffs or any part of workforce reduction.
▶ 1:36:12Mr. Roberti: If confirmed, as I have said, having an effective, strong, robust inspection and enforcement program is the heart of the safety mission. I will certainly commit to that.
▶ 1:36:27Sen. Markey: The question of doge undermining public safety is not hypothetical. This already happening. We have seen services disrupted and lives lost as a result. The only question is whether we are going to have enough courage at the agency to protect our pipeline safety from those doge acts. That will be your responsibility. Safety first.
▶ 1:36:57Sen. Markey: Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:36:58Chair Cruz: Thank you. Senator fetterman.
▶ 1:37:10Sen. Vitfetterman: Welcome, Mr. roberti. Is it fair to say we had a warm cordial and productive meeting yesterday in my office?
▶ 1:37:19Mr. Roberti: Yes. I enjoyed meeting with you yesterday.
▶ 1:37:24Sen. Fetterman: I thoroughly did too. Yesterday we talked about my real issue. My commitment is that I was not here today to create theatrics, looking for clipping or make a msnbc or anything. I'm coming here because -- I know you are aware of a problem in my state. In a specific county.
▶ 1:37:50Sen. Fetterman: For me, and a minority situation as a democrat I'm confident you will have all the votes necessary to be confirmed. As a democrat voting for a nominee, it's a statement saying we want to find a relationship and work together to look for wins for my state, for constituent, or a win in pennsylvania is a win for the country.
▶ 1:38:20Sen. Fetterman: I made a promise with you to not this turn into a confrontation. I'm here to discuss -- is a pipeline. 105 miles long. Jet fuel across the southern eastern pennsylvania. Essentially, everybody agrees there was a leak.
▶ 1:38:45Sen. Fetterman: I am part of it because I fly 50 out of 52 weeks. We all need jet fuel. It is not -- I'm not condemning anyone that produces jet fuel. It is that the problem is that he got into someone's wells in bucks county. We have a constituent hear from upper makefield.
▶ 1:39:16Sen. Fetterman: Christine. She is here today. She has water that was contaminated by jet fuel. She actually brought a sample. I am not going to -- you can to make questions or submit testimony.
▶ 1:39:40Sen. Fetterman: I am respectfully submitting this in encouraging you and anybody does just smell it -- just smell it because it smells like fuel. I would not want to put a flame around it. For me, I really welcome -- I just want to work together for a solution here. You were not responsible for any of this. You do not participate in this stuff.
▶ 1:40:09Sen. Fetterman: You would be in a situation to work together to create that. I really like to work with my friend and colleague congressman brian fitzpatrick. We are pushing to -- whether it is shutting down or whatever necessary to figure out what is happening. Today it is like, as I said in my office, if you are able to extend the commitment to work together in my office, I'm here today to extend a commitment to vote for you.
▶ 1:40:40Sen. Fetterman: It's about voting for you, desiring a relationship to find a solution for this landowner and also for my state.
▶ 1:40:52Mr. Roberti: Thank you, senator. From what I have read, not being in the agency, it was a serious incident. It is under investigation. A notice of proposed safety order was issued. It followed with a corrective action or a consent order. The matter remains under investigation.
▶ 1:41:16Mr. Roberti: As I said to you yesterday in your office, if confirmed, I would like to go to the scene with you, visit the scene. While the investigation is pending I want to see investigations like that proceed in the most expeditious manner so we can get to the bottom of what happened and make those determinations as to the safety of that pipeline going forward.
▶ 1:41:46Mr. Roberti: That I commit to doing.
▶ 1:41:48Sen. Fetterman: It is becoming more politically difficult or punishing to vote and want to work with the other side. You have extended your willingness to work together for a solution and I will extend my desire to want to vote in support of your candidacy for this. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:42:12Chair Cruz: Senator young.
▶ 1:42:17Sen. Young: Mr. morrison, Mr. barrs, Mr. roberti, congratulations on your nominations. Mr. morrison, nhtsa has been without an administrator for quite some time now. There are many priorities my colleagues and myself could discuss with you on ways to improve safety, increase efficiency, and efficacy.
▶ 1:42:46Sen. Young: Especially with respect to rulemakings and modernized federal motor vehicle safety standards to name a few. I want to focus my questions on the issue of autonomous vehicles, av's. Congress has been working to establish a framework that unlocks the ability for industry to safely deploy self-driving vehicles.
▶ 1:43:15Sen. Young: I'm working to develop legislation regarding this framework, one that prioritizes safety but also provides certainty to industry, publishes the ability for greater employment, find opportunities for job growth, and importantly secures american global leadership in this space. China is looking to supplant our leadership here.
▶ 1:43:38Sen. Young: It's imperative that we establish rules of the road that can protect our national and economic interests and also benefit american companies and consumers. For years we have seen this industry grow with advancements in technology and engineering standards and an increase in commercial av testing and operations across the united states. I believe it is past time we modernize the federal motor vehicle standards safety -- safety standards for av's.
▶ 1:44:09Sen. Young: Sir, what are the first av rulemaking's you would like to address and what areas do you think nhtsa is best suited to lead on these issues?
▶ 1:44:21Mr. Morrison: Great question. As a relates to rulemaking there are several things to do. One we kicked off in the first term, evaluating the unintended and unnecessary barriers to innovation. Keeping the same level of safety by finding things like language in the rulemakings that relate to a driver being in the vehicle. That is something we cleaned up in one part. There's a lot of additional work to do in the area.
▶ 1:44:50Mr. Morrison: Just to allow for innovative designs in a manner that means the same safety and allow the deployment. That is something that is very important. Two, guidance. You don't necessarily need to clog up the code of regulations further. Giving guidance on what expectations are for safe development. What we see as best practices.
▶ 1:45:21Mr. Morrison: If I'm confirmed, that is something I would love to pursue. This is part of the secretary's greater av framework he has talked about. Once the technology is fully understood, we can start talking about performance requirement for the technology itself. It's a bit of a multipronged approach. A lot will involve engagement, sitting down with the technical safety experts as well.
▶ 1:45:45Sen. Young: It will take a lot of time. You will need to visit with a lot of stakeholders. Will you commit to personally doing that?
▶ 1:45:55Mr. Morrison: Absolutely.
▶ 1:45:56Sen. Young: When you commit to engaging members of your staff and prioritizing these sorts of meetings and is communication so we can tease out the regulatory inadequacies or impediments we have to ai development and adoption in this country in a safe manner.
▶ 1:46:16Mr. Morrison: It's important to have industry and staff to gain a better understanding.
▶ 1:46:22Sen. Young: Will you commit to working with myself and other members of the committee throughout this projects -- process so we can be involved in establishing a federal framework for av's?
▶ 1:46:38Mr. Morrison: Yes, to the extent of allowed. I don't to step in.
▶ 1:46:45Sen. Young: There's always the omb qualification, I understand. Mr. barrs, as, you know av's are not limited to passenger vehicles. One area where we have seen incredible growth is was in the commercial trucking industry. The benefits of this technology promises to deliver a reduction in supply chain constraints and improvement in the transport of goods.
▶ 1:47:15Sen. Young: The theme of mine in recent hearings as chairman of one of the subcommittees is outdated regulation that hinders the ability to end of the safe deployment of technology. I would like to briefly dig into this with you and see if there are areas you see as needed improvements -- needing improvements. When is truck drivers to manually place warning triangles behind a vehicle when it is stopped or pulled over.
▶ 1:47:46Sen. Young: Drivers have to get out of their cab and walk along the busy highway shoulders, often in dangerous conditions like poor visibility, high traffic speeds or inclement weather to deploy these devices. As you know, as a law enforcement officer and the data shows, the sight of the road is incredibly dangerous at times. Do you see opportunities for fmcsa to allow innovation and roadway safety so drivers enough to walk alongside the highway to manually place plastic triangles?
▶ 1:48:17Mr. Barrs: Thank you for the question. Yes.
▶ 1:48:25Sen. Young: Can you commit to working with me should you seating areas where outdated regulations like these are prohibitive to innovation or detrimental to safety on ways to address these issues?
▶ 1:48:35Mr. Barrs: Yes.
▶ 1:48:35Sen. Young: Thank you.
▶ 1:48:37Chair Cruz: Thank you. Senator rosen.
▶ 1:48:42Sen. Rosen: Thank you for holding the hearing today. Thank you for your willingness to serve. I want to focus on nevada today. Mr. barrs, nevada grapples with a significant shortage of safe and accessible truck parking facilities. It's a challenge that affects driver safety, increases operational cost for carriers and disrupts the efficiency of our freight supply chains.
▶ 1:49:09Sen. Rosen: Estimates suggest there's a shortage of 40,000 safe truck parking spaces nationwide. Giving nevada strategic location is a major transportation corridor for interstate commerce, particularly southern nevada and I 15 comes from southern california. Northern nevada along the I-80 from san francisco into the interior. It is particularly critical for our state and the surrounding region. Mr.
▶ 1:49:39Sen. Rosen: Barrs, can you outline the strategies, policies or priorities you would pursue as an administrator at fmcsa to expand this truck parking capacity and improve the safety conditions in nevada? It will help our supply chain move more quickly through the country.
▶ 1:49:59Mr. Barrs: Thank you for the question. Truck parking is in a necessity and when I have been working on for a long time throughout my career in the public and private sector. In florida, we made it a top priority like it is for you and your state. Looking at different ways we can work with federal highways, with funding that goes directly to truck parking. Looking to engineering ways to potentially redesign current locations that are there now.
▶ 1:50:26Sen. Rosen: This mark parker program?
▶ 1:50:32Mr. Barrs: We use the truck parking availability which is similar to that. Getting those notifications out to truck drivers to make informed decisions so they can plan their trips accordingly and get to a spot for safety.
▶ 1:50:45Sen. Rosen: Thank you. I want to talk about highway fatalities. Nevada recently experienced a troubling increase in highway fatalities. Our state recorded an estimated 300 86 traffic deaths --386 traffic deaths in 0 traffic deaths in 2023. 2022, 416 fatalities.
▶ 1:51:16Sen. Rosen: Even one is too many. According to the office of traffic safety data, during the first quarter of 2024, nearly 40% more fatal crashes compared to the same period in 2023 with 97 between january and march. These are tragic losses driven largely by speeding, impaired driving, alarming spike and pedestrian deaths in las vegas and reno. Mr.
▶ 1:51:43Sen. Rosen: Morrison, given these trends what concrete policies and enforcement strategies and public safety programs would you prioritize to reverse these fatality trends?if there happening in the data they must be happening in other places. How would you leverage federal programs promoting the deployment of advanced technologies like intelligence systems or automated safety systems?
▶ 1:52:12Sen. Rosen: I hope you would coordinate with our nevada agencies so we can bring that number down.
▶ 1:52:16Mr. Morrison: Thank you for the question. You are right. That is far too many fatalities. Since the pandemic we have seen this increased level.
▶ 1:52:26Sen. Rosen: Is a lot of pressure to get those things delivered.
▶ 1:52:29Mr. Morrison: Absolutely. It has to be in all of the above approach. It is a crisis we are seeing. Fatalities continue. We see impaired driving at an elevated rate, speeding at an elevated rate. We need to double down on on the known proven countermeasures.
▶ 1:52:53Mr. Morrison: In my testimony one think I hammered home is a need to coordinate and work and enhance our partnership with states. Working with the nevada office of traffic safety and making sure our laws are being enforced.
▶ 1:53:08Sen. Rosen: Will you build on this for rural communities? We have a vast rule highway network. The chairman does, many others. Presents safety challenges. Those roads have a higher rate of fatalities. How would you might address the safety challenges specific to rural highways like we have a nevada?
▶ 1:53:32Mr. Morrison: It is a disproportionate number. You see that across the country. If you look at population versus did city, it is disproportionate in those rural areas. It's a combination of law enforcement, messaging, and in all of the above approach.
▶ 1:53:48Sen. Rosen: Would you come back to talk about some of the new technologies or techniques you are planning to use? This is an issue that is so important to so many because of the loss of life. Come back to the committee and report on the implementation of such strategies that would help us?
▶ 1:54:07Mr. Morrison: Absolutely.
▶ 1:54:08Sen. Rosen: Thank you.
▶ 1:54:10Chair Cruz: Senator marino.
▶ 1:54:17Sen. Moraeno: I want to make sure we are all on the same page. Let me reiterate. Everybody wants the rows to be safe. Do you believe it is a false choice between if you don't do everything, don't put every single safety technology and mandate it, force every american or do-nothing is a false choice?
▶ 1:54:42Mr. Morrison: I think so. Nhtsa has congressional mandates the agency must work towards. When you establish safety standards, a key element, the need for motor vehicle safety, the state of the technology itself, look at the cost, look at consumer acceptance, you have to look at all those things. Cost is an important one.
▶ 1:55:07Sen. Moreno: Nobody wants to have drunk drivers on the road. You think maybe biden was not able to to put their rule in place because they realized if somebody is actually a drunk driver, they are making a conscious choice and we should increase the fines and penalties? They could not just ask a friend to start their car and you have eliminated the use of the device that cost thousands of dollars? The guiding principle that should be used is common sense. Two words.
▶ 1:55:37Sen. Moreno: My colleague from massachusetts brought up seatbelts. I was not alive in 1961. You probably were not a life in 1961. The article he referred to was talking about technology that had been invented two years earlier by volvo in sweden. The reason car companies did not want to put it in the cars two years after it was invented -- I assume he was talking about the three point belt.
▶ 1:56:05Sen. Moreno: The two point belt had been around since the 1940's. It would have added massive costs to customers in 1961. Later when the technology became more mainstream and you had different production methods, you can have it. You are not saying safety technology -- we have to balance the cost to the consumer. If the end result is we have cars that are not affordable, that's a problem, right?
▶ 1:56:36Mr. Morrison: 100% right. Not only that, you have to gain an understanding of the technology to come close to having amended. Those designs were effective it channeling forces to the aorta, having the opposite effect you would want. Making sure the technology is good enough as a critical part of it.
▶ 1:56:59Mr. Morrison: When I was appointed as chief counsel back in 2017 there was a series of articles I found the average household income using general affordability metrics could not afford the average price in any of the municipal areas across the country. It was about $38,000. We are bumping up around $50,000.
▶ 1:57:28Sen. Moreno: It $50,000 today. Used to be $40,000 four years ago. Airbags were invented. It took a long time for that technology to evolve. Initial airbags were pretty dangerous. Airbags today are completely safe. Now it is basically a pill bottle. The airbags come at you everywhere like little aspirin and a bottle. That technology did not exist.
▶ 1:57:57Sen. Moreno: I reinforced to my colleagues as we develop this, these ideas that we keep in mind we want to have safer cars. The marketplace is a -- does a good job of making sure the technology evolves at a pace it can be affordable. While you -- if you want to hang out in martha's vineyard, a multimillion dollar home and fly there on a private jet, $8,000 to the price of a car is not a big deal.
▶ 1:58:28Sen. Moreno: But someone in ohio trying to get to work, affordability is a big deal. That is the mentality that is missing. Quite frankly this is a tower nobody even drives their own car. When you have a driver that shuttles you all over town in the last time you were behind the wheel of an automobile was years ago, all these become esoteric problems.
▶ 1:58:51Sen. Moreno: We need to bring outsiders' points of you to say when you raise the price of automobiles by $8,000 because you have this hell bent that if you can't afford it, too bad for you, it's a problem. I hope we really take this conversation to the next level. The number one existential threat to job growth in this country is the fact that cars -- you take cars and make them less affordable for humans to be able to live in daily life -- it's a huge economic problem.
▶ 1:59:23Sen. Moreno: In martha's vineyard, no problem. You can get around martha's vineyard with no issues at all. Fantastic drivers will shuttle you around. Ironically, 50-year-old land rovers that are worth $150,000 that have no seatbelts and no airbags is the number one car choice in martha's vineyard.
▶ 1:59:45Chair Cruz: I want to thank senator moreno for his well-informed questioning and point out for the record that I fully agree that we need lower-cost cars. One key is never, ever get the under coding on the car -- undercoating on the car.
▶ 2:00:06Sen. Moreno: That also went out in the 1970's.
▶ 2:00:11Chair Cruz: Uh huh. Senator hickenlooper.
▶ 2:00:17Several Hickenlooper: Mr. morrison, impaired driving is a threat to passengers, cyclists, pedestrians, everybody. Last year the U.S. almost 40,000 fatalities involving vehicles. 12,429 fatalities involving alcohol impaired driving. 30% of all fatalities. We have a national blood alcohol concentration, a national limit of 0.08%.
▶ 2:00:52Several Hickenlooper: There is no uniform national standard to measure marijuana impairment. In colorado, marijuana impaired driving is a blood test above five nanograms of thc. 16 other states have zero tolerance laws prohibiting any amount of drug impairment while driving.
▶ 2:01:09Several Hickenlooper: Creating a national standard for marijuana impairment will ease the burden of law enforcement, prosecutions, help clarify legal requirements across states and save countless lives. Mr. morrison, what steps would you direct nhtsa to take in consultation with states to develop a national impairment standard for marijuana impaired driving?
▶ 2:01:38Mr. Morrison: Nhtsa plays a critical role. In my time as chief counsel we were pushing hard this campaign against drug impaired driving. That is the messaging we put out. When you drive high, you get a dui. This is not necessarily a public consciousness that when people are using marijuana it has in impairing effect on their ability to drive their vehicle. It harkens back to the 1950's.
▶ 2:02:08Mr. Morrison: People would say it is common for them to say I need another martini so I can calm down. I drive better when I'm impaired. We have not had that -- there has absolutely been a shift in impaired driving. We have not seen that similar shift for marijuana. It is something I would intend to double down on. I would partner with the national office of drunk driver policy to work on that as well and law enforcement.
▶ 2:02:39Sen. Hickenlooper: It's one of those working giants that's out there. The country has not gotten their arms on the fact that more kids are smoking pot instead of drinking. Alcohol sales are down all over the country, yet we have no national program to really intercede and make sure they understand they are not driving right.
▶ 2:03:03Mr. Morrison: There are compounding issues with alcohol use and drug use. I understand there is scientific challenges to gaining that notion of whether or not there's a threshold level.
▶ 2:03:15Sen. Hickenlooper: It's like different sized people. There is some variation put the science is getting there. The level of impairment can clearly be measured and calculated against consumption of narcotics.
▶ 2:03:32Mr. Morrison: It's an area where you have been a national leader.
▶ 2:03:36Sen. Hickenlooper: Mr. roberti, fmcsa oversees the safe operation of 3 million miles of pipeline, 17,000 underground storage tanks, more than 100 60 liquefied natural gas -- 160 liquefied natural gas facilities. The ransomware attack was a reminder of the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to cyberattacks.
▶ 2:04:04Sen. Hickenlooper: Fmcsa and pipeline operators rely on information provided by the cyber security infrastructure administration and the private sector. Information sharing increases the ability.to remain resilient against threats unless extended by congress authorities -- it is set to expire on september 30 of 2025.
▶ 2:04:33Sen. Hickenlooper: Do you believe any lapse in authority would increase risks to pipeline operators and how can fmcsa maintain cyber resilience?
▶ 2:04:44Mr. Roberti: Thank you for the question. I spoke earlier about the critical importance of keeping a very focused eye on both physical and cyber security threats. The colonial pipeline, 45 percentage needs of the northeast go to the pipeline. The interruption of the flow of commodities was significant. The coordination among federal agencies is so important.
▶ 2:05:15Mr. Roberti: If you look over the course of history of this country, the greatest vulnerabilities occur where security agencies were not sharing information. I support sharing. I worked previously on agreements with the department of human security -- homeland security and transportation.
▶ 2:05:38Mr. Roberti: We need information sharing, not just with industry but across the regulatory commission, the fbi, certainly the department of energy and the department of homeland security. I'm committed and motivated to dig in on those questions and see where we are. I don't know or we are today. I have the threats and the threat vectors are changing and I'm committed to working cooperatively to advance that.
▶ 2:06:05Sen. Hickenlooper: I want to leave, Mr. morrison, the fact that no statute regulations oversee fully autonomous vehicles yet coming out of her laboratories of democracy. I would submit a few questions on that. We are out of time now. That's another big issue we will have to face. I yield back to the chair.
▶ 2:06:28Chair Cruz: I will turn to my friend from massachusetts who I would note regularly reminds this committee that the word car is a two syllable word. [laughter] >> [indiscernible] [laughter] >> that's a different accent as
▶ 2:07:01Chair Cruz: Mr. roberti knows. I am bilingual. You just have to know where each accent is being used. Just a follow-up on the senator from ohio, I'm an expert on auto safety. When I was five years old my father was a truck driver but I grew up in a deregulated era.
▶ 2:07:37Chair Cruz: I got hit by car. I was turned into a projectile. My fingers never quite came back together again. Somebody pick me up, showed me to the emergency room. Two things her mother always says. Teladoc is your phone number. Two, change your underwear every day because I will be embarrassed if you're in an accident.
▶ 2:08:08Chair Cruz: I can hear the Dr. on the phone with my mother -- doctor on the phone with another getting permission to operate. The nurses are trying to take off my belt. I'm an expert on auto safety. The impacts on children and on parents.
▶ 2:08:36Chair Cruz: I can take in there to see the blue-collar community where I live. If there was an emergency braking system, maybe the guy would've stopped and I would not have been hit. Maybe. But to say that it will not help in the future is absolutely wrong.
▶ 2:09:05Chair Cruz: The same with seatbelts, which did not exist when I was a kid. To the gentleman from ohio. Technology is our friend. We are technological giants in the united states. We can use technology to protect children. The same thing is true for the auto industry in general. They impose a tax on society.
▶ 2:09:39Chair Cruz: The tax when they fight higher fuel economy standards is more pollution in the air. For tax in our society is more asthma, more cancer, more disease that affects everyone. As a very high tax. When they fight against safety standards, there is a tax. That tax is children who get injured or die, because safety measures were not built in.
▶ 2:10:07Chair Cruz: That is a tax the auto industry imposes on our society. Mr. morrison, do you agree that fuel economy standards save drivers money at the gas pump because it is so much more efficiency?
▶ 2:10:25Mr. Morrison: Increases in efficiency will have an impact at the gas pump. They have a very severe upfront cost that has to be affected.
▶ 2:10:36Sen. Hickenlooper: Over the life of the vehicle did they save drivers money at the pump?
▶ 2:10:43Mr. Morrison: It depends upon the fuel economy standard. >> here is what I'm hearing from you. This administration will institute yet another tax on drivers by pushing gas guzzling cars onto the american public.
▶ 2:11:02Mr. Morrison: Anyone who cannot admit this means dollars of drivers pockets and into big oil's profits is just an apologist for the economic actual basis for understanding with the life expectancy costs are for driving the vehicle that is more efficient. As my mother used to say as a boy, you have to learn how to work smarter, not harder.
▶ 2:11:34Mr. Morrison: Smarter is efficient. More efficient if more efficient appliances, vehicles, air conditioning. It is smarter. It is technology. What I see historically at nhtsa is aligning with the industry that seeks to stop innovation, stop progress and continue to impose taxes on the american people. Safety tax. A disease taxes on those families.
▶ 2:12:08Mr. Morrison: That's why I'm watching you, Mr. morrison, and everything you do over there because you have a very high responsibility. Very high. To all those millions of kids, all the little five-year-olds out there in terms of looking ahead and leading the way and putting protections in place. Now listening to the auto lobbyists of today but listening to the voices of those children in the future. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 2:12:37Chair Cruz: I would note some years ago senator markey and I with the chairman and ranking of the science and space of committee. I had a repeated pattern of not being willing to have space hearings with a listening to my friend do jfk impressions which made every space issue come true. I think back to my time in law school in boston. I was once on the subway, the t.
▶ 2:13:08Chair Cruz: This tiny woman who was probably 90 years old with white hair looked at me and asked me if I was in school. I said yes ma'am. I was at harvard. To this day I remember her response. Harvard! Smart! [laughter] that was the entirety of the conversation.
▶ 2:13:29Sen. Markey: As my father would say, harvard. Book smart. People need common sense. They need common sense.
▶ 2:13:40Chair Cruz: And there we have agreement. I would agree with william f. Buckley who said I would rather be governed by the first 2000 names in the boston phone book than the staff of harvard university. That is unquestionably true.
▶ 2:13:56Sen. Markey: And the people of massachusetts are governed by those 2000 and they listen to that harvard professors about the future, especially with technology issues.
▶ 2:14:08Chair Cruz: A couple of final questions and we will wrap up. Mr. morrison, what is the nhtsa 's role in the development of autonomous vehicles?
▶ 2:14:19Mr. Morrison: Nhtsa needs to set guidance of industry as a pathway to enhanced mobility. Once the technology is ready and once there's a better understanding of technology, we need regulation.
▶ 2:14:34Chair Cruz: Mr. roberti, what would you describe is the core mission of fmcsa? I will give the answer. The core mission of fmcsa is to ensure safety for pipelines in america. There have been radicals at that agency who have viewed the mission of fmcsa as using safety as a tool to either stop or delay pipelines because they oppose the existence of pipelines.
▶ 2:15:04Chair Cruz: I think that is emphatically not the purpose of the agency. What is your view as to the core mission?
▶ 2:15:10Mr. Roberti: As safety appears, the mission is safety and he was so confident in the american people that these pipeline systems are safe. I commit to doing that.
▶ 2:15:24Chair Cruz: Thank. -- thank you. Mr. barrs, Mr. morrison, Mr. roberti, do you pledge to work elaborately with this committee to provide test collaboratively with this committee to appear before the committee when requested? >> yes. >> yes. >> yes.
▶ 2:15:51Chair Cruz: I have 49 letters of support from various organizations for Mr. barrs, Mr. morrison, and Mr. roberti' nominationss. I asked that they be inserted into the hearing record. Senators have until the close of business on july 18 to submit questions for the record. The nominees have until monday, july 21 to respond to those questions. That concludes today's hearing.
▶ 2:16:21Chair Cruz: The committee stands adjourned.