Hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee - Opening Statement of Sen. Thune, Hearing on Executive Session

Hearing

Good morning and welcome. Today we have a full agenda of eight legislative items and 10 nominations.

From cyber security, to ocean related matters, a concrete checkoff program, and even a measure on FCC data collection, today's agenda not only illustrates this Committee's broad jurisdiction, but also the bipartisan nature of most of our work, as every legislative item we will consider today is supported by both Democrats and Republicans.

I am particularly proud of two measures, which I have worked on with Senators Klobuchar and Nelson -- my No Human Trafficking on Our Roads Act and Senator Klobuchar's Combating Human Trafficking in Commercial Vehicles Act.

Together, these two bills address the prevention and enforcement of human trafficking in the transportation sector and will continue the good work of many who fight to eliminate human trafficking on a daily basis.

Our bills are supported by a wide range of stakeholders including: the National District Attorneys Association, Humanity United Action, the South Dakota Trucking Association, UPS, Retail Industry Leaders Association, Schneider Trucking, and National Retail Federation.

I ask unanimous consent that support letters from these groups be included in the record.

Today we will also consider almost a dozen well-qualified nominees. If confirmed, they will fill a number of key vaccines -- including the General Counsel positions at the Departments of Commerce and Transportation, the Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, and we will even finally be able to fully constitute the Federal Communications Commission.

While the Committee has done our work and processed nominees in a timely manner, something for which I am grateful to the Ranking Member and all of you, consideration of nominees by the full Senate has been arduous, even for the most noncontroversial nominees. It appears that the logjam may soon be breaking, however, and the two Leaders may be working on a nominations package for consideration before we recess.

It is my hope that this package will not only include many of the nominees our Committee has approved, but also six telecomm measures this Committee has reported by voice vote, which have been held up as we awaited Jessica Rosenworcel's re-nomination and confirmation.

These include my MOBILE NOW Act; Senator Klobuchar's Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act and the Kari's Law Act; Senator Heller's FCC Consolidated Reporting Act; Senator Nelson's Spoofing Prevention Act; and Senator Fischer and Senator Booker's DIGIT Act.

These bipartisan measures have languished for too long and it is time to send them to the House of Representatives.

A final comment on two items not being considered today -- the autonomous vehicle legislation Senator Peters and I have been working on and the nomination of David Redl to be an Assistant Secretary of Commerce.

Self-driving vehicle technology has enormous potential for safety and mobility, and while we had both hoped it would be ready today, getting it right is more important than artificial deadlines. We are optimistic that the Committee will be able to consider the bill sometime this fall.

As to Mr. Redl, we have had a request for additional time to follow up on issues raised during his confirmation hearing and subsequent requests for information from the Commerce Department.

While I believe he is well qualified, and have heard from a number of his supporters, I also believe his nomination will advance more smoothly if Members have the next few weeks to resolve these outstanding issues.

With that, I will turn to Senator Nelson for any opening remarks.

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