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Floor Speech

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Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the en bloc nominations process and in opposition to almost all of these nominees.

While the en bloc process unfortunately means that I have to cast a single vote for or against all 74 nominees today, I do want to reaffirm my strong support of both Democratic nominees that were reported with unanimous approval out of the Commerce Committee, Thomas Chapman and Karen Hedlund.

Thomas Chapman was renominated to the National Transportation Safety Board. He is an industry veteran who previously served on Commerce Committee staff and has a demonstrated commitment to fact-based investigations into aviation and other transportation disasters.

Karen Hedlund was renominated to serve on the Surface Transportation Board. She has served with distinction since 2022. The Surface Transportation Board is currently evaluating the largest proposed rail merger in our Nation's history. Given her prior experience at STB and years of service at USDOT, I am confident Ms. Hedlund will continue putting the public's interest first and foremost.

While I strongly support these Democratic nominees, I have more significant concerns about other nominations in the bloc.

Unfortunately, the en bloc process means that I have to cast a single vote today. Even though I support some of the nominations in the bloc, I must stand up today to speak against the other nominations and the lack of bipartisan representation at independent agencies.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure qualified candidates from both parties are appointed in the future.

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