Hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee - Nominations Hearing

Hearing

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Today the Committee is considering two important
nominations for two different organizations: Acting Administrator Therese W. McMillan,
to be Federal Transit Administrator (FTA) for the U.S. Department of Transportation,
and Ms. Lourdes Maria Castro Ramirez, to be an Assistant Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD). Since the Chairman has been very thorough in his
explanation of our nominees, I'll be brief.

Ms. McMillan brings 30 years of transportation experience to the role of Federal
Transit Administrator, including 5 years at the agency prior to this nomination. If
confirmed as FTA Administrator, Ms. McMillan will lead a staff of more than 500
employees in Washington, D.C., oversee 10 regional offices and manage an annual
budget of approximately $10 billion.

In October 2013, as part of its implementation of MAP-21, the FTA released an
Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the areas of Safety and Transit Asset
Management. This Notice is of great interest to myself and several other members of
this Committee who have all raised concerns with the potential outcome being overly
prescriptive. At the March 2014 Transit Hearing, we heard from private sector
witnesses who also shared our concern that, if done improperly, some small systems
could be subject to overly burdensome regulations that are inappropriate to their
size. Today, I would like to hear how Ms. McMillan would proceed with the
implementation of MAP-21 while balancing the needs of all systems, both large and
small.

Our other nominee today is Ms. Castro-Ramirez. Currently, Ms. Castro-Ramirez
serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer for the San Antonio Housing Authority. She brings approximately 15 years working with Housing Authorities in
California and Texas. If confirmed, Ms. Castro Ramirez will oversee the nation's public
housing and rental assistance programs that assist approximately 3.2 million lowincome families across the U.S. Also, she would be responsible for the Department's
Native American and Native Hawaiian programs, which serve 562 federally recognized
tribes. While Ms. Castro Ramirez has public housing experience from previous
positions, Indian Housing is a big part of this job and incredibly important in Idaho, so I
appreciate her willingness to learn the latter in her new capacity as well.

Although it is not the topic of today's hearing, I must take this opportunity to
express frustration with how HUD has handled a situation that is affecting many
constituents in Idaho. Last month, HUD released guidelines related to Recreational
Vehicles that they termed a "reiteration." Because HUD termed it a reiteration, these
guidelines went through without the benefit of any public comment or
input. Consequently, the new guidelines for what defines a recreational vehicle could
have serious negative implications for RV owners, dealers and manufactures.

The lack of due process and public input also comes at an economic cost to
many small business men and women who make their livings owning and operating
campgrounds. It is now incumbent upon HUD to fix this situation and mitigate the real
consequences that have been created. I look forward to hearing from each of our
nominees on these important issues and more, and working with Chairman Johnson
regarding these nominations.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman

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