During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing chaired by Senator Ted Cruz, nominees faced tough questions about political independence and potential pressure to align with the president’s agenda. Senator Ben Ray Lujan pressed nominees Ms. Schultz and Mr. Kloster on whether they felt compelled to support the president’s policies, referencing recent controversies involving White House firings and political influence over agency decisions.
00:01Ms. Schultz, I appreciate the question and response that you had to Senator Baldwin.
00:04Mr. Kloster, the same question I have to you was, the firing of Mr. Prime is justified?
00:13I didn't know him. I don't know the circumstances.
00:17Please turn your microphone on.
00:18Oh, sorry.
00:22I didn't know him.
00:24I don't know the circumstances.
00:27I wasn't privy to the circumstances that he was removed by President Trump.
00:34So I have a follow-up.
00:35It's in litigation, so I don't really have a comment on that.
00:43I have a follow-up here.
00:44The White House said that they fired Mr. Prime is because he did not support the President's America First agenda.
00:50Their words, the White House.
00:52Ms. Schultz, yes or no, do you feel pressure to support the President's agenda?
00:57Thank you for the question, Senator.
01:06The answer to that is no.
01:08Again, I think in response to other questions, in my time on the Board, with pending matters, I approach it from a pretty similar manner, which is to look at the applicable law, including any statutes, regs, existing precedent.
01:30I also review the record extensively, consider the arguments on the merits and the policy principles that are set forth by Congress in the rail transportation policy.
01:43I'm sorry that the Senator from Ohio has to leave after what he shared.
01:47I was going to share with him some statistics from DWI in Ohio and how many people die there every year.
01:53I was also going to respond to all that happened recently under President Trump with the nonsense that came from Elon Musk with termination after termination, threat after threat.
02:02But my House Republican colleagues have been home for, I don't know, 40, 50 days.
02:07I don't know what they're up to.
02:08Speaker Johnson, when he was asked about bringing them back specific to pay the controllers, Speaker Johnson said, quote, he wouldn't bring the House back to pay controllers because he said it'd be a waste of our time.
02:20Look, I don't want to get in a back and forth of pointing fingers.
02:22I'm tired of that.
02:25And I find I'm falling guilty to it every day.
02:28It's time to fix this stuff.
02:31The reason there wasn't a shutdown under the previous administration with Democrats in the majority working with our Republican colleagues is we work together.
02:39Those CRs were amended.
02:42Democrats and Republicans got together to do the right thing for the American people.
02:46We need to do that again.
02:48And I'm certainly hopeful that we'll get there as well.
02:50I'm sorry that Senator Moreno doesn't want to see that there's a 26 percent increase in DWI deaths in Ohio, that one of the leading causes of fatalities in Ohio is people getting killed by people driving drunk.
03:09I hope that we'll have a chance to have a conversation and that rather than just trying to throw a swing, you want to sit here and you're going to listen to the response as well.
03:18Well, I'm just terribly sorry about that as well.
03:21But let me just get back here to close.
03:23And I appreciate the follow up here.
03:26Mr. Kloster, just same question to you.
03:27Do you feel pressure to support the president's agenda?
03:34Well, I'm not on the board, so there's been no pressure.
03:38But if I was on the board, if I was confirmed, I would take anyone's input, whether it was the president or a member of this committee, I would take their input.
03:52And then I would use that to make an independent, fair, unbiased decision.
04:00You would take their input if it was in the record?
04:05Or are you going to take their input if they go to social media and say something?
04:10Yeah, I'm not on social media.
04:11I mean, other than LinkedIn.
04:13Do you watch television news?
04:15Do you watch broadcast news?
04:15Oh, totally.
04:16Yeah.
04:16So if the president says on broadcast news, I want you all to do something and it's not in the record, how do you deal with that?
04:25That kind of stuff goes in one ear and out the other for me.
04:29It doesn't matter, correct?
04:31It's not going to matter.
04:32It has to be in the record.
04:34Whatever evidence it is that you're going to use to make a decision has to be in the record that you're evaluating of whatever the case is.
04:41Is that correct?
04:44I'm not sure what you mean by on the record.
04:46If someone called me up.
04:49So help me understand, sir.
04:51I'm from a small farm here.
04:53Yeah, and this is my first foray into this world.
04:56Mr. Kloster, you've accepted a nomination into a very serious job into an independent agency.
05:03Yeah.
05:03There are serious cases presented to you, a track going awry and going off a line.
05:12The case is presented to you to try to figure out what's happened.
05:14Is that correct?
05:16Yes.
05:16Is there a record that you review that's part of that case?
05:21Or what would you call it?
05:23What's the paper that gets put in front of you that you have to read and understand that all the evidence, all the investigations, what is that called?
05:31What do you call it?
05:31I understand what you mean by record now.
05:34Yeah.
05:34Would you call it a record?
05:36Yeah.
05:36Application.
05:36Okay, so I'm using the right word.
05:37All the evidence.
05:38Okay.
05:39If someone tells you to do something in the news, since you watch the news, you don't do social media, but you watch the news, and it's not in the record, as we've just had a conversation about what the record is, do you just completely ignore it?
05:54Does it have no bearing in the outcome of the case?
05:56As I said, I would take all input.
06:05All right.
06:05You know.
06:07Ms. Schultz, I'm not even going to ask you the same question, because I know you're going to say no.
06:11It has to be in the record.
06:13That's how you've proven this.
06:15So, Mr. Kloster, look, I'm not a JD.
06:19I'm not as smart as my colleagues here.
06:21I'm a former public utility commissioner.
06:23I had to go to Reno to an ALJ school.
06:25You might want to go to the same school before you take this job so that you can understand what your responsibility is and how to evaluate a record and make a decision, man.
06:37If any one of us goes to the news or we speak from the mountaintops or even in this hearing, and it's not in the case and the record that you have before you, that you're making a decision, it doesn't matter, man.
06:52I certainly hope that we just get to that case.
06:56And, Mr. Chairman, maybe you and I can support some budget and funding to get some ALJ training for some of these folks, and I'd be proud to co-sponsor it with you.
07:03I appreciate that recommendation.
07:06And I also admit that, you know, if confirmed, there's going to be a bit of a learning curve for me in understanding how things are done.
07:15And I commit to getting up to speed as quick as I can.
07:18There's a good school in Reno.
07:19I'd be happy to get you information on it if you'd like to, Mr. Kloster.
07:23Very good.
07:23Thank you to each of the nominees, Mr. DeLue, Mr. Kloster, Ms. Schultz.
07:27My final question is required of all nominees.
07:30If confirmed, do you pledge to work collaboratively with this committee to provide thorough and timely responses to this committee's requests
07:37and to appear before the committee when requested?
07:40Yes, Senator.
07:42Yes, Senator.
07:43Yes, Senator.
07:45I have 31 letters of support from various organizations for the nominations of Mr. DeLue, Mr. Kloster, and Ms. Schultz.
07:53I ask unanimous consent that these letters be inserted in the hearing record, without objection so ordered.
07:59Senators will have until the close of business on November 10th to submit questions for the record.
08:04The nominees will have until the close of business on November 13th to respond to those questions.
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