Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

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Mr. LEE. We have to confirm people after they have been nominated by the President.

As a Member of the Senate, I take this responsibility seriously, and I do my due diligence once a nominee has been submitted by the President and consideration by the Senate. I have done that here.

And in the process of that due diligence process with this nominee, I submitted a number of written questions to Ms. Hedlund in order to develop a better understanding of how she would respond to certain issues that are directly relevant to the position for which she is seeking confirmation from the Surface Transportation Board.

Specifically, I asked her how she would approach: 1, cost-benefit analysis in proposed regulations; 2, the scope of the SBT's rulemaking authority; 3, how she would approach consideration of rate regulation, rate caps, or price controls; 4, her definition of the public interest, which is a key term that comes up as used in STB proceedings; 5, how she would balance Amtrak access to the freight rail network with reliable freight service; and, 6, how she would approach the carrying out of the NEPA process, including the definitions behind the key regulatory terms at issue.

These are all issues that are really relevant to the STB, and these are the kinds of questions that deal with the kinds of things she would do if confirmed as a member of the STB.

Needless to say, I was disappointed with my responses. Some of the answers avoided answering my questions; some answers appeared to be purposely vague; and some refused even directly to answer the question.

So for these reasons, I voted against Ms. Hedlund's nomination before the Commerce Committee, and my position has not changed since that vote took place. I am not comfortable granting my consent today, and I will not be, until I have the information and more thorough, responsive answers to my reasonable questions.

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