'What Are Some Of The Non-Tariff Barriers To Trade That Limit Our Exports?': Cruz Questions Nominee

Forbes Breaking News

At today's Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) questioned David Fogel, nominee to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Gleeson. All right, Mr. Fink, we'll start with you. You served as the head

00:05of the largest Class 2 railroad in the United States. Like all rail executives, you faced

00:12safety challenges, and I imagine you learned a great deal. In your opening statement, you

00:17made a point of describing the Federal Railroad Administration's primary mission as safety

00:21first. How does your professional experience shape your perspective on rail safety, and

00:28what should the FRA be doing to improve the safety of the rail system?

00:31Thank you for the question, Senator. In my career, I really wanted to work towards

00:38zero injuries and zero accidents, and that was a push when I was at Pan Am. Another

00:43thing I really wanted to work on was a cooperative and collaborative relationship. In that area,

00:48I worked very closely with all of our operating labor unions and would have 16 meetings per

00:54year in the field with my staff, meeting with the general chairman and local chairman, and

00:59any people that had safety issues. When we first started doing that about 10 years ago,

01:02there was a lot of, I'll say, friction between the parties. We fixed a lot of the issues that

01:07were safety-related, and as we came towards the merger with CSX, we were down to just a handful

01:13of issues. So working cooperatively and collaboratively was important. I also think it's important that,

01:18as railroad management, we use tools that are available to us. So our railroad volunteered

01:23two times to do a safety culture assessment with the Shortline Safety Institute. We were one of the

01:28original pilot project people where the Safety Institute came in and looked to see if we had a

01:34safety culture, which, when they came in in 2015, they said, we had a safety culture. It was a work in

01:39progress. We had another one in 2018. We still had work to do, but things that needed to be discussed and

01:45things that needed to be worked on is, is senior management engaged in safety and wants to see a

01:49safe workplace? And they found that we did. Are we giving people the tools they need to do their work?

01:56And we found that we did. We were one of the only railroads, I think, that's done two of these

02:01assessments, while some of the larger railroads haven't done any. So our business is very unforgiving.

02:08If something goes wrong, it can lead to a catastrophic injury or fatality. So every day, we need to be out

02:14there stretching for zero injuries and zero accidents.

02:18Thank you. Mr. Fogel, you have extensive experience in international business and trade.

02:25What are some of the non-tariff barriers to trade that limit our exports, and how do you plan to address them?

02:31Sure. Thank you, Senator. This is something that's very eye-opening to me. I've been learning quite a bit about it.

02:39You know, I think it would surprise some people to know that we're importing $3 billion of beef

02:44from Australia, at least last year, and we're exporting $0 of American beef to Australia. Same

02:51thing with us. As a Texan, that pisses me off. Of course. That's why I mentioned it. I started with

02:55beef. But Argentina, same problem. Because a regulation that's in place in Argentina regarding

03:02mad cow's disease from 2002, we still can't export beef to Argentina. Cars to Japan, South Korea,

03:11Germany. We're not selling American cars there due to various import requirements. So these are more

03:17insidious. The non-tariff barriers are more insidious than tariffs. Tariffs are simple to understand,

03:22difficult to deal with. But I think non-tariff barriers are even more challenging.

03:26The professional team at Global Markets have years of experience dealing with this. I look forward to

03:32working with them to bring these barriers down under President Trump's leadership.

03:37Thank you. Mr. Geddon, the Department of Commerce manages federal spectrum allocation through the

03:44National Telecommunications and Information Administration, NTIA. As general counsel, you may be

03:50asked to advise on NTIA's legal authority to reallocate spectrum for commercial use. I'm

03:56hoping you can address the legal safeguards that are in place now to mitigate supposed national

04:03security risks due to reallocation. One key authority is the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act,

04:10which is 47 U.S.C. Section 928, which established a spectrum relocation fund to compensate agencies

04:17for relocating or upgrading systems for spectrum sharing. No federal user, including the Department

04:24of Defense, can be displaced without a fully funded OMB-approved transition plan. Similarly,

04:32according to statute, DOD shall not surrender its frequencies unless and until NTIA identifies

04:39alternative bands with comparable technical characteristics. These alternative bands must

04:45be jointly certified by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

04:50Mr. Geddon, do you agree that these legal requirements mitigate national security risks due to the

04:56reallocation of spectrum? Thank you, Senator. Yes, I very much do agree. I think it's no question

05:02that the statutory protections for spectrum that is associated with national security are very robust

05:10and strong. And if I'm honored to be confirmed, I'll certainly focus on ensuring that those strictures

05:15are observed. Great. Okay. Final question, Mr. Gleason, for you. Amtrak is typically received between $1 billion

05:22and $3 billion annually in government subsidies. But the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021

05:28provided up to $66 billion in additional funding. Needless to say, Congress wants to ensure that money is

05:35being well spent, especially now that certain projects like the Gateway Program and the Baltimore

05:40Tunnel have ballooned in costs. But just last week, an internal investigation by Amtrak's

05:46Officer of the Inspector General uncovered a $12 million health care fraud scheme involving 119 employees,

05:56the largest criminal conspiracy in Amtrak's history. Will you commit to vigilantly ensuring that Amtrak funds

06:04are used efficiently and in accordance with law? Absolutely.

06:08And do you also commit to ensuring that Amtrak executive compensation benefits and bonuses

06:13are appropriate and based on measurable metrics such as ridership, revenues, and safety?

06:20I would have it no other way. Thank you. Senator Peters.

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