During a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing Wednesday, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) spoke about the Department of Transportation revoking grants for university transportation centers.
00:00Senator Alson Brooks. Thank you so much Mr. Chair and thank you as well to each
00:06of the nominees today. Congratulations to you and to your families on your
00:10nominations. The three offices that you're being considered for are really
00:14critical to Maryland and so I'm excited to have the chance to ask some
00:18questions today. I'll start with Mr. McMaster and ask you a question
00:23regarding the University Transportation Centers. Last week the U.S. Department of
00:29Transportation actually terminated grants for seven university transportation
00:35centers related to advancing a so-called quote-unquote woke agenda. I understand
00:42that John Hopkins University, which is one of the seven universities impacted, had
00:47however already revised its work plans to align with the administration's
00:51priorities and these grants required a dollar-for-dollar match, meaning that the
00:57universities made significant financial and institutional commitments and they
01:01did so based on the promise of a five-year federal partnership and so I'm
01:06concerned not just about the terminations themselves but how it was handled and the
01:11justification that was provided and what this says about the federal
01:14government's willingness to honor its commitments. So the question is given that
01:18some of the universities have already revised their work plans and others have
01:24expressed a willingness to do so, can you commit today to working with these
01:28institutions to reverse the terminations and instead pursue a path that
01:33allows these universities to fulfill their mission under the revised mutually
01:37agreeable terms? Yeah, thank you senator. I understand how important this this issue is to you. I'm not
01:44familiar with the recent terminations of those so I can commit to you if I'm
01:48confirmed to following up directly with the federal administration and and the
01:53secretary and the department to understand more fully what the
01:56justifications and what the interests were in that and and then happy to
02:00follow up with you directly to address this issue. Perfect, thank you so much. Mr.
02:05McMaster, just one other question regarding Maryland's the freezing of some some
02:09funds. Maryland's aging bridge infrastructure presents for us a really
02:14significant challenge and there are several critical structures requiring
02:18attention and investment and for this reason the bridge investment program which
02:22was established under the bipartisan infrastructure law is really really
02:26important to our state. The Trump administration froze this program at the
02:31beginning of the year and then quickly reinstated the program. The freezing of
02:36funds caused confusion as you might imagine uncertainty and it also added to
02:40some project delays so if confirmed can you commit that the federal highway
02:44administration will keep congressionally appropriated federal funds flowing? Yes, Senator, I appreciate I
02:52appreciate the question. I can confirm if I'm if I'm if I'm confirmed I can commit to
02:58you that I will carry out these programs in accordance with the law and the
03:02intent of Congress. Thank you and then third Mr. Tell when I ask you a question as
03:08well about sustainability and climate resilience projects. Many of Maryland's
03:12Army Corps projects are related to climate change and are designed to enhance resilience
03:18and the Baltimore district in particular is currently working on projects that
03:23mitigate risks from sea level rise coastal storms and flooding and I suspect
03:28that you have familiarity with similar projects given your time working in both
03:33Mississippi and Alabama's congressional delegation so if confirmed the
03:37question is whether or not you would commit to working with my office to
03:42ensure that Maryland's congressionally authorized Army Corps projects that
03:46focus on sustainability and climate resilience are completed. Senator thank you
03:52for the question with regard to climate resiliency as it it's a question of for
04:01the Corps of Engineers that the policy the Corps of Engineers doesn't set the
04:05policy on why or the root cause of a particular project it only looks at the
04:10data the high the latest hydrological trends the real hard information to make
04:14decisions about how to plan projects for now and for the future so that they
04:18can make states like Maryland more resilient and I absolutely commit to
04:22following congressional intent and working with you on advancing the
04:26projects that are important to your state. All right thank you. I yield to
04:29Senator Husted. Thank you. Gentlemen thank you for joining us today. I know that you will hear from me what will be a broken record that is time is money.
04:43Time is money. The faster we go the more money we save the
