Senate Panel OKs Nomination of Ferro to Lead FMCSA
This story appears in the Nov. 2 print edition of Transport Topics.
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee last week approved Anne Ferro to lead the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
She still must be approved by the full Senate before becoming the new administrator.
Following the committee vote on Oct. 27, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he was “thrilled.”
“She’s a good person, and she’ll do a good job and I look forward to getting a good strong vote out of the Senate and having her on the team,” he told Transport Topics.
On the heels of an announcement that FMCSA would be reviewing the hours-of-service rule for commercial drivers and DOT’s push to ban texting by commercial drivers, LaHood said “having a full-time administrator makes life much easier” for him and DOT.
Besides Ferro, the committee also approved the nomination of Cynthia Quarterman to be ad-ministrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and Erroll Sou-thers to lead the Transportation Security Administration.
The vote total for Ferro was not made public, but sources said that at least one committee member, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), voted against her.
Calls to the committee and to Snowe’s office were not returned.
“To say the least, a hefty ‘to do’ list awaits the agency’s next leader,” said Rod Nofziger, director of government affairs for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.
Nofziger said OOIDA was “pleased that her nomination has cleared the committee hurdle and that the process will likely be completed in the near future.”
“We are optimistic that Ms. Ferro’s leadership at the agency will be a net positive for small- business truckers,” he said.
Ferro was nominated by the Obama administration in June, but she came under attack by groups including the Teamsters union and the Truck Safety Coalition — which represents advocacy groups Parents Against Tired Truckers and Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways — for her ties to the trucking industry.
Previously, Ferro led the Maryland Motor Truck Association for six years. Before that, she was head of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration.
Her industry ties also were a point of contention during her Sept. 23 hearing, where Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) questioned her about her time at MMTA and views on the HOS rule and use of electronic on-board recorders by truckers.
