The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has approved three bills and advanced several key nominations within the Departments of Commerce and Transportation. The committee also promoted twenty Coast Guardsmen during an executive session held in Washington, D.C.
Among the nominees approved were Gregory Zerzan for General Counsel of the Department of Transportation, Paul Roberti as Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Taylor Jordan for Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation and Prediction at NOAA, Jonathan Morrison as Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Derek Barrs as Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Michael Rutherford as Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy, and Neil Jacobs to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere (NOAA Administrator).
The votes for these nominations varied. For example, Gregory Zerzan received 15 yeas and 13 nays; Paul Roberti was confirmed with 22 yeas to 6 nays; Taylor Jordan had a tally of 15 yeas to 13 nays; Jonathan Morrison was approved by a vote of 16 yeas to 12 nays; Derek Barrs had 15 yeas to 13 nays; Michael Rutherford also received 15 yeas to 13 nays.
In addition to nominations, three bills were passed by voice vote. These included S. 2314, SHARKED Act of 2025 (Scott-FL), S. 2318, Streamlining American Manufacturing Strategy Act as amended by the Blunt Rochester substitute (Blunt Rochester), and S. 2351, Space Exploration Research Act as amended by the Cantwell substitute, as modified (Cruz).
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