Hill Heat

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, will convene a hearing for nominees of the National Transportation Safety Board and Surface Transportation Board at 10:00 AM EST on Thursday, November 6, 2025.

In May, Trump illegally fired Alvin Brown, the vice chair of the NTSB. In August, Trump illegally fired STB board member Robert Primus. Both Brown and Primus are Black.

Nominees:

• John Deleeuw, of Texas, to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board, vice Alvin Brown, illegally fired
• Richard Kloster, of West Virginia, to be a Member of the Surface Transportation Board, vice Martin J. Oberman, term expired
• Michelle Schultz, of Pennsylvania, to continue as a Member of the Surface Transportation Board (renomination)

John DeLeeuw is currently the Managing Director Safety and Efficiency for American Airlines (AA). He also serves, and has served, as the Party Coordinator for American Airlines in National Transportation Safety Board investigations. Prior to flying at American Airlines, John was a C-130 Hercules Evaluator and Instructor Pilot in the United States Air Force. He participated in Desert Storm and numerous classified Special Operations throughout the world. John worked directly with US Army Special Forces and Navy SEALS flying HALO airdrops, and flying insertions/extractions in combat and covert operations.

Kloster, a Republican, is president and founder of Integrity Rail Partners, Inc., a consultant on railroads and rail equipment based in Charles Town, W. Va. With more than three decades’ experience with railroads, rail supply chain and rail suppliers, Kloster started out as a car inspector and moved “inside” working for Chicago Northwestern, Chicago Central and Pacific, and the Indiana Railroad. He was senior vice president and chief commercial officer at rail consultant Alltranstek, and senior consultant at FTR, another rail industry specialist. He also worked as director of business and market intelligence for railcar lessor GE Rail Services for more than 15 years. Kloster is on the executive board of the National Industrial Transportation League shipper trade group, as well as the board of the Railway Supply Institute. He holds degrees from Northern Illinois University and the University of Alabama.

Schultz, a Republican and attorney, was first nominated to the rail competition regulator by Trump, and is currently in her second term as vice chairman of the board. Before joining the STB, Schultz worked at SEPTA as the agency’s director of legislative affairs and later as deputy general counsel. Earlier in her career, she was an associate at White and Williams LLP. Schultz is married to attorney Jim Schultz, who served as Associate White House Counsel in 2017.

Full committee hearing.

Nominee:

• Glen R. Smith, of Iowa, to be Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development

Glen R. Smith of Atlantic, Iowa has spent most of his life in rural America, engaged in farming and agri-business. Smith was the chair of the Farm Credit Administration from 2019 to 2022, after being appointed to the board of directors by Trump in 2017. He is a graduate of Iowa State University. Smith and his wife Fauzan have four grown children and six grandchildren.

Smith is founder and co-owner of Smith Land Service Company, an ag service company that specializes in farm management, land appraisal, and farmland brokerage, serving about 30 Iowa counties. The Smith family farm, Smith Generation Farms in western Iowa, has grown to encompass roughly 2,000 acres devoted to corn, soybeans, hay, and a small beef cow herd.

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, will convene a hearing to consider nominees to the Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority at 2:15 PM EST on Wednesday, November 5, 2025.

Nominees:

• Ryan McCormack, of Virginia, to be Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy
• Daniel J. “Dan” Edwards, of North Carolina, to be an Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Aviation and International Affairs
• Trent Morse, of Florida, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority

McCormack is currently the deputy chief of staff to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. When Duffy was in Congress, McCormack was his legislative director and campaign manager. He then served as chief of staff to Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.). The policy undersecretary position is the No. 3 post in the department.

Daniel J. Edwards is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs and was sworn in as Acting Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs on May 5, 2025. Prior to joining DOT, he served as CEO of privately held businesses in aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO), as well supply chain and distribution. Dan also has extensive business leadership in airborne C4ISR and airfield infrastructure. Edwards served over 23 years in the USAF and USAF Reserves as both a KC-10 pilot and airfield civil engineer.

Trent Michael Morse is a Trumpist political operative and lobbyist who served as the deputy director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office from January to September 2025. Morse graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor’s degree and from the university’s College of Law with a Juris Doctor. While in law school, he worked on Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Morse served in several government positions after graduating, including the Florida Department of Transportation, a transportation and infrastructure holding company, the Florida Governor’s Office, and the United States Department of Transportation as a special assistant. In July 2018, Morse became the United States Department of Health and Human Service’s liaison to the Trump administration. He was central in secretary of health and human service Alex Azar’s efforts to assume greater control over the department. In March 2020, Morse was hired by Ballard Partners. He was the host committee president for the 2020 Republican National Convention, after Jacksonville, Florida, was awarded the convention, and the campaign manager for Tudor Dixon’s campaign in the 2022 Michigan gubernatorial election. In January 2023, Morse became a senior vice president of Mercury Public Affairs. He led outreach at the 2024 Republican National Convention and was involved in the Trump’s second presidential transition. In January 2025, Trump named Morse as the deputy director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office. He led Trump’s efforts to fire members of commissions and boards. Morse resigned in September to form his own lobbying firm, Morse Strategies, and to serve as a senior strategic advisor to Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.

A full committee hearing.

Nominee:

• Casey Means to be Medical Director in the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service and Surgeon General of the Public Health Service

Dr. Means, who attended Stanford Medical School and trained as an otolaryngologist but is not board-certified. Her last medical license, from the state of Oregon, expired in 2019, making her ineligible for the position. She will not appear in person, instead testifying remotely from Hawaii.

Means is an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist and proponent of holistic medicine, “functional medicine,” and other forms of quackery. As a lifestyle influencer, she has also raised concerns about microplastics, industrial toxins, pesticides, and processed foods.

Full committee nominations hearing.

Nominees:

• Dr. Mindy Brashears, of Texas, to be Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety
• Stella Yvette Herrell, of New Mexico, to be Assistant Secretary of Agriculture of Congressional Relations
• John Walk, of Virginia, to be Inspector General, Department of Agriculture

Before serving in Trump’s first term, Brashears was a paid consultant for major meat-producing companies subject to federal inspection and regulation, including Cargill and Perdue Farms. After her departure in 2021, she accepted positions with Boar’s Head Provision Company and the Meat Institute.

Herrell is a Republican politician who served as the U.S. representative for New Mexico’s 2nd congressional district from 2021 to 2023.

Walk serves as Judicial Officer at the United States Department of Agriculture. He served as Associate Counsel to President Donald J. Trump at the White House Counsel’s Office from January 2017 until December 2020. At the White House, Walk advised the President and senior White House officials on the exercise of the President’s constitutional authority, regulatory matters, executive actions, and implementation of public policy. Prior to the White House, Walk served as an attorney at the Department of Homeland Security, providing advice on DHS operations and defending against federal litigation as agency counsel as an ally of Stephen Miller. Before entering the legal profession, Walk was a senior government relations advisor at an international law firm and served as a congressional staffer in the House of Representatives. Walk is the son-in-law of Jeff Sessions, married to Sessions’ daughter Ruth.

Full committee nomination hearing.

Nominees:

• Arjun Mody, of New Jersey, to be Deputy Commissioner, Social Security Administration for the term expiring January 19, 2031, vice David Fabian Black, term expired.
• Jeffrey Goettman, of Virginia, to be a Deputy United States Trade Representative (Africa, Western Hemisphere, Europe, the Middle East, Environment, Labor, and Industrial Competitiveness), with the Rank of Ambassador, vice Jayme Ray White.
• Julie Callahan, of the District of Columbia, to be Chief Agricultural Negotiator, Office of the United States Trade Representative, with the rank of Ambassador, vice Douglas J. McKalip, resigned.
• Thomas March Bell, of Virginia, to be Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services, vice Christi A. Grimm

Arjun Mody, a top Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) advisor, ran Barrasso’s Senate Opportunity Fund, and shepherded the confirmations of Pete Hegseth at the Defense Department, Kash Patel at the FBI and Frank Bisignano at the Social Security Administration. He was also a staffer for Sen. Elizabeth Dole, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Carly Fiorina’s California Senate campaign.

Jeff Goettman, now at the Executive Office of the President, was Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s chief of staff after a long career in finance and serving in Trump’s first administration on the Ex-Im Bank and in Treasury.

Dr. Julie Callahan serves as the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Agricultural Affairs and Commodity Policy. She previously served as a Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative and Senior Director in the USTR Agriculture Office and at the U.S. Food and Druge Administration. Dr. Callahan earned her doctoral degree in Marine Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts and a Bachelor of Science in Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science from MIT. As a civil servant, she has been an “unusually partisan” supporter of Trump. Her scientific research was on dissolved organic matter, including phytoplankton blooms, in estuaries in the United States and China.

As Inspector General for Health and Human Services, Thomas March Bell will oversee fraud, waste and abuse audits of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which spend more than $1 trillion annually. Bell currently serves as general counsel for House Republicans and has worked for GOP politicians and congressional offices for decades. The president’s nomination of this anti-abortion extremist is a “brazenly political” one. Bell was ousted from Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality in 1997 after a state audit showed he improperly authorized a nearly $8,000 payment to the agency’s former spokesman. He was staff director for House Republicans’ 2016 investigation into Planned Parenthood. During the first Trump administration, Bell helped create the Conscience and Religious Freedom division within the HHS Office for Civil Rights. Bell held leadership positions in Gary Bauer and Pat Robinson’s presidential campaigns.

The purpose of the hearing is to examine the Section 106 consultation process under the National Historic Preservation Act.

Witnesses:

• Andy McDonald, Environmental Compliance Manager, Montana-Dakota Utilities Co.
• Christopher W. Merritt, Ph.D., State Historic Preservation Officer, State of Utah
• Steven Concho, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico and Board Member of the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers

On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order purporting to declare an “energy emergency.” Following that order, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation issued guidance largely suspending section 106 rules for energy projects in February.

Trump’s demolition of the White House’s east wing is expected to be a major topic of discussion, although under Section 107 of the NHPA, the White House is exempt from National Historic Preservation Act, including listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1961, a law (P.L. 87-286) gave the National Park Service administrative responsibility for the White House, directing that “primary attention shall be given to the preservation and interpretation of the museum character of the principal corridor on the ground floor and the principal public rooms on the ground floor of the White House.” Executive Order 11145, Providing for a Curator of the White House and establishing a Committee for the Preservation of the White House, implemented the laws by establishing the office of the White House Curator. Since 2024, the curator has been Donna Hayashi Smith. The executive order also established the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, giving it advisory powers.

In August, 2025, Trump signed an executive order, asserting that “great care and consideration must be taken to choose a design that commands respect from the general public and clearly conveys to the general public the dignity, enterprise, vigor, and stability of America’s system of self-government” and that “Competitions for the design of Federal buildings should be held where appropriate.”

Trump’s demolition, led by Clark Construction, during the government shutdown violates the Anti-Deficiency Act and federal ethics rules on funding and gifts.

Subcommittee hearing.

Witnesses:

• Peter Huntsman, President and CEO, Huntsman Corporation
• Dr. Gwen Gross, Senior Technical Fellow, The Boeing Company
• Dr. Tracey Woodruff, Professor and Director, Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, University of California, San Francisco

Peter’s father, Jon Huntsman Sr., founded the Huntsman Corporation, an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of chemical products for consumers and industrial customers. His brother, Jon Huntsman Jr., is a former United States ambassador and former Republican governor of Utah.

Dr. Woodruff studies toxic microplastics.

Full committee hearing to examine multiple nominations.

Nominees:

• Edward Forst, of Florida, to be Administrator of General Services
• Charles Arrington, of Illinois, to be a Member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority for a term expiring July 1, 2030
• Paul Ingrassia, of New York, to be Special Counsel, Office of Special Counsel, for the term of five years
• John Cuong Truong, Elana S. Suttenberg, and Stephen F. Rickard, each to be an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia for the term of fifteen years
• William “Bill” Kirk, of Maryland, to be Inspector General, Small Business Administration
• Anthony D’Esposito, of New York, to be Inspector General, Department of Labor
• Platte Moring, of South Carolina, to be Inspector General, Department of Defense

Charles Arrington is the Chief Human Resources Officer at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Forst began working for Bankers Trust in 1982 as a managing director. In 1994, Forst joined Goldman Sachs, becoming a managing director in 1996 and a partner in 1998. In 2004, he was appointed as the company’s chief administrative officer, and in 2007, he became the co-head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Forst temporarily left Goldman Sachs in 2008 to serve as Harvard’s executive vice president and to advise secretary of the treasury Henry Paulson amid a financial crisis. Forst returned to Goldman Sachs in September 2009 as the firm’s senior strategy officer. In February 2010, he was appointed head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Amid complications involving his leadership style and weeks after he did not appear at a critical meeting in Europe, Forst was removed from Goldman Sachs in December 2010. Forst began serving as Cushman & Wakefield’s president and chief executive in January 2014. He led a strategy to return Cushman & Wakefield to New York City’s real estate market, but was forced to leave the company after its acquisition by DTZ in May 2015.

Ingrassia has publicly associated with white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, as well as Andrew Tate, the conservative social media influencer who is wanted in multiple countries on rape and sex trafficking charges. And he has written extensively of his disdain for federal workers, describing them as “parasites” and “bugmen” who “leech of the diminishing lifeblood of the dying republic.” In private chats, Ingrassia said the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell” and described himself as having “a Nazi streak.” On October 22, the White House withdrew Ingrassia’s nomination.

Truong, Suttenberg, and Rickard are federal prosecutors in D.C..

Kirk, who studied accounting at the University of Notre Dame and law at Notre Dame Law School, most recently worked at the Department of Education, serving as acting chief of staff for the Office of General Counsel. Kirk is on detail from the Environmental Protection Agency’s IG office, where he most recently served as acting counsel to the IG. He served at the EPA IG from 2022 to 2024. A devout Catholic, Kirk was general counsel for the Catholic Ave Maria University, the executive director of the Catholic Education Foundation, and a partner in a Catholic wealth management firm before joining the first Trump administration as deputy general counsel in the Department of Education.

Anthony P. D’Esposito is a retired New York City Police Department detective. A Republican, he represented New York’s 4th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2023 to 2025.

Platte Moring joined The Citadel as an adjunct professor in the fall of 2021 and is also an adjunct professor for The College of Charleston School of Law. Moring is a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.

Full committee hearing to consider the nominations of the Maritime Administration, the Federal Maritime Commission, and the Department of Commerce at 10:30 AM EST on October 22, 2025.

Nominees:

• Stephen Carmel, of Virginia, to be Administrator of the Maritime Administration
• Laura DiBella, of Florida, to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner
• Robert Harvey, of Florida, to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner
• Timothy Petty, of Indiana, to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere (NOAA Fisheries)

Dr. Timothy R. Petty assumed his Senate-confirmed position as Assistant Secretary for Water and Science in January 2018. In this capacity, he oversees water and science policy for the U.S. Department of the Interior and has responsibility for the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Survey. His career has focused on water science, engineering, and water policy. Dr. Petty previously served as Deputy Legislative Director and Legislative Assistant for U.S. Senator James E. Risch of Idaho, a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Dr. Petty covered issues of water, natural resources, environment, science, technology, telecommunications and space. He also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary for Water and Science at Interior under President George W. Bush. Dr. Petty earned a Ph.D. from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (College of Engineering and Mines in Water Science), an M.S. from the University of Maryland University College (Business Management), and a B.S. from Purdue University (Geosciences). Prior to his Senate service with Senator Risch, Dr. Petty worked for U.S. Senators Connie Mack of Florida and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. In addition, Dr. Petty worked in California and Indiana as a geologist and hydrogeologist.

Carmel is Senior Vice President, Maritime Services at Maersk Line, Limited (MLL) with full responsibility for MLL’s U.S. Marine Management Inc. business unit. He is is a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. He is a a member of the Board of Visitors of the US Merchant Marine Academy.

DiBella is a lobbyist at Adams & Reese. She was previously Florida’s first female Secretary of Commerce. Laura was the former President of Business Development at FloridaCommerce; President/CEO at Enterprise Florida; President of the Florida Opportunity Fund (Florida’s Venture Capital arm), gaining knowledge of the state funded startup ecosystem; Executive Director of Florida Harbor Pilots Association; Port Director of Port of Fernandina Ocean Highway and Port Authority; and Executive Director of Nassau County Economic Development Board. As the first-ever, full-time executive director of Florida Harbor Pilots Association, DiBella helped pass legislation that prevents citizen initiatives from interrupting commerce at Florida seaports.

Harvey serves as General Counsel for Enterprise Florida, Inc. (EFI), Executive Director of Florida Opportunity Fund, Inc. (“FOF”), and the Executive Director of Florida Development Finance Corporation (“FDFC”). Previously, Robert was a founding partner of the law firm Jenks & Harvey LLP in West Palm Beach, specializing in securities litigation, arbitration, and regulation. In 1992, Robert joined startup Meridian VAT Reclaim North America in New York, NY. Meridian, now known as Meridian Global Services, is the worldwide leader in providing corporate international Value Added Tax compliance and consulting services. Mr. Harvey became Meridian North America’s Senior Vice President of Operations & General Counsel in 1996. Headquartered in Ireland, Meridian was acquired in 1999 by Profit Recovery Group International and is now privately held. After leaving Meridian in 1999, Mr. Harvey became Director of Operations for MBIA MuniServices Company, a subsidiary of MBIA, Inc. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Harvey later served as Chief Operating Officer of Imperial Software in Great River, New York. From 2003-2014 Mr. Harvey was the Managing General Partner of Kensington Capital Fund LP.