WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will withdraw one of its six nominees for the Amtrak Board of Directors and replace that individual with a yet-to-be-named candidate from the Western U.S., the Washington news site Roll Call reports. The move will end a hold on the nominations over their failure to meet a Congressional requirement for geographic balance on the board.
Roll Call’s reporting cites a congressional aid “familiar with the nomination discussions,” who said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) would end his hold on the nominations as a result of the move. A group of senators from both parties have stalled the board nominations over the geographic requirement [see “Senators challenge Northeast Corridor tilt …,” Trains News Wire, April 26, 2023].
“When I sat down with my Republican and Democratic colleagues to craft our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, I fought tooth and nail to ensure that the American West would be fairly represented on the Amtrak Board, and throughout the entire bill,” Tester said in a statement to Roll Call. “I’m pleased to see that the Biden Administration will follow the law and set up an opportunity to do right for rural America by guaranteeing our Amtrak board represents our nation’s diverse geography.”
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will vote on the nominations of Anthony R. Coscia (the current board chairman), Christopher Koos, and Joel Matthew Szabat on Oct. 18. The committee held a hearing on those three nominees in June, but Tester (D-Mont.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said then that they would not support any nominees until the administration addressed the requirement that no more than four of the eight Senate-confirmed borad members reside in the Northeast Corridor region. Of the current list of six nominees, only Koos — mayor of Normal, Ill. — is from outside the Northeast [see “Senators remain concerned about geographic balance …,” News Wire, June 21, 2023].
Other nominees from the Northeast Corridor region are David Michael Capozzi, Samuel E. Lathem, and Robin Lee Wiessmann. It is not clear which nominee will be withdrawn.
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