[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 37 (Wednesday, February 25, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S665]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Nomination of John DeLeeuw

  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I come to speak about the opposition to 
the nominee before us that we are going to vote on soon, Mr. John 
DeLeeuw. It is not necessarily about Mr. DeLeeuw's qualifications; it 
is about the dangerous precedent we are making as we confirm someone to 
replace an independent NTSB board member who was removed by the 
President without cause, while they are actively challenging this 
removal in court. And it is about a needless jeopardizing of public 
confidence in NTSB's critical work, which I will speak about in a 
minute, particularly as it relates to the House not taking up the ROTOR 
Act on suspension yesterday, a bill that we passed by 100 votes here in 
the U.S. Senate.
  It has been less than 2 years since this body unanimously confirmed 
Alvin Brown to be on the NTSB. The Senate's overwhelming support for 
Mr. Brown should not be surprising. As a former mayor of Jacksonville, 
FL, and a former senior adviser to the Department of Transportation, 
Mr. Brown's background and experience qualified him to be on the NTSB.
  My colleague Senator Scott of Florida introduced Mr. Brown at his 
nomination hearing before the Commerce Committee, praising his 
``excellent record of service'' and noting that he would ``do excellent 
work on behalf of the American people in this role.'' Senator Scott's 
prediction that Mr. Brown would focus on the NTSB and safety-- shortly 
after he was sworn in, he began conducting critical work on the NTSB 
investigation into the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which 
killed six people and caused billions of dollars in damage.

  He was also leading the NTSB response to the March 13, 2025, highway 
accident on Interstate 35 in Austin, TX, that killed 5 people and 
injured 11 more. But seeking to unravel Congress' will and insert its 
own will, even though we voted on this gentleman and he is serving the 
NTSB focusing on safety, the White House basically is trying to remove 
Mr. Brown and replace him with Mr. DeLeeuw. As I stated earlier, Mr. 
Brown has filed a lawsuit challenging his removal. This remains in the 
courts and pending; the Supreme Court is prepared to rule this year on 
this decision to bring legal clarity to Mr. Brown's case.
  So I ask my colleagues, why are we rushing to confirm Mr. DeLeeuw to 
a seat that isn't even really vacant under current law? Why would we 
needlessly create confusion, especially when the Supreme Court is 
expected to rule on this issue very soon? And why would the Senate 
allow the executive branch to undermine the confidence and the 
independence of the National Transportation Safety Board?
  As we pointed out, moving ahead with this nomination before us--Mr. 
DeLeeuw's--is especially problematic when the White House has still not 
nominated a single member of the opposing party to any independent 
board or commission, including the NTSB. I guarantee you, that is not 
the way the FTC, the FCC, the NTSB should run. You are undermining the 
confidence in these Agencies and the fact that we have both Democrats 
and Republicans who are supposed to serve on them.
  This is not about might makes right. This is about policy and 
expertise and having both Democrats and Republicans on commissions so 
that you can continue the focus of bipartisan adherence to these 
principles that each Agency is supposed to profess confidence in and 
move forward on. So do we want an FTC that is driven just purely by 
politics, an FCC that is purely driven by the President's will or 
desire? Do we want an NTSB decided by the President of the United 
States? I guarantee you we don't because, yesterday, he couldn't 
deliver a vote on the House floor that would have gotten us the ROTOR 
Act--100 votes in the U.S. Senate and he couldn't do that. But he is 
going to tell us over our processes and over historical precedent about 
how Democrat and Republican nominees should be appointed. He is 
throwing the Democrats off, appointing his own person, and then 
basically leaving into question how strong is the NTSB really going to 
be on safety.
  Congress established the NTSB in law as an independent Agency. It 
reauthorized the Agency as recently as 2024. So, if all of a sudden, 
everybody here didn't want to have appointments to the NTSB by the 
normal process, well, you had a big chance to say you didn't like that, 
but nobody did. In fact, we renewed it, so we should now not be 
rewarding the President's unlawful removal of Vice Chair Brown by 
rushing to confirm a nominee in a position that is not really vacant. I 
call on my Republican colleagues not to go down this path. Instead, 
uphold the constitutional duty to provide checks and balances and 
protect the American people.