Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

Committee spokespersons and DOT decline to say why; no new date for David Matsuda’s confirmation hearing declared. No major issues apparently involved with delay.

The scheduled Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday afternoon of this week included, among other things on the schedule, the consideration of the nomination of David Matsuda for U.S. Maritime Administrator. On Tuesday morning, however, Matsuda’s name was abruptly scrubbed from the list of various nominees to be considered for a number of posts.

Nominated by the White House on December 7th, Matsuda has been serving as Deputy Administrator and Acting Administrator of the United States Maritime Administration since July 2009. According to the White House press release, he is a transportation professional with more than a decade of experience in federal transportation policy, programs and oversight.

Industry and beltway insiders, now waiting for almost a year for a new Maritime Administrator, will apparently have to wait just a little longer before a candidate is confirmed. No date has been released for the expected rescheduling of this hearing. Unofficially, MarEx did learn via reliable sources late on Wednesday that the cause for the delay was a "documentation" snafu on the part of the White House. The issue is not expected to derail the nomination, but could well delay it until after the holidays.