Senator Carper Hears from Additional Nominees for the Postal Regulatory Commission and the D.C. Superior Court

Today at the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) hearing, U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) heard from Thomas G. Day, nominee to serve as Commissioner of the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), and three judicial nominees for the D.C. Superior Court. During the hearing, Senator Carper emphasized the importance of continuing to hear from nominees for both the PRC and the Court in order to fulfill the duties of the Senate in a timely fashion and to confirm qualified people for these roles. Earlier this year, the Senator introduced legislation to prevent prolonged vacancies in D.C. courts.

During the hearing, Senator Carper focused on the critical, independent role of the Postal Regulatory Commission and the need to transition the aging Postal Service delivery fleet:

“The Postal Service has, as you know, one of the largest fleets in the in the country. And for many, many years, the fleets aged older and older and older, and are not always very reliable. But one thing that we can always count on is that those vehicles pollute the air. And there’s an effort underway now to update the fleet, to phase out the dirty polluting vehicles. […] The biggest cause of climate change in this country is mobile sources. Second is manufacturing and third would be power plants, but the biggest one is mobile sources. The path that the Postal Services is on right now, it’s important to stick to it. It’s really important.”

Senator Carper also emphasized the critical nature of speedily confirming judicial nominees to courts in the District of Columbia, and praised the qualifications of the three nominees: Katherine E. Oler, Judith E. Pipe, and Charles J. Willoughby, Jr.:

“I want to say welcome again to our judicial nominees. We’ve not always been very timely in terms of how quickly we handle nominees for the District of Columbia judgeships. And I know this Chairman has been judicious in moving [these nominations] along. Justice delayed is justice denied. Thank you for your willingness to go through this process.”

A video of Senator Carper’s questions at today’s hearing can be found here. 

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