By Frank N. Wilner, Capitol Hill Contributing Editor, Railway Age Magazine; July 6, 2018
Martin J. (Marty) Oberman, 73, an attorney and perennial fixture in Chicago and Illinois Democratic politics, is President Trump’s choice to fill a vacant Democratic seat on the five-member Surface Transportation Board (STB). He must be confirmed by the Senate.
The STB, with a staff of some 120, has exclusive jurisdiction over railroad common carrier unreasonable rate and service disputes and railroad mergers. It has been operating with only two Senate-confirmed members since late 2017—Chairman Ann Begeman, a Republican, whose second term expires Dec. 31, 2020, and Democrat Deb Miller, whose first term expired Dec. 31, 2017. Miller is in a statutory 12-month maximum holdover period. If not renominated and Senate confirmed, she must depart Dec. 31.
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