ONE AND DONE: The Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday signed off on Martin Oberman’s nomination to be on the Surface Transportation Board. But the panel pushed a vote on former White House aide Rick Dearborn, nominated to serve on Amtrak’s board of directors, to a later markup. “Well, it’s the Dem side,” Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters. “We wanted — in the interest of trying to get a bipartisan vote out of it, which I think helps a ton when we get to the floor — to see if the additional time would give Democrats an opportunity to get the answers to the questions that they have and then hopefully find a way to support him.”
Triple threat: The panel also approved three bills, related to commercial space ventures, assault of a passenger train crew and movement of goods through ports.
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