this morning's hearing is on the proposed school he accused thousand and nine and the institutional management the federal maritime commission which was created to regulate international shipping to the mission had been operating under a five year authorization of its budget which is due to expire on september thirtieth of this year this is the first opportunity to su had in several years examined the activities of the commission have heard many concerns about the management and programatic direction of the federal maritime commission commissioners who are about to testify have been jointly responsible for the daily administration of the commission as well as for the sabotaging the commission's policy positions during a ten year tenure t two thousand and six federal human capital survey of s m c employees found alarmingly the following only fifty six percent of employees thought the f m c was a good place to work only fifty point two percent of the employees said they were able to recruit people with the right skills only fifty four percent of employees have high respect for the agency's senior leaders only forty eight percent employees think that complaints disputes and grievances are resolved fairly only forty percent of the employees believe that the agency's leaders generate high levels of motivation and commitment in the work force interesting only twenty seven point three percent of employees think that pay raises the bend on how well employees perform their job the numbers are troubling they are alarming and should cause all of us great concern as is the fact that the general counsel of the commission the four commissioners do not regularly meet face to face to discuss either the management of the agency or its policy decisions similarly the committee subcommittee is concerned about the process of goals voting through which a commissioner may apparently sign blank voting sheets in advance of the conduct of any boat and then through a phone call through a phone call should be a hallmark of the commission's consideration of any administrative a policy decision subcommittee is for the trouble by reports of excessive spending understands that a commissioner may not be in the office for days or weeks at a time travel and the same standard should be kept by the commissioner who certainly cannot adequately manage a federal agency and lead employees when they are thousand miles away today we no longer can tolerate the old patronage system that distributed and benefits and goodies to people who are not expected to do any real work that day is long gone perhaps because of the circumstances we have just outline and i was outside management consulting hired by the commission in two thousand and five and two thousand and six found the following lack of trust existed at all levels in the organization especially in the leadership women and minorities felt disenfranchised which is obviously a finding that is of great concern to me and conflict bounded between among individuals and groups of people  managers and senior executives no leadership team exists it and managers did not know how to give or receive feedback to employees  customers no staff meetings were being you know and there was little interaction with the maritime industry the f m c is expected to regulate for their no vision well operational values were exhibited words these are there's the organization operated in a command and control manner the executive director ruled with an iron hand the culture was quote his way or the highway quote the bearer of it for us but in particular operate it with a hammer mindset rather than with the goal of examining how the agency could work in partnership with industry and individuals the automation processes both inside the agency's agency and the processes that connected the agency to the industry it serves were outdated and no plan existed to improve them there was little interaction between the commissioners and their staff the evidence we have before us presents a picture of an agency that appears to be broken and dysfunctional eager to hear from the commissioners i notice that they seem to be a little concerned about some of things that i just read and i'd love to hear your response and in particular i'd like to hear from mr anderson who has been nominated to head this mr chairman thank you for holding this hearing welcome to the commissioners were meeting to review the fiscal year two thousand and nine budget request for the federal maritime commission the commission has responsibilities to oversee u s interests in the maritime trade and to enforce international domestic shipping regulations the president's request about twenty four million dollars for the commission which is an increase of nearly eight percent over the amounts appropriated for the current fiscal year subcommittee is on record as being in support of the proposed levels and i look forward to working with the chairman t reauthorize the commission later this year i do want to bring up one man concern and perhaps during testimony questions this could be addressed and that has to do with the japanese government ten years ago the japanese government pressured by our administration and the federal maritime commission signed an agreement promising to open its ports stevedoring market to u s and other foreign competition however the administration has reported to the congress just within the last month that the japanese side has failed t live up to its commitments and the japanese market for port stevedoring services remain closed meanwhile the japanese maritime companies protected from competition at home have continued to expand their port operations in the united states now one japanese carrier has approached the f m c and demanded their rights stevedore its own vessels even in a privately owned maritime terminal owned and controlled by a us stevedoring companies we continue to be concerned about the apparent imbalance of unfairness between the closed japanese market for port services compared to the open u s stevedoring and terminal sector that we have in my opinion the f m c should not take actions that needlessly aggravate this imbalance or further undermine or harm u s maritime companies and their interests furthermore markets back into balance i want to thank the commissioners for appearing this morning and look forward to hearing your testimony thank you mr chairman thank you very much very pleased to have been joined by the distinguished chairman of the transportation committ meet at a sad moment for me troubling moment in the history of the federal maritime commission i've served on a merchant marine fisheries committee along with then public works committee from my today first of all it's been five years since we've had the f m c appear before the committee to explain its budget over that time there have been serious management problems chairman they ought to be doing oversight of the activities of the commission but what was troubling to me was the federal human capital survey of f m c employees found that fifty six percent pretty low number thought the f m c was a good place to work only fifty four percent said high respect for senior leaders many of us on this com kind of reports we'd be back home shuffling shelling dirt not standing on street corners and knocking on doors and talking to people there are reports of ghost voting i've never had that happen before some of the commissioners aren't even in washington when they vote they call in their vote to staff tell me how to feel and signed pre science ballot reports of some commissioners having been at the commission in weeks all the while getting paid to do the work of the commission the civil service employees that's put in forty hours a week only wonder what standard th commissioners have these are presidential appointee jobs but they're not featherbedding jobs they get paid but don't show up mc's inspector general issued a report finding that staff and attorneys at the commission violated the federal acquisition regulations when purchasing thirty six thousand dollars worth of approve a travel request for a commission staff member not know about or not be asked to vote on thirty six thousand dollars for furniture that's a lot of furniture a chairman's office and furnish a few houses with that money wasn't in the commission's budget and i expect an explanation from this panel where the money was f and it is troubling when the general counsel of an agency finds it necessary to file and e e o complaint against her own agency i've never seen that happen this agency and the maritime industry is well aware of these problems i hear about it wherever i travel port communities to labor organizations to business groups who are saying what's going on at the commission so all we have he so i think it's important for this committee to conduct this hearing and a follow up on it here the response we got from the commissioners and to ensure that we do whatever  whatever is necessary to make it make sure that the f m c is a place once again where people enjoy their jobs respect their commissioners respect their leadership and have a vision for the future look forward to the testimony thank you  thank you mr chairman distinguished members of the subcommittee on the committee a pleasure to appear before you today to present the president's fiscal year two thousand nine hundred for the federal maritime commission that's not to be here today with my colleagues  joe brown and how real and rebecca died president's budget for the commission provides for twenty three thousand nine hundred fifty three thousand dollars for fiscal year two thousand and this represents a seven point eight increase or one substantially revised and updated many of us on our internal process i'd like to provide some of the highlights of the state of the us trades over the last year as well as identify some of the significant current events programs and initiatives that the commission fiscal year two thousand and seven was another year of growth in the u s liner trades total cargo volume of u s liner exports grew by twelve percent offsetting the slight decline in imports for the first time in years notably cargo growth and imports from asia slowly slowed substantially this fiscal year china continued to be the leading trading partner in line of cargo with the united states as you know the european commission has recently at the block exemption from european commission competition laws and is currently reviewing the exemption for non rate making consortia green and some long wiener carriers the block exemption is set to expire in october first two thousand and eight can source exemption is currently due to expire in april two thousand and ten the repeal of the block exemption in the e u will result in the a lemonade of great discussion agreements and the european trades including the u trade lands is estimated at approximately six out of the two hundred twenty seven carrier agreements currently filed with the commission will need to be restructured role emanated to ensure compliance with e u guidelines the commission will monitor the transition very closely and we'll have a better indication of the media in long term the facts on the u s european trades after the terminations of the exams and in october of two thousand and eight the commission has also been monitoring significant developments a marine terminal operator agreements which address supply chain and operational issues including port congestion security air pollution and environmental concerns the port of los angeles and long beach and falling agreement with the commission permitting them to discuss consult and agreed on the establishment and m m employment taishan of programs and strategies to improve port related transportation infrastructure and increase support related air pollution the ports are currently in the process of developing a clean trucks program as a first initiative under the joint clean air action plan the ports call as the significantly reduce air pollution from port drainage tracks by replacing or retrofitting and estimated sixteen thousand trucks servicing the ports over a five year period the commission is actively monitoring the green its activities and our staff has met with a variety of industry stakeholders concerning the implementation of this program we will continue to remain engaged throughout the development implementation of the clean truck program the commission has continued its cooperation with other agencies to improve our enforcement capabilities and assist maritime security efforts cooperation with u s customs and border protection as expanded in the joint field operations to investigate and of the suspected of violating both agenc statutes or regulations were also in the process of assisting national maritime security efforts by working to share our informational resources with other federal agencies including customs border patrol in the department of homeland security through the international trade data system and the automated commercial environment portal these efforts allow the commission to provide access to its extensive informational resources containing background information on and it is regulated by the commission some of the most complete resources identifying persons and gaged in u s foreign commerce once completed a site t v s system will provide greater transparency of the nation's supply cha over the last fiscal year the commission to streamline access to our information resources by automating our ocean transportation intermediary licensing process and by modernizing our databases containing extensive information  regulate completion of these projects ensure that the commission is able to fish and we meet the needs of the industry at this point mr chairman we respectfully request a little consideration of the president's budget and i'm more than happy to answer questions but one of them is that the taxpayers money must be spent effectively and efficiently and it's quite appropriate that i make that statement on this day and to that end i want to ask you a few questions about how you are managed agency and how you all earn the money that the taxpayers work so hard to put into our federal coffers how many management meetings have before you held since jam and last left in june of two thousand and six in other words how many times have the four of you gotten together to actually discuss the management of the agency and policy issues mr chairman as as you may know the sunshine government governs our ability to meet as a group so the four of us getting met together like if you put a circle and all your were sitting there like you are now how many of you are many times and you all doesn't that two or three times and as well and too close hearings as well to discuss management issues and when was the last time that happened about six weeks ago way you know i believe i was there four days four days let me ask you this what would you submit for for me over the last year how many times you've been there you can assume a death for the record would you do that it's my understanding the search airman from based on our counsel that since i've been at the commission we are limited to meeting with no more than two commissioners at any given time so that we don't  nothing's wrong with you know why don't you want to have them while we were we were meeting with on a regular basis with each other and pairs of two and then our councils work very closely together we had day to day contact with each other on a regular basis we i can speak for myself i speak to my several my colleagues on evenings over the weekends  as i've been on vacation we are in constant communication with each other since the time that we've been equally managing the commit have you chairman i have i have voted through the notation process which allows for us to to by notation that's the process that we have where we can do and i have done where i've indicated my vote  after comprehensive discussions and reading the material with my counsel yes so you and then you instructed your staff to fill in your voting card whatever you use mr mr chairman since i've been at the commission that has been accepted procedural way to vote at the commission i have voted indicated in my vote either verbally and then and it's my understanding that for as long as the commission has been under the current structure has voted through a notation process by which there is no the purpose of these are for  e or acknowledging in many cases you're not voting it's just noted that you've received a piece of information or noting that that we've received something from outside the agency for the record that we have received that so and most cases mr chairman the notation process we are not actually voting and many of the cases i could not give you a percentage were voting procedurally just acknowledge generally be and these are not on issues so that i can be clear these are not issues that where we voted at hearings or we voted on issues that were where we took and not since i've been at the commission as we've never had a group deliberation on a notation i don't that's that's not how the notation process is worked and has been set up i do not even i've been there for years i do not know how that was originally established but that's the procedural way when i came to the commission was identified to me on the process of voting at the commission how much time is required before a vote is taken on it depends on the items or it could be that we've received an amendment to an agreement that just by it might be for example an agreement that we monitor might be adding one company to that line or  that we have received a memorandum or something from an outside entity and we're just voting noted that we've received that information do you think  to operate in a way that we can respond very quickly the process allows for in most cases mr chairman notations have some cases a week before the vote is due and some give me an idea of what just me a range of what you all  i believe it's currently one hundred forty six thousand dollars well i missed a lot of right thank you very much and thank you for coming here today in my opening remarks i talked a little bit about the situation with the japanese government and mr anderson or any of the commissioners if you could just talk to me a little bit about what some of us perceived to be unfair competition and that is that the terminal ownership import service operations in our country are generally free and open to foreign interests in some foreign parts ports however u s individuals interested in owning port terminals  japanese situation and second of all how the sea works with foreign governments to increase access and opportunities created stated interests  abroad thank you japan the staff of the general counsel's met with department of state staff and a visiting delegation requested to remove the reporting requirements about the japanese court practices my colleagues on their points as well as we would be a joint consideration matter of access by u s flag or vessels or vessels calling in the u s nine japanese vessels were denied entry or without having a proper license in other words japanese vessels they were also subject to call the prior consultation process which was deemed by the by the vessel owners as being burdensome and because that prior consultation required prior consultation with the port authority before changing a port call which is not something that's normally done that proceeding is actually still open just a background a little bit more that on that particular treatment being shown vessels calling in the us that that issue was that immediate issue was resolved one hundred thousand dollars per vessel call a levy that was that was posted on all japanese vessel calls that that was alleviated through through negotiations between the state department and the japanese government basically as an independent agency the f m c carries the big stick to be able to do this yet  negotiations are up to the state department to resolve this diplomatically diplomatically and that did happen however that proceeding is still open is my understanding that there are still some problems that have not been resolved under the and i believe that is right ok and i would hope it would be the position of the commission until the japanese government lives up to its agreement of ten years ago that we not modify the agreements and give them more  i would just say that back in ninety six when we when we carried out the action that we did there were a lot of people surprised about the the agency and how small we are and the independent authority we have to address ort of los angeles long beach and i don't just stood you to say that they've forwarded to the commission an agreement or a proposal right that's correct and does that proposal require action on behalf of behalf of the commission on the part of the commission you have to do something about it we would yes the marine terminal agreement as proposed by the ports of l a and long beach which includes rate discussions and other areas and they have made this is one of the areas of changes of the dynamics of i think our us and our model operations between ports rail tracks that have had a profound impact on the way business is being done at ports around the country in the ports of l a and long beach case they have a clean air action plan  there are agreements that we require trucking companies to be part of the agreement as employees and trucking companies and these provisions some of these provisions will cause them to come under believe that we would they would have to go to federal court if we did not approve the marine terminal agreement but that's what i'm asking so they're asking for your approval of the agreement might my time's expired so let me just say this that in looking at the  angeles long beach clean air goal is a lot of alone but in my observation they had achieved it by limiting competition among who can use the terminal and so my question to whoever wants to answer one then i think you've answered it that you actually have to approve it if you don't approve it they have additional re recourse but i'm wondering whether or not what they've submitted to the commission and what the commission will look at in determining whether or not to approve their plan is how the decrease in competition or availability will affect the costs associated with transporting cargo in and out of the ports and i guess yes or no  marine terminal operators agreement we have on the second agreement we have asked for additional information so on that when the parties have to come back to us with additional information then the agreement will go into effect within i understand how your as is sort of an acting position how you manage the day to day business how to how do you do this do you communicate long distance with sta forward out and taking the lead at the agency i think my colleagues and anybody in this industry would agree i felt in my many counsel to me was not chairman and i have not acted in that capacity by either projecting myself in that manner or have done anything that would lead anybody with any reasonable objective observation to think that i  am in constant touch with my my staff the staff of the commission my colleagues on the days and i'm not physically sitting in the office you mention vacation a couple of times at least physically from the commission but participate in the vote by filling out a sheet of paper or voting feet and have and then direct staff to indicate the vote is that correct mr chairman i have you and the other commission and other commissioners through the notation process which allows for that to happen and there are many reasons as get i want to be clear getting back to earlier question as to why we did not meet face to face and any reasons not to meet and open a meeting and that i did not clarify earlier statement was that the personality issues for example or protected agreement issues or contract and internal budget issues where we don't meet openly and those are several reasons and there's others that would that would be the reason that  very first republican majority in the house took away the proxy voting that we had the same here if you were considering financial issues regarding cruise or laws and practices of foreign governments wouldn't you consider that to be important enough to meet the full committee i don't mean to load all the questions i knew mr anderson since you're a bank of for someone else could step up and answer i think we've lost the air in this room but that's not right vessels and doing business in china i personally asked them how their business access is in china i seek out not only the opinions of our staff but i seek out the opinion of  people that are in the business of operating ships in those trades because i feel it's very important to get a balanced view on what's going on but yes we do regularly also as well get briefings on the status of that  talks formal negotiation talks between the u s and china are very happy that ultimately secretary minetta was able to sign an agreement thanks a very important matter for the commission to follow up on but if you're if  you're not meeting in open session and considering these issues i wonder what kind of oversight you're actually conducting over the trade with this most important to trade partner of ours of course we were very and for said that that was in carriers get every access to the chinese market we were also concerned that american interests shipping intermediaries were able to do business in china and i'm very pleased that the maritime administration was able to negotiate some entry way for the for the shipping intermediaries and we were counsel did you vote on the attorney to retain to defend the commission commission as a borderline small micro agency we sought their advice on on seeking a sole consult source contract on hiring outside counsel at the time that the we were informed of th informal filing of the complaint by the general council it was wednesday thanksgiving and prior to that two days before our only e l employee our director since we are a small micro agency had left to go to another agency take another job at a larger agency so we were without any counsel and advice to the commission wednesday before thanksgiving and  shortly thereafter i believe the commission felt that we needed independent counsel to represent us we sought counsel from the bureau public debt contracting process they authorized to hire an approved  employment attorney to represent the commission and then the commission hired an attorney a based in ohio were there no case experience in the washington area was someone that had been referred to me over that i did not now at the time he did not have a personal or professional relationship now it was referred to made by somebody that knew that this individual i fiscal two thousand and nine year budget of the federal maritime commission one of the things that concerns me just listening to this is we find another agency without a chair is sort of the situation we find ourself with other agencies how long as chairmanship and they get missed in november  so under your charter that i guess the agency's just sort of operates by all the remaining members directing the business of the commission is that how it yes or that's in june thirtieth of two thousand and seven i was renominated and august of two thousand and seven and i've had a hearing before the senate commerce science and transportation committee but they still not over serve but it still allows you to serve an in specifically inch chargin confirmed by the senate i see asked for a seven point eight percent increase what's the bulk of the increase mr creel do you know we have about one hundred twenty one partly on board you have more positions authorized then you have some vacancies that's why we have a number of vacancies now in the process of filling but the biggest increase would be in personnel costs that's correct that the thing great promotions or great at a pay increase is the cost of living increases but you have a hundred and nineteen  authorized one hundred nineteen positions and your budget asked for one hundred thirty one so what and you don't have positions that are filled that's right so what are the new positions you're acquiring  yeah i guess of the sixteen positions that were recruiting for they'll be on by the end of physical but that you asked for new positions right they're not mean that this is what this is about i think is trying to find out look at your budget request a seven lawfully quiet you want to say something want to pick on everybody equally here if i could i'd like it if you turn it on i'd like to comment on that on the issue of not having it jam i mean it's like a four headed where iran i mean we need a chairman you know i recognize what the chairman i respect what you said on the basis like you're on the committee without a chairman for a while i think you have a very i would be that would be but my point is this is one of the see has i don't mean to make light of it it is a serious situation the other thing too i notice it's a small operation and  asked the question i guess at one time before sixty one that was together the maritime administration and your commission and separated off would you recommend any relook at that and then the commission too big maybe those issues and several other policy issues as well when you're available i do have my personal feelings on the best way to approach this i'm not sure their share but of co rudd operates very well over the department of transportation with his three members and so there are several alternatives the question was raised about you not meeting enough how often do you formally meet or did you meet like in process actually is authorized under a commission order so there is there is a formalized way to proceed when we've on paper by notation and if employed it's employed frequently and of course much more frequently now that we have all been required to participate in each vote on administrative matters keep it the same number somebody in charge and then what about the question of look at really looking at regulators they're the promoters of the endace tree and so he was saying that that those two things together rang consistent i think those reasons are still valid i think it's also critically important to retain the f m c as an independent  agency and as we were talking about earlier with mr la tourette that it gives us the ability to take and independent action against the vessels of foreign countries if they are doing some of this offensive to vessels that call the us or us fly vessels and that's a very unique authority and i think that retaining that authority is essential and i think that the shipping public would it would agree with that most of the goods coming into the we're meeting friends for responsibility and that's oversight over the carriers who have an exemption from any trust meaning they can get together and talk about rates i think with ben affectively meeting that responsibility i believe to mr mike of that commission is fulfilling a very necessary responsibility coming from the maritime industry as you may recall working for us united states jones at company for ten years and the operation of the souls i've seen it from both sides and i believe that the commission fulfills a very important role also consumer protection with the cruise lines and some of the areas other areas as well as a very unique nature that we have in the maritime security where we contribute to customs border patrol and homeland security efforts mr bishop thank you mr chairman and thank you very much for holding this hearing i'm struck by the juxtaposition of three things one federal human capital survey that suggests very poor morale on the part of the workforce of the commission second i guess an understanding but just by testimony this morning that the eight hour workday and the forty hour week are exceptions rather than the norm for commissioners and then finally a ten percent increase in staff which i know the role numbers are small but we have precious few departments across the span of the federal government that are increasing their staff by ten percent in any one year outside of the pentagon and perhaps the department of homeland security i think one of the basic precepts of management is if morale is poor staff performance is less than less than optimal and i think another precept of management is that if the staff perceives that they are working harder than their leadership that has served to be a leadership with more commitment from the commissioners and better personnel management practices would you have a more productive staff and thus not need to increase the staff by as i say what is a very generous percentage in this climate and i'll put that to any one of the commissioners  we're not actually asking for increases in staff levels we've lost a lot of people and so we're working hard right now to backfill and get those positions filled again if i if i may my understanding is that the enacted budget for fiscal zero seven authorized one hundred nineteen full time equivalent positions and the proposed budget authorizes one hundred thirty one full time equivalent positions so that's where i get the number of the ten percent increase in staff lack of vision opposition to change poor information management and a lack of interaction between the commissioners and the staff do you agree that those findings are accurate and if so what do each of you intend to do about a condition that i think any reasonable person would consider to be unfortunate if not extremely extremely difficult i unfortunately mr bishop i do agree that many of those things are true and i don't mean to put you on the spot but are there impediments that that constrain your readiness or your eagerness to put in place the kinds of changes that would need to be make you know the army not on my part there are no impediments on my part so may i ask then why it has not happened i believe that the commissioners need to work together with and make a conscious decision together with a focus to change that environment and i believe that we can do  that and do you believe that the commissioners need to be more physically present than they currently are in order for that focus to be realized i believe that we can do that we can do that yes sir i did and how about the rest of your colleagues yes sir if i could just go back for one second to clarify a little bit on the numbers you numbers one thing that i forgot to mention earlier michel was we don't have  the chairman chairman staff there that's that makes up some of the numbers i'm also work in mission or commissions council short too so that's also fits into the mix and let me tell you i've been place and the people there i know the people individually i know i know their personal stories they come to me and telling me about about work issues about a personal issue sometimes the worst thing i've heard here today is the lack of confidence in the lack of happiness about the employees working there and i mean that because i'll tell you one thing i have never been when i first came on i was really amazed at how dedicated the staff  there and i mean that from bottom our heart and we have lost some people that were damn good people and should not have gone and yes it's our fall and granted we have   and including management and the perceived role of of employees or others at that we have and i think we have had i have turned a corner i know we're there we're making an effort to do that because you cannot as this commission and i said it it starts with us and poison goes down hill it goes down and people take it pick it up if we're having issues they pick it up and that's not fair we need to act like grown ups address  issues and do what's in the best interests of the government of our constituents and people that work there and about i mean you look at the number of people that have been in the agency for twenty thirty years i mean it's phenomenal and we have a responsibility to honor that and to make them enjoy where they work and to feel like what they do is worthwhile and so i'm the first one to admit that the problem starts here and it should stop here and whatever we  and deserving explanation on that capital survey so anything we can do to address it i will personally commit to thank you mr chairman i know my time has expired i just want to say that my understanding of this is this very depressing survey is that it was taken at around the time the first prior chairman left and so let let me just caution all of you that we ought not view the absence of the chairman as the principal reason why morale is as low as it least as it appears to be that there are whatever the reasons are they go far beyond the absence of a chairman thank you henderson missioners and particularly you sense you are going to be right on in line to be the chairman i'm sure the the findings of a survey must concern you  and i really appreciate that i really do these are human beings with families who work hard every day and give the government their blood sweat  deserve to be able to come into a working environment that they feel good about all of us doesn't know working environment is going to be perfect but when you've got pretty much half of your employees they don't like what they like where they i'm just wondering what you plan to do first of all do you think what do you think of the survey i'm mr chairman i think that the survey is disappointing and  but again i'm not that familiar with the numbers that did take place in two thousand and six when it was reported i think there's obviously room for improvement i come from a as as you know the private sector and i have been so impressed with the quality of the people that i've been able to work with while in government has been an honor to serve with people that are dedicated we have thirty and forty year employees at the agency and to clarify the reason a number of the vacancies that take place that we currently have are because of retirements and which i think all of government agencies are facing with the baby boomers starting to retire we've lost some good people but there is room for improvement my philosophy in leading mr chairman very simple first year only any organization whether it's private public your church or what have you is only good as the people that work there and if they're not happy it's hard to be a where our people are happy if you're happy where you work it impacts every other area of your life and that's my sincere belief you're happy at home and you're happy with your family work is very important and i would strive very hard to provide the necessary leadership by having management meetings on a regular basis interacting with the employees something i learned from an old boss of mine w seventy eight and he used to call it management by walking around talking to people finding out what is the quirk that you never see what are they thinking the other areas that i would see is bringing in industry them and so that we are getting some of the best leading people that are out there in the industry operating to help us better understand what's actually happening it's very difficult to just read and understand what the industry is about and i also believe that i would foster people getting out and seeing the industry doing where we could go out and visit ports visit more internal operators and have industry professionals sort of share with us whether what they do on an ongoing basis and the all important area of trade for this country and our model trade is critical to the future of this country let me ask you this can't you do you all do some of things now because see what's happening is that i don't know when the senate is going to do their thing i don't have a clue in the meantime we've got people who have to come to work every day and you mentioned some nice things and let me tell you one of the things that concerns me has always concerned me about hearings is that folks will come in here they'll make commitments and then we may not hear from them for another two years and they know the players are going to change and so you know it's the same ole same ole over and over and over again and one of the things that the chairman has emphasized to us and you all do all this voting however you may do it that you do some of the things do the things that you just said because let me tell you what can you do will you do that  mentioned the study and i was unaware of the study i am familiar with the capital survey that was done believe that was done government wide two and a half years ago and i think that the results that you're quoting from are from that capital survey and i and that was widely distributed through the agency and we had numerous reminders of people to participate in the survey however we did not get during that time and i'm not trying to project this onto the former chairman there but we didn't get a lot of that kind of information back to us and that's that's one area where where we have been very helpful number of us  in a big advantage to having co managed here mr chairman is that we have had the ability to learn a number of things within the agency that ordinarily commissioners were not getting the benefit of knowing about i chairman you just said something that causes great alarm for me and i just want to make sure i understood you correctly i referred to a management study conducted by don cole if i heard you correctly you just testified that you were unfamiliar with that study is that correct yes i am now it's my further understanding that mr cole has a lawsuit pending hence the commission for because he is alleging that he has not been fully paid over a three year period so i am to understand that a management study was conducted of commission staff about which commissioners or at least you mr anderson are not aware and secondly that study has resulted in a lawsuit about which commissioners are also not aware am i correct in both of my understanding and if i am correct could late two thousand and six it came to our attention that a management consultant who had previously work solely for the previous chairman wanted to meet with the commission to an extend the contract contract to which we had never known about in our previous knowledge because he works at the discretion of the previous chairman and it was my understanding as it was explained to me that he was the chairman's personal consultant whatever that may mean i was not privy to the management study that you're referring to is your understanding shared by your three colleagues do any of you have any knowledge of this study end of the lawsuit that goes beyond what mr anderson has just said mr connor so my fury for into a cold study which the government spent two hundred thousand dollars to the best of my knowledge there was no formal written report and secondly there's no pending lawsuit there was some dispute and i think along with what mr anderson said this is pretty much done by the prior chairman on his determination you know i do not think it was beneath anything in writing whatsoever that that's correct there's nothing in writing nothing zero contractor starred back and i think it was three it was under the auspices of the chairman who did the hiring and hands on administration of the contract there were a underscore the necessity of of the four meeting together all four of you much more frequently than is currently the case and if that requires compliance with with sunshine laws then so be it  think the fact that there is so much going on that some of you seem to be hearing about for the first time today some of you seem to have a level of knowledge that that eclipses the level of knowledge that some of your colleagues have and i find it just shocking frankly that the four of you don't have don't all have the same level of knowledge and i think an easy way to help remedy that is to simply meet more often and share what you know with one another and then share it with your staff thank you m commission actually quote suspended mr coles contract before he was to come to washington to deliver his final report to us and i just got back if i remember correctly soldiers i just want to echo what mr bishop just said and he basically went down the path that i was traveling  and the reason why concerns me about this lack of knowledge of the report whenever there is anything that has the ability to take the foundation out of fact my agency that i'm about to or i'm interested in heading i make it my business to know about it i mean it may and i don't think there's anybody in this room who would go into a situation where they deny they have complete knowledge of what they were about to head it doesn't it doesn't make sense and that concerns me and also concerns me and i'm going to repeat what i mean if people saw this on c span knowing that we've got folks making one hundred forty some thousand dollars and and i and i mean the people in my district if you were making eighty thousand a thing that was a lot of money but to hear some of the testimony that we've heard today is that's quite because it should concern all of us it really should and and k excuse me mr chairman i'm a little distracted about a rather disturbing development that one of the presidential candidates is proposing to suspend the gas tax for the summer and of thousands of jobs that will lose as a result of that makes thirty six thousand dollar alterations on the chairman's office sound like peanuts but that decision was made who made that own personal belief that would probably have been better to replace that stuff before getting a new chairman and so that it was it was part of the normal replacement i mean it was on that it was on the schedule to be replaced anyway not that the commissioners didn't  act on to you new body just didn't vote on it or you didn't have a formal meeting to discuss this is it part of the you said this this is normal procedure that that the what executive director senior executive service person makes that we had over the course of the year and that there was no chairman or the loss of loss of jobs in the last personnel meant that you were making that the commission isn't paying that out in salary to  and but it's the process by which this is done that's that's very listen i agree with you and this is certainly brings it home that that we have got to start working together  as a group and and realizing that this is life began to be this an era i mean early knowing that this is a significant statement and working together as a group good for very intelligent people i've known those die since time she served on the and merchant marine and fisheries committee staff and then on staff of this committee i have known mr brennan from time he served in congress all too briefly should've stayed you'd be on this panel asking questions mr keillor remember your previous services or your very capable people you ought to be able to get together and figure these things out and work as as a commission without a chairman so you're when you take charge of this commission it's an important function and we're going to have a subsequent hearing on the substantive matters with which the commission is interested and mr cummings  those that and the jobs that there is a lack of upward mobility some people that have been there for years and years and years stream the cable know the end of three know their jobs and know that the agency but they're not necessarily a position for them to move into that's said maybe when you are bringing in some of these outside experts the cruise industry i think you mentioned people that seem to be doing it right perhaps they can give us some information that might be helpful i i'm sure it does create a problem when you're trying to operate with four people but some kind of way that we have we still have to operate and so i hope you'll take thank you mr chairman and i want to thank you all for your testimony today and when the reasons that i like working with chairman cummings is that he has taken chairman oberstar his observation that we shouldn't just have earrings and then everybody goes on their way and comes back a couple years later and we find ourselves in the same position so i welcome as observation that we'll get a report back within sixty days and i look forward to the commission embracing some of those changes i'm also assignment before the new administration comes in but i do want to focus on this whole report for just a second because this hearing i think has indicated that the commission can do better in its oversight just as the congress can do better  oversight but i'm not a big fan of sort of coming to hearings and finding out something for the very first time so my question to each of you and i think you've answered it before coming to this hearing today and hearing either mr bishop's questions or the chairman's question did were any of you aware that this mr cole whoever happens to be had submitted something in writing and mr anderson did you know that no i was not aware there was any any report in writing and mr br thousand anyway i feel very strongly that what we're doing is in the best interest of the government and the people to recover that money so i want to make that clear the same question before coming here today were you aware that this mr cole person and put something in writing i was not aware of a specific report in writing but i was aware that he had a final report that he had was prepared to give to the commission and as i said before i wanted to see the work that he had government had paid for at that time and i look forward to seeing it from the committee but basically the report wasn't forwarded to the commission because there's some dispute between the commission and mr cole whether he should be paid  because his contract had actually expired the commission voted not to entertain his final this it at the end of his contract at which time he would have delivered a report whether or not that report had apparently the staff has a copy of mr cause report you're going to give us the commission i think we'd all be anxious to take a look at it but i do have to say what i'm hearing here is that you have a contractor was hired by the former chairman outside of the normal way that delivered he is seeking payment in this deliver the report to the committee and that the commission to me that seems a little fishy and i would just ask if we are going to have a follow up hearing perhaps as mr cole to join us and not only share thoughts on the operation of the out how we got the report and they tell me we got to report from the senate staff because they had a connection with the confirmation  i believe it was august fifteenth of two thousand two thousand and seven but there's been no chair since november two thousand and six unbelievable i mean i can't blame the commission  i imagine trying to run a subcommittee without a chairman imagine trying to run a committee or an administration that's a small operation and it only has about a hundred and whatever number of employees fault there's something wrong with this process of not being able to have someone in charge i won't get into that i tried to find out a little bit about what you wanted to do with some of the additional money  one of the things that impresses me with your mission is you are responsible for an important role and and that some oversight and right regulation primarily of shipping activity and because of again there's so many flag vessels and cruise ships and others that are outside u s flying i'd like to ask all four of the question about how is there any possibility or any way or what could we do to increase u s employment u s flagged u s recapturing of s ome of this segment of the international maritime and shipping business are there any things that can be done or is this just something we lost i'm interested to make sure that the commission done anything that it can to make sure that containers get where they need to be so u s exporters can keep that sale and worldwide marketplace if possible mr grill you've been around a while and the hope of you know us getting back into the market in anything we can do coast waterways to increase the volume take it off the highways it certainly has to be much more fuel efficient when a trucker now spends a thousand dollars to fill up  sense and it may be attractive to mr brennan as you say twenty years ago when i was serving on the house armed services committee it was a great discussion and concern about losing the capacity to have american ships losing the skills century for many reasons but as we have seen at the commission global dynamics change the way something should be looked at and i believe some of my colleagues indicated it's all about the dollar of operating u s flagships versus foreign flagships i think the tax incentive that have been in the past been helpful but i think working one possibility is looking at the consideration of allowing foreign foreign built ships to be u s flag not paraded by s crews i think that's an area that we could i know our maritime academy is our full can handle any more capacity is something that i think is a good indication for the future for us blag you mentioned short sea shipping our marine highways today there's a conference for that in norfolk today and tomorrow on short sea shipping i know this committee approved some funding i think that's critical to the long term infrastructure needs of the united states transportation system and as well as promoting more u s seaborne jobs for our not only you know for union workers and for united states citizens but i don't get to see a four headed monster too often mr chairman actually they all look bad  he has i have listened to him talk about educating our kids so that they can move into the maritime industry and he seems to be very very committed and so when you are talked about and people working in the agency that are committed if he is an example the type of people you're talking