Week ahead: Transportation pick to face Senate panel

{mosads}At least one member of the panel, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), has promised to press Foxx on allowing airline passengers to use electronic devices during flight takeoffs and landings.

Currently, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is a subsidiary of the DOT, requires passengers to turn off their electronic devices when airplanes are at altitudes below 10,000 feet.

Some transportation advocates have criticized Foxx’s nomination because he does not have direct experience in the industry.

Foxx is a former lawyer for the Department of Justice (DOJ) and he also worked as a staffer for the House Judiciary Committee.

Foxx was born and raised in Charlotte and became its youngest mayor when he was elected in 2009 at the age of 38. He is only the second African-American mayor of a city where blacks compromise approximately 35 percent of the population. Advocates say his confirmation would help President Obama answer critics who complain that his initial second-term cabinet choices had lacked diversity.

His supporters point out that Foxx has pushing for the development of public transportation projects in Charlotte since he became mayor of the city in 2009.

Elsewhere in the Capitol this week, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a hearing on Tuesday about “the role of U.S. ships and mariners” in maritime transportation.

The committee will also hold a hearing on Tuesday about “understanding the cost of drivers of passenger rail.”