(Bloomberg News circulated the following article by John Hughes on January 5.)
WASHINGTON — Floyd Hall and Enrique Sosa were reappointed to Amtrak’s board by U.S. President George W. Bush, who bypassed the Senate to give the money-losing passenger railroad enough directors to conduct business.
Hall, a former Kmart Corp. chief executive, and Sosa, a former BP Amoco Chemicals president, return to the board after their previous appointments lapsed when the Senate adjourned for 2005 on Dec. 22. Bush can fill the slots without confirmation while the Senate is in recess. Today’s action puts the two in the posts through most of 2007.
“Their nominations have been before Congress for almost two years, and as there has been no action on either of them, the president has moved to ensure Amtrak’s board has enough members needed to establish a quorum,” Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said in a statement today.
Amtrak, which has never turned a profit, has received federal subsidies of about $29 billion to keep operating since its beginning in 1971. Bush and Congress in November approved a $1.3 billion Amtrak subsidy for the year ending Sept. 30. Amtrak uses the aid to cover about 40 percent of its costs.
The appointments bring Amtrak’s board to four members, the minimum necessary to transact business under the railroad’s bylaws. The board, which still has three vacancies, now has authority to take steps such as hiring a new chief executive to replace David Gunn, who was fired Nov. 9.
Initial Appointments
Bush first appointed Hall in July 2004 and Sosa the following month after the Senate failed to confirm the men to five-year terms. The Hall and Sosa appointments lapse under U.S. law after the Senate adjourns the following year.
David Laney, the board’s chairman, was confirmed by the Senate. Laney, a Dallas attorney, headed the Texas Transportation Department for six years, including four when Bush was governor.
The other board member is Jeffrey Rosen, the U.S. Transportation Department’s general counsel and designee of Mineta, who under U.S. law doesn’t require Senate confirmation to serve on the board.
The Senate hasn’t acted on two other Bush nominees for the Amtrak board. They are Robert Crandall, former chief executive of AMR Corp.’s American Airlines, and Louis Thompson, a former Federal Railroad Administration associate administrator and World Bank railway adviser.