i rise in support of the nominations of christopher a. hart to be chairman and tho dinh-zarr to be board member of the national transportation safety board. the national transportation safety board helps keep all of us safe. and when a terrible crash happens, we watch on television or read about the crash and wonder what happened, but it's the national transportation safety board that steps in during those first moments. they get in, preserve evidence to sift through the debris and then to figure out what went wrong. and they play a difficult role. they must put aside all differences between jurisdictions, politics and partisanship just to get the job done. and in the last month alone the board has launched investigations into a ship collision in texas a plane veering off the run way in new york two terrible and fatal train crashes in new york and california and a tragic incident right here in d.c. where smoke filled one of the metro tunnels and resulted in a passenger dying. they're also helping with an oil train derailment in west virginia a

vote: the presiding officer: on the confirmation of christopher a. hart of colorado to be chairman of the national transportation safety board are there any senators wishing to change their vote? hearing none the vote is 97 in favor, zero opposed. the confirmation is -- the nomination is approved. the question now occurs on the dinh-zarr nomination. until there is no further days debate all those in favor say aye. opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order the motions to reconsider are considered made and laid upon the table. the president will be immediately notified of the senate's actions and the senate will resume legislative session. the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture to the desk for the committee-reported amendment. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close on the committee-reported

christopher a. hart of colorado to be chairman. tho dinh-zarr czar of texas to be a member. the presiding officer: under the previous order there will be