The Biden Administration will be looking for a new chief of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) after the trucking regulator’s administrator, Robin Hutcheson, announced today that she is stepping down.
Hutcheson had spent three years in the current administration, serving first as the deputy assistant secretary for safety policy within the Office of the Secretary, and then as FMCSA administrator. She will depart the agency on January 26, handing over the reins to Sue Lawless, FMCSA’s executive director and chief safety officer, who will serve as acting deputy administrator and lead the agency.
According to the White House, her achievements include combatting the COVID-19 pandemic on air and ground transportation, leading the development of the National Roadway Safety Strategy, developing key components of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and helping to secure billions in funding – including for the Safe Streets for All program.
However, she had been criticized in recent weeks for supporting a proposed safety regulation to mandate speed limiters on trucks—which is opposed by groups such as the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA)—and for delivering a keynote speech at a political fundraiser event.
In a statement on her pending departure, American Trucking Associations (ATA) President and CEO Chris Spear thanked Hutcheson for leading FMCSA through a series of challenges in recent years. "Administrator Hutcheson led FMCSA through a critical time as the pandemic, natural disasters, workforce shortages and supply chain disruptions challenged the freight economy in ways never seen before,” Spear said in a release. “America’s trucking industry is the heartbeat of this nation, and we depend on partners in government like Administrator Hutcheson who value data and stakeholder input to meet real-world needs and ensure the safe movement of freight across our nation’s highways. We applaud her communication, transparency and commitment to ATA and our members, and we wish her well in her future endeavors.”
The process of replacing Hutcheson comes as the Biden Administration is facing opposition from some transportation sector groups over another administration appointee, the acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Julie Su. Su was previously nominated as Labor secretary in 2023 but she failed to receive a Senate confirmation vote, leading the White House to renominate her.
According to the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA), Su’s latest nomination is not expected to succeed this time either, due to protest from certain business interests over her support for policies they see as undermining the independent contractor business model. Additional opposition to Su’s nomination comes from the ATA and the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW).
