Patrick Fuchs, Surface Transportation Board

Patrick Fuchs was designated as Chairman of the Surface Transportation Board by President Donald J. Trump, effective January 20, 2025. He was first sworn in on January 17, 2019, as a Member of the Board and was re-confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 14, 2024. His second term expires on January 14, 2029.

Prior to his appointment, Fuchs was a senior professional staff member working on surface transportation and maritime issues for the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation under the leadership of Chairman John Thune of South Dakota.

Fuchs has played an integral role in the development and enactment of major railroad legislation, including the 2015 reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Board, the first since the agency’s creation in 1996.  He also worked on legislation to improve infrastructure project delivery, railroad financing, and transportation safety, all of which were enacted as part of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act), the five-year, $305 billion surface transportation authorization. Fuchs helped develop and enact the first reauthorization of the National Transportation Safety Board in over a decade. He also worked on legislation to increase safety by addressing opioid abuse in transportation, reforms that were enacted as part of the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act. His work also includes reauthorization of the Federal Maritime Commission as well as three reauthorizations of the Maritime Administration, enacted as part of the National Defense Authorization Acts for Fiscal Years 2017, 2018 and 2019.