President Donald Trump on Tuesday fired Surface Transportation Board member Robert E. Primus, breaking a 2-2 partisan split at the rail regulator while leaving it two members short of full strength just months before it is expected to receive the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application.
Primus, a Democrat and board’s only African-American, was appointed by Trump in 2020, and was the lone STB member to vote against the 2023 Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger.
“This is deeply troubling and legally invalid,” Primus told the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the firing, adding that he intends to continue his work at the board.
The president has sought greater control over independent agencies, ousting Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Federal Reserve. Trump this week said he was removing Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, who is also African-American.
By law, STB members serve fixed terms and may be removed by the president only “for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” No one has suggested Primus violated those standards.
Primus becomes the first member of the STB, or its predecessor, the Interstate Commerce Commission, to be dismissed. The ICC was created in 1887.
“Ironically, this comes at a time when the Board is considering significant pressing matters of critical importance to both our national freight rail network and supply chain that would directly affect large swaths of our manufacturing, agricultural, industrial and energy sectors,” Primus wrote on LinkedIn.
“As someone who was nominated by President Trump during his first term and unanimously confirmed by a Republican-led Senate, then renominated by President Biden and unanimously confirmed by a Democrat-led Senate, I have worked tirelessly to build bipartisan trust and have demonstrated myself to be truly an independent Board member that has consistently rendered fair and impartial decisions,” Primus wrote. “My record during my four and a half years at the Board reflects this and I strongly believe the actions of the White House would weaken the Board and adversely affect the freight rail network in a way that may ultimately hurt consumers and the economy.”
In public appearances, STB Chair Patrick Fuchs, a Republican, has emphasized the cordial, bipartisan atmosphere at the board, which also includes Republican Michelle Schultz and Democrat Karen Hedlund.
The president has yet to nominate a successor to former Chair Martin J. Oberman, a Democrat who retired in 2024. Since Oberman’s departure, the 2-2 split has complicated decision-making. Several proceedings have stalled or been shelved due to deadlocks.
The board’s 3-1 ruling approving Canadian National’s acquisition of the Iowa Northern Railway was issued six months beyond the statutory deadline. Primus voted against the acquisition, saying it would reduce competition.
A proposal to allow private railcar owners to charge railroads for delayed equipment was left open indefinitely after board members said they could not reach a consensus.
And in May the board withdrew its Final Offer Rate Review rule because the evenly divided panel lacked the votes to defend and revise the regulation after a court struck it down. The Final Offer Rate Review process was designed to give shippers a faster, less expensive way to challenge rates they believed were unreasonably high.
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