The longtime Senate staffer President Obama has tapped to lead the Transportation Department's policy office was given an easy ride by a Senate panel yesterday and remains on track for an easy confirmation.

If confirmed, Polly Trottenberg will lead DOT's Office of Transportation Policy, which is responsible for recommending overall surface transportation policy initiatives to Secretary Ray LaHood, as well as reviewing any proposed rulemaking, such as corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, standards.

Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) touted Trottenberg's 12 years serving as a staffer for Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.). "With her extensive experience, I know she will be an asset to the department," he said.

Ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), likewise, gave her stamp of approval. "There is no question you are the right people for the job," she told Trottenberg and four other nominees for various federal posts.

There was no word on when the committee or full Senate would vote on confirmation, but Hutchison predicted a "swift confirmation" for the group.

Trottenberg told the panel that she was committed to advancing LaHood's stated goals of job creation, sustainability and livability, and reducing the transportation sector's carbon emissions and fuel consumption. "I am deeply committed to these goals and believe we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to achieve them as Congress and the Obama administration prepare to rewrite our nation's surface transportation policy," she said.

Trottenberg currently serves as the executive director of Building America's Future, a bipartisan coalition pushing for increased federal investment in the nation's infrastructure and the creation of a performance-driven national transportation policy. The group is headed by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D), New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R).

Rendell was on hand yesterday to offer his praise. "She's smart, she's dedicated, she knows virtually everything about our current transportation policy and, better yet, she has a vision of where we need to go," the former Philadelphia mayor said.

At DOT, Trottenberg would work directly under Roy Kienitz, who was confirmed earlier this year as the department's undersecretary for policy. Kienitz has his own ties to Rendell and Moynihan, having previously served as deputy chief of staff for the Pennsylvania governor and as chief of staff for the late senator.

Trottenberg also has worked at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and at the Massachusetts Port Authority, where she focused on aviation and transportation finance issues. She received her master's degree in public policy from Harvard University and her bachelor's degree in American history from Barnard College.