Transportation Nominee Pena Tells Senate He Supports Airline Study : Cabinet: Ex-Denver mayor says industry’s woes need attention of ‘the best minds.’ Three appointees sail through confirmation hearings.

Transportation Secretary-designate Federico Pena told a Senate hearing Thursday that he supports the creation of a commission to conduct an intense, short-term study of the daunting problems facing the struggling U.S. airline industry.

“I think it’s a good idea that we bring the best minds that we can together . . . and come up with some very specific solutions. We’ve got to take some action,” Pena said.

His comments came one day after United Airlines executives announced major layoffs and flight cutbacks and urged the incoming Administration to name an emergency commission to review airline industry problems.

The former Denver mayor breezed through his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which is expected to forward his nomination to the full Senate in two weeks.

Two other Cabinet appointees who will play major roles in shaping the new Administration’s domestic policy also appeared at Senate confirmation hearings Thursday to largely favorable reviews.

Jesse Brown, nominee to be secretary of veterans affairs, won bipartisan praise from members of the Veterans Affairs Committee after pledging that his priority will be upgrading health care services for the nation’s 27 million veterans.

And Robert B. Reich, President-elect Bill Clinton’s economic adviser and nominee for labor secretary, pledged to turn his agency into “the department of the American work force” and to help create higher paying and higher quality jobs.

All three Cabinet nominees appear to be headed for easy confirmation.

Pena’s endorsement of a commission to study the nation’s ailing airlines followed Wednesday’s announcement by Chicago-based United Airlines that it will lay off 2,800 workers, reduce flights and cut salaries in an effort to save $400 million a year.

The announcement came days after Northwest Airlines announced that it is cutting more than 1,000 employees, in addition to 2,100 it trimmed last year, and making other cost-saving moves. American Airlines and Delta Air Lines also made spending cuts late last year.

United Chairman Stephen M. Wolf released a letter to Clinton in which he asked that a national commission be convened to examine industry problems. Wolf said the problems stem from trade barriers limiting international expansion, outdated airports and air traffic control systems, and the “prolonged operation” of some airlines under the protection of bankruptcy laws.

In the long term, Pena said, the government must work to improve the overall economy, which will help the country’s surviving airlines. The government also must work to reduce the airlines’ costs by increasing airport capacity and ensuring that foreign markets are open to American air carriers, he said.

During two hours of polite questioning, Pena, 45, also vowed to shore up the U.S. shipping industry, act as a strong advocate for the Coast Guard, push for higher auto fuel efficiency standards and support increased spending on roads, highways and bridges, perhaps with investment from public and private pension funds.

Pena was short on specifics, however, frequently telling the lawmakers that he would need more time for further study before endorsing specific actions.

Nevertheless, both Republicans and Democrats predicted that the committee would overwhelmingly vote to send Pena’s nomination to the full Senate.

At the Committee on Veterans Affairs, senators commended secretary-designate Brown, a wounded Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War who has been executive director of the Washington headquarters of Disabled American Veterans. Sen. John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), the committee chairman, scheduled a meeting for Jan. 19 to vote on the nomination.

Senate Minority Whip Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.) said: “I know this man. I admire Jesse Brown.” And Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) called Brown “well-qualified.”

Simpson, while emphasizing his support for the nominee, cautioned that Brown’s plan to accept a generous pension from the Disabled American Veterans could create “the perception that you will be beholden to them.” Brown said the lump-sum pension of more than $500,000 is “independently administered” by a private insurer and that the organization has no control over it.

He said, however, “I would excuse myself or ask for a waiver” on any matters involving his former employer where a conflict could arise.

During Reich’s appearance before the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, the secretary-designate vowed to “dedicate myself to the well-being of all Americans who work, who want to work, who must work,” but turned aside questions about the specifics of Clinton’s economic recovery plan.

Despite the lack of specifics, the three-hour confirmation hearing was without confrontation, as senators declared their admiration for many of Reich’s ideas. A lecturer at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Reich was one of the principal authors of the Clinton economic program.

He has repeatedly asserted that America’s most valuable asset is its labor pool and that the nation’s primary economic strategy should be helping the people on the “front lines of our work force.”

A priority in the Clinton Administration will be the creation of more high-quality and high-paying jobs, especially for Americans who do not graduate from college and for those who have found themselves permanently displaced by structural changes in the economy, Reich said.

Times staff writers Robert L. Jackson and Elizabeth Shogren contributed to this story.