We have an interest in reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

I have been talking with some of our colleagues, including some of our colleagues on this panel, about the economic stimulus package that is before us that we will be voting on today or tomorrow, and probably again next week.

I would just remind us all, it is not the next highway bill, it is the next transportation bill.

They provided little political protection, if you will, for Democrats and Republicans to do some of the difficult things we needed to do.

I believe the Commission that you served on, in this instance, has done good work.

I think we all need to back up a second and say, what fundamentally can we do to put some principles and outcomes and base results in our system.

A lot of times, commissions are created, we get the reports, we file them away and they never see the light of day.

Some people say that we are on our way to becoming sort of a third-world nation with respect to our infrastructure.

We have an interest in reducing the threat to our planet that is posed by climate change and global warming.

I hope we wouldn't shy away from it.

We have an interest in improving the quality of our air, reducing the health implications that flow from dirty air.

I would hope that we would take advantage of this rare opportunity we have in the Senate to dream big and think 25 years ahead.

I think we should talk about what kind of Country do we want to have, what are our needs, what do we need to do.

We have a rare opportunity here. We have a Committee that is, in a bipartisan way, interested in taking a big look down the road about what our Country's needs are.

There are, in life, speed readers, and there are speed speakers. You all fall in the second category.

We hope to.

And I guess I would pose that question of the airlines. Is that something that is affecting the delays, the on-time arrivals and everything else?

But there have got to be some things, too, that the DOT, the FAA, that the airlines can do to make this system work better than it does.