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Today's hearing is a good opportunity to review the FAA's progress on a host of aviation safety issues.

Aviation safety has to be the FAA's top priority, and it's certainly a top priority of this committee.

I want to thank Commissioner Miller for the penalty relief that you are providing to filers who have been impacted by storms in the south and the Midwest over the past few days.

In any future BRAC, will the Air Force focus on eliminating any particular category of excess base infrastructure, more than others?

Since cost savings will obviously be the goal of any future BRAC Congress would authorize, how important is proximity to military training areas--especially considering cost of fuel for ground transport and cost per flying hour?

If the Air Force believes it has excess installation capacity and needs to close some bases or consolidate certain activities, do you think a least disruptive approach to our National Security readiness would be to first focus on…

I think it was extended.

I guess I am curious as to why the administration felt it necessary to go back to the 2009 parameters when it comes to that, which would lower the exclusion amount from $5 million to $3.5 million, and second, would raise the tax rate.

The whole idea of tax reform, in many of our minds at least, was to get away from that in the tax code.

I think it is unfortunate that we are trying to come back and review this in light of the impacts that it would have on small businesses and farm and ranch families.

By the way, there was a vote on the budget 2 weeks ago here in the Senate, and it got 80 Senate votes, Republican and Democratic, basically stating that the estate tax should either be repealed or reduced.

Moving freight and goods and keeping our economy competitive has to be job number one for us.

But, I mean, do you assume there will be some uptick in real traffic?

Do you expect a significant increase in the amount of agricultural products being shipped by rail as a result of the Canal widening?

If you combine the fact that the larger Panamax vessels will lead to lower shipping costs and the recent increases in domestic oil and natural gas production, can you explain what, if any, changes we can expect in manufacturing and in…

The widening of the Panama Canal presents a great economic opportunity not only for port states but for the nation as a whole.

As global trade increases, we will need to find new ways to move freight effectively and efficiently.

It is also crucial that we not overlook the needs of rural states such as South Dakota.