I think the chairman said it in his opening remarks, the Federal Government has always had a constitutional role that creating a national system of transportation that supports the common good.

Chairman Leahy and I and several of my other colleagues across the aisle have introduced legislation to try to reform this process in one form or another.

We cannot let that happen.

it is rare that a freshman from the minority party gets to chair a Committee proceeding like this one

We have a tremendous interest in everything in the world.

Our entire military is looking at this as a chance to face a noble foe, a chance to be in the kind of conflict that is far less frustrating than fighting insurgencies.

A nation with our economic problems has fundamental interests at home.

Our national policy establishment has embraced the new phrase, 'pivot toward Asia,' which sounds like more trade delegations to Tokyo...

If it is inhabited, I assume that an island that was previously uninhabited, that gains habitation, counts as a habitable island.

It is my understanding that if there is a tiny speck just barely above water, the smallest possible island, that whoever owns that island controls 125,000 nautical miles, 200 miles in every direction.

I consider him a great man in the spirit of what you have shared here today.

What happens is I get more complaints about TSA's efficiency but more importantly their rude behavior and how they treat passengers than almost anything else.

I believe you are being disingenuous here, 'to throw a deep chill,' when you can go three steps and get it for free?

There is no other issue right now in the Asia-Pacific region more worrisome than the rise in tensions.

As we confront this challenge, we must also look at it as an opportunity.

The implications of these actions for the United States are substantial since we have strategic and economic interests.

We have got to send, as a body, in a bipartisan manner, a strong message to China that these threatening and provocative moves to assert their maritime territorial claims are unacceptable.

An American presence in Asia is built on maintaining peace and stability that is upheld through respect for international law.