it is imperative that the FMC update existing regulations so that they can adequately address the concerns of the current market.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am glad you asked about cargo preference, because that was going to be one of my questions.

I represent the Port of Los Angeles, America's port, but I also believe that the First Amendment rights of our port and maritime workers must be respected.

I obviously believe that this security of port should be our top priority.

I introduced a bill last year that passed the House and got stalled in the Senate, and I'm reintroducing it this year to ask our Department of Homeland Security to take another look at our ports some 11 years after 9/11, reassess, and see…

I mean one of them came onshore just a couple miles from my house, actually made shore with about 19 people who came ashore.

I do represent the Port of Los Angeles and have for about 12 years... we are hoping to focus on issues surrounding the ports.

I will tell you one tax I think we should spend is the Harbor Maintenance Tax.

I think for every container that comes into these ports and harbors, that also represents risk.

I really feel like it is a great vehicle to bring a lot of these issues forward in Congress.

So we are 13 years into the 21st century and yet we are only just beginning to develop the streamlined and modern government that the American people expect and deserve from the nation that invented the Internet.