Richard Blumenthal

In the right way means other than Russoboronexport, the Russian export agency that has sold us so many--not us, but the Afghans--so many helicopters with our money.

I want to join in thanking you for this series of very thoughtful hearings, which have been, I think, a great advantage to us in drawing a perspective for the rest of the congressional session and the tasks that we have ahead.

I want to thank you for that effort, thank the U.S. Armed Forces for their increased focus and attention to that issue.

I think that one of the points that is most important for us and the American people to understand is how inextricably bound, as you've said... Afghanistan and Pakistan are in their futures, their pasts, and their fates come.

Salvaged parts, inferior or even counterfeit parts certainly raise safety concerns. And often, those kind of parts involved in this practice of steering. And that's why I have been concerned for years about it and why I think the…

It strikes me as an example of how possibly there are costs to lack of recognizing the importance of investment and smart policy.

My understanding is that both TIFIA and RRIF are under utilized. In fact, billions of dollars have been left on the table...

The ongoing failure to spend more than 2 percent of our GDP on infrastructure investment

I would agree with Senator Blumenthal that the estimates for trade volume growth are probably low.

Solving this threatened impasse or crisis on the West Coast is necessary to America's near term and longer term competitiveness

What accounts for that imbalance?

I am disturbed that these major retailers have in fact moved to block innovations.

In fact, that concept of narrow protection is that there should be preemption only if state laws are inconsistent with Federal law and then only to the extent of the inconsistency.

First do no harm. That is do no harm to the state protections and state enforcers who every day are seeking to protect their citizens from the scourge and spreading problem of data theft.

The extensive breach reporting requirements currently in place for banks provide an effective basis for any national data breach reporting requirement for businesses generally.

Why are the retailers disabling their terminals, for example?

I would suggest that that approach to preemption is broader than this committee should consider.

I am troubled by the failure of retailers to take responsible steps to protect their consumers.

This issue is hardly a partisan one. In fact, it is distinctly bipartisan, involving stronger protections for sensitive consumer data.

Consumers expect retailers collecting their sensitive personal information will do everything in their power to protect that data.

Thank you. First of all, my thanks to Senator Moran for his leadership, and in a very bipartisan way.

Why have they not done anything about it?

They paid a price, a reputational price, as well as enormous costs to their business.

The next Pearl Harbor may well be a cyber attack.

Congress has to take the lead. Congress has to legislate.