Richard Blumenthal

Judge Johnson's history... was really a hero.

I oppose same-sex marriage.

I think the difficulty, most of the difficulty, will be involved with the internal procedures and practices of the court.

Thanks, Senator Isakson. Thank you both for your insights and wisdom about these nominees.

I am very pleased to call this hearing to order.

That is why we are here tonight, and that is why we will stay the course. I yield the floor. The Senator from New Mexico.

We should welcome the public's interest in what the Government does.

I very much applaud and welcome those kinds of initiatives.

And why does that not exist now, as you put it, standardized and common FOIA regulations----

What is your timeline for actually implementing a standardized common regulation?

The better and quicker that we try to provide information, the better democracy works.

The public is frustrated and unhappy with the pace of responses and the amount of information provided.

I appreciate your having this hearing, which I think is profoundly important, and I recognize your leadership in the area of open government and freedom of information.

I think it is safe to say that he never wants to have to manage something like TARP again.

Well, fixes in real time is the message. And they have got to be real fixes in much realer time.

I think we're going to want all of you back and we're going to want you back soon.

Thank you for organizing this hearing on the critically important topic of rail safety.

There is a reason why Congress has mandated certain actions.

Well, you need a different authority. Because, for example on cameras, is there a requirement that you go through the APA rulemaking process?

So maybe voluntary compliance isn't working as it should be.

I think that one of the lessons of today is that we need both resources and authority.

I'm asking really for authority; whether the agencies need authority to expedite these rules, to issue emergency orders.

You need a different authority.

I hope to fill his shoes, in part, and thank my colleagues for joining me this morning.

But coming back to the recommendations for specific measures that might have prevented many of these incidents, my view is that we're behind. We've been lax and lagging and the question is why haven't those orders been forthcoming from…