Eleanor Holmes Norton

Obviously, you have to look at every case, but we are looking at the category of sick children.

We are interested in the sick children.

You have had issues in meeting them. Some of this has resulted in the problems that bring us here today.

Sick children. Sick children. We are interested in the sick children.

I am just asking you about the $24 million.

But there was a category.

I think speaks volumes to the importance of WMATA.

Metro is, again, attracting riders, and anybody who understands climate change or congestion in this region has go to applaud that.

But equally important, Metro has created a really irreplaceable transit network on which the Federal Government depends every day every bit as much as our constituents.

Over half of Metro stations serve Federal facilities.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

It is in the interest of the Federal Government to do all we can to keep spurring these important developments.

Metro ties together entire neighborhoods.

Metro has also implemented an extensive safety and maintenance work plan for which we are very grateful, and now has a very impressive weekday on-time performance of 90 percent.

I thank my good friend for yielding. At times like these, my good friend who chaired the Oversight and Reform Committee, on which I also serve, was compelled to be a strong leader, but that is who Elijah was anyway. Elijah Cummings was…

I had been waiting to make sure that the appropriations came through, and I am pleased that the Senate and the House bills, as well as the President's budget, do have that appropriation, which I think speaks volumes to the importance of…

almost everybody else who drives the public has to have fingerprints and a background check except these people. We got to do something about that.

In June 2015, I wrote to then-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick urging the company to conduct fingerprint-based background checks.

The tenuous existence of Uber and Lyft is literally fueled by millions of independent contractors who see their take home pay reduced drastically--below minimum wage in some States.

That is why I led three hearings on Protecting the Right to Organize Act, known as the PRO Act, which would prevent misclassification by clarifying the tests for determining whether a worker, including a rideshare driver, is an employee.

Well, it is the obligation of this committee to see that it doesn't happen to Government employees, and that it doesn't happen to the public any longer.

I am grateful to Representatives Smith and Suozzi for starting off this hearing with statements on their ideas to improve the safety of ride hailing services.

I mean you report as little as $3.75 an hour.

They are also, as we have seen, making a lot of their employees yet another victim of the gig economy.

I have been focused on the potential dangers of pairing passengers with poorly vetted drivers for years.