Our economic competitiveness is dependent on our ability to compete with our foreign competitors, and if our corn is more expensive because our transportation is more expensive, that means our competitors are going to win.

But the most shocking part is the discovery that four automobile makers out of all those letters that we sent, four responded, that we know of, that they're selling new cars with the defective airbags on a schedule to be recalled in 2…

This is a failure of informing consumers, and I think your regulator ought to be getting answers on this.

There is much work to be done over the next four and a half years, and this committee will conduct rigorous oversight to ensure the success of these vital transportation programs.

I expect this will entail collaboration across the Department and with stakeholders on the more effective uses of Section 130 program funds.

I also look forward to the FRA's forthcoming actions to implement my amendment requiring cameras on passenger trains, fulfilling a longstanding NTSB recommendation in helping railroads better monitor crews and track conditions.

How about disclosure? How about the protection of the consuming public?

If they're buying not the full package of what they think they're buying, they're buying something that they've got to go in and have recalled in 2 years.

What we find are some alarming facts, that the completion rates range from as high as 57 percent to less than 1 percent.

I intend to get answers, and that's why I put in the record the 14 letters that we have just asked again for complete disclosure.

Maybe you ought to call a little prayer session with them.

We also expected that you would hear about the growing number of unreasonable challenges that organizations face in complying with the TCPA.