John Mica

We may see something in higher-speed rail, but it certainly isn't high-speed rail.

I just like to put things in the record because people say things.

We are going to have the political will and courage to do it and to make that investment in our infrastructure

But he had the boldness and the courage and, most importantly, the political will when our country was being challenged as never before

Well, I would consider just for the record that we have put in over $1 billion a year into Amtrak capital improvements.

Finally, we are spending a lot of money on Acela.

The project, this All Aboard Florida, will open, actually the first leg, they have got the three stations--Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach.

We put a safer bridge in.

But I can see if you are plotting a new course and some of those concerns.

We put Amtrak, which I call our Soviet-style train system, for lack of a better term, and it has been a monopoly.

My preference would have been to put the money in the Northeast Corridor in one route and show some success and partner with the private sector.

I think, unfortunately, we have not been able to keep up with the rest of the world.

My folks think that there is something fishy about this.

I have questions about how this came down.

We have a responsibility to hear from you on the action that you took.

If FAA can do its job in setting the protocols, the standards, the courses, and the certifications and get the hell out of the business, don't you think we can do a better job?

Civil service was set up as a protection against political manipulation or misuse of authority over legitimate working civil servants.

It's almost impossible to fire a Federal employee.

Our objective was to look at the total amount of money we were spending at the time, which at that time was $80 billion.

But actually, we have actually saved money by going to the cloud. Is that correct, sir?

So we can actually spend less and get better technology, better results, and improved systems. Is that correct?

Many use outdated software languages and hardware parts that are unsupported.

If this doesn't work, in January when I come back, I will have a very nice--well, maybe I'll give you a little bit more time, sir.

I'll probably make these into gold, into silver and bronze. You're going to get a silver.

The money was there.