John Mica

I don't think so. And see, that is the problem, because they continually, day after day, week after week, month after month, screen Members of Congress.

I think I have put in law at least 3 times that they should develop a biometric identification.

I went up to Boston to look at what they had set up there, and it was a--it was almost a joke.

We need to be closing down TSA as we know it, and instituting a safer, more secure, less bureaucratic, and more effective system.

The system doesn't make us any safer. In fact, now the customers are at risk.

The administrator of TSA is stonewalling our committee, which created TSA, and refuses to communicate or work with our committee.

Amtrak's food and beverage service has incurred a direct operating loss of over $526 million in the last 6 years.

If you are losing $79 million on food service with a captive audience 3 years ago, and that increases to $84.5 million this past year, you have a problem.

I was very pleased preceding this hearing, and I asked the question before, we went to a nine-member board and seven members of the board had been appointed.

I am a fiscal conservative. You can move more people for less. As far as the environment, energy, it is absolute winner.

I come from a business background. If this is a corporation which is subsidized heavily by public support, the very least they can do is have a business plan, and that plan should be flexible.

We want people held accountable. We want the board to act, and clean up the mess and, again, the failure that is so embarrassing here.

So we hope we can--as Mr. Connolly also said, we have to restore public faith and trust in this important responsibility.

Mr. Connolly actually made a pretty good case of making this more of a Virginia-centered Authority.

I think in terms of cleaning house on the board, it has pretty well been taken care of because almost all the members are new members.

I think Mr. Connolly said maybe we need to clean house and start over.

The sort of abuses that have occurred must stop and must stop immediately.

We don't have any further speakers on our side, and I reserve the balance of my time to close.

I'm pleased to yield 6 minutes at this point to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri), who chairs the Aviation Subcommittee in the House.

One of the things that I have been working on--and actually, I am very proud of this, coming at the end of this congressional session--is next Tuesday morning at 10:00 they are going to dedicate--or at least a formal opening--of Union…

There is a constant diatribe I hear from the other side, 'Oh, Mica wants to lower wages and all of that.'

It is an efficient, clean energy that otherwise would have people in the roads.

Amtrak is the key to our future, and competition with the airline industry as well.

I think the future in America is going to be more rail, not less rail.

I think we have to go further, and I think we have to, again, make sure if we are going to use taxpayer dollars--which we probably always will have a portion of taxpayer dollars--we got to make sure we are good stewards of the taxpayers'…