John Mica

I have to express my concern that FAA as an agency has been immobilized, and for 2 years we haven't had an Administrator.

We have a responsibility to make certain that if there are deficiencies in the operation of our regional carriers, that actions are taken to correct those deficiencies.

I want to thank our Chairman Mr. Costello for holding this meeting.

I am not going to get up here, and there are other agencies that have not been as good a steward as Secretary LaHood and the Administration has been on transportation.

My heart aches seeing folks without a job, and our whole objective--your objective, the Administration--was to get people to work as soon as possible.

But, again, the problem was the clarity in definition, which GAO identified as a problem.

A certain amount it appears is going for planning, and I am not against that or for studies, and that does also create jobs.

Well, thank you again. I appreciate your coming in and keeping us posted on your progress.

We still want folks to be held accountability and we are watching very closely how money is being spent.

I appreciate your good work.

Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Appreciate your calling this hearing and also helping us make certain that we acted responsibly and act responsibly in assessing how Federal dollars in a huge stimulus package that was well intended, but we…

We have to prioritize those investments to ensure that as our farms grow fewer in number but larger in size...

I would ask for support from the Committee as we go forward with reauthorization.

I think with the limited funding that we are going to have with the next reauthorization that we really do need to look back towards the Eisenhower years when we created the interstate system.

Construction and completion of I-49 will support the creation of up to 206,290 new jobs.

The industry's recent accident record is simply unacceptable.

We don't want the cure, though, to be worse than the problem that we are experiencing.

I think that we can take from this hearing.

I think there are issues that reach a certain level that we can't ignore them and we must address them.

I appreciated your opening remarks. Very well said.

Well, thank you for recognizing me, and also thank you for convening this hearing.

We have made significant progress in meeting veterans medical needs, but we have a much larger challenge to assist our veterans who are challenged with addiction, mental health problems and homelessness.

While we have made progress with the hospital, we need a strong Federal commitment to finish the much needed veterans medical facility.

I will continue to put my full support behind efforts to provide the necessary funds and services to our local veterans.

If anybody is responsible for the mess, it is Congress.