Ed Markey

On PCBs, asbestos, lead, they continue to poison our schools, households, workplaces across the country.

Strong new regulations send the right signal to the rest of the world that we are serious about this.

Obviously, the U.N. this week made it very clear that the world is now on thin ice, and that we have to do even more.

But now the list price of COVID vaccines may more than quadruple, and the cost of high drug prices is that families may need to pay higher health care premiums.

A drug that is unaffordable is a hallucination to ordinary people in our Country. So, it has to be made more affordable.

It is important to be looking at additional efficiencies, additional ways you can lower this price.

Even one person not getting vaccinated because they can't afford is a health system failure.

Two person crews make our trains safer, and I wish that you would commit to that today.

The real workers are saying that your company has failed to ensure their health and safety, and they fear retribution.

Mr. Whitaker, do you agree that rail workers should have the ability to collectively stop work when conditions threaten their health and safety consistent with the Federal Railroad Safety Act?

Absolutely. And that is why my Safe Freight Act would require trains to have at least two crew members.

It is clear that for too long, the rail industry has been raking in profits and putting safety on the sidelines.

Those safety issues are not just a threat to the communities where rail companies operate, they are a threat to rail workers.

That is why last week I reintroduced the Good Jobs for Good Airports Act to ensure that airport service workers get a living wage and benefits.

And finally, we can't really talk about aviation workforce issues without talking about airport service workers.

So that is how you think that women and minorities can be better included by broadening the pipeline, by taking the actions that you just mentioned so that we have got a strategy to reach out to include them and to help them to make it…

And that is why I am working on legislation to create and support aviation programs at minority serving institutions and at institutions focused on increasing racial and gender representation in this area.

That is why last week I reintroduced the Good Jobs for Good Airports Act to ensure that airport service workers get a living wage and benefits.

And finally, we can't really talk about aviation workforce issues without talking about airport service workers.

So that is how you think that women and minorities can be better included by broadening the pipeline, by taking the actions that you just mentioned so that we have got a strategy to reach out to include them and to help them to make it…

And that is why I am working on legislation to create and support aviation programs at minority serving institutions and at institutions focused on increasing racial and gender representation in this area.

Less than 20 percent of aviation workers are women. Less than 10 percent of pilots and maintenance technicians are women.

So only $30 million was appropriated last year for small and disadvantaged communities, even though $60 million was authorized in the Bipartisan Law.

Thanks to the leadership of our Chair and our bipartisan work with the Administration, this funding and other resources are getting out the door and into our pipes.

So we don't need small water systems left out, because they serve populations that could have the same kind of catastrophic circumstances.