But let's be clear. Fair, open, and balanced competition isn't what Mr. Chambers and his clients are looking for here.

I can't help but note that, as we're in a Presidential election year, that some of the proposals coming out of this committee remind me of the Mitt Romney view of the world, which is we dismantle Amtrak, which he would do by zeroing it…

Their aim is consistent with their broader agenda, which is to eliminate Amtrak and let private corporations--by the way, many of them foreign--to cherry pick those parts of the Amtrak system that can yield them the highest profits.

It is--the irony is not lost on me, and I'm sure most others, that we're here on 9/11 discussing proposals that would, unfortunately, dismantle Amtrak on the very day when, 11 years ago, Amtrak workers, among other transportation workers…

Mr. Chairman, I have had some good-tasting whoppers in my time, but this is a whopper of a bad idea if I ever heard one, trading good paying jobs with benefits for cheaper cheeseburgers.

These are the very same people who thought you were doing too much probably most of the time.

I happen to agree with them; I voted against that repeal. And I wish they had voted against that repeal, as well, but they didn't.

The notion that the problem in America today with the financial institutions is too much regulation--once a week we get a demonstration that is not true.

I remember when I sat here in 2008 as our economy became unraveled.

I can't help myself. You do realize that your company is named after a place where one of the most--not devastating--broad-based regulations in history came out of.

I don't think anyone would suggest that Dodd-Frank was a perfect bill, certainly not by my measure, but perfection is really never the measure of anything.