James Oberstar: “Again, I want to express my great appreciation to the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee with whom I have…”

“Again, I want to express my great appreciation to the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee with whom I have worked very diligently and cooperatively. He is a man of great personal integrity and legislative honor and has worked vigorously to produce a splendid rail and public transportation security bill. There has been some discussion about how the grants will be administered. We had testimony before our committee from the Nation's transit agencies and through their national organization. The American Public Transit Association told our committee they prefer to work with the DOT and Federal Transit Administration and grant administration. They have had experience with them. FTA knows the operational aspect of transit. They know the security side of transit. They can combine the two with less complexity and more efficiency than the Department of Homeland Security, which is just getting started, with a huge new bureaucracy, as we have learned, with over 206,000 people. So that part is working well and will work well in the language that we have agreed upon. Again, let me just come back to the preemption issue. Read the words, believe the words, ``no preemption of State law.'' That's what it says. That's what it means. I strongly support the manager's amendment.”