James Oberstar: “Mr. Chairman, the National Transportation Safety Board is the Nation's premier safety agency. Our highways are safer…”

“Mr. Chairman, the National Transportation Safety Board is the Nation's premier safety agency. Our highways are safer, our airways are safer, our railroads are safer, our maritime commerce is safer because of the work of the National Transportation Safety Board year in and year out, going back as far as 1926 when the Air Commerce Act vested in the Department of Commerce the authority to investigate aircraft accidents, an initiative, I might add, spearheaded by a leader in government who later was known or best known for other things that happened in the country. Herbert Hoover, as an Assistant Secretary of Commerce, championed aviation but also realized that if we did not act as a government to set national standards to make aviation safe and reliable, that there could not be commercial growth in this new mode of transportation. And he was the champion for aviation safety. The Nation owes him a debt of gratitude for that leadership.”