Trent Lott: “The Safety Board has long been our Nation's premier safety agency and the Congress has turned to it on many occasions…”

“The Safety Board has long been our Nation's premier safety agency and the Congress has turned to it on many occasions for its advice on ways to improve transportation safety. Moreover, Safety Board recommendations have served as the foundation for many transportation safety bills and laws. Rather than launch a campaign for exemptions, the railroad industry might better serve transportation safety if it works with Congress to implement the reasonable recommendations of the National Transportation Safety Board. Let me stress to my fellow Senators that I remain a big supporter of the nation's railroads. Railroads are, as they like to say, "the engine that drives America." I agree railroads are a huge engine, an important engine in America's economy.”