Byron Dorgan

I support all the things you have just described. I mean, I think we should do all of them and do them well.

I think we do look at the price tag with a little bit of raised eyebrows. $4 billion to $6 billion is a lot.

I hope, as the President indicated last night, the right thing is to pass good, comprehensive energy legislation that will make us less dependant on foreign oil and begin to address climate change at the same time.

But, if the merger----

We've learned plenty, and much of it is very frightening.

I'm interested in the domestic market. And I'm wondering also, then, if this merger occurs and you become the world's largest airline, what percent of your passenger traffic in the United States, domestically, will be transported by…

Regional partners for United Airlines, in a merger or no-merger scenario, will continue to play a very, very important role in gathering up traffic for us to take abroad or to take on, obviously, longer flights.

I don't believe there is one level of safety, regrettably, at this point.

I think the public interest, first and foremost, has to be served here.

Excessive speculative trading is perverting everything in this country.

I do think there's always a tension between the interests that the carriers have... and the public interest.

I believe it should.

The question is, Are they parallel? And I--and, you know, that's the issue, it seems to me.

The hub-and-spoke system is critical to those areas, such as North Dakota and other similar States, to be able to be transported into a hub so that we are one stop from anywhere.

I think that's something that augers against more competition, and probably augers toward less competition.

I think there are very serious issues.

I want low-cost carriers to have competitive juices.

I do say that I'm not a big fan of mergers.

You can get over the barriers, but your life is going to be in many ways a set of opportunities that are defined by the limits you describe for yourself.

Despite this stark reality, I know hope exists.

This statistic is ignored at our peril. We simply cannot ignore it.

We must recognize that American Indian and Alaska Native students face many more challenges than students on Main Street, America.

Part of our job is to make sure that federal education law embraces local communities' desire to revitalize their culture and language.

The No Child Left Behind Act has left many Indian students behind.

The only limits on you and your life are the limits you put on yourself.