Byron Dorgan

We need more transparency, more openness, in policy development.

You could actually remove that burden by taking a very significant step in solving that issue.

It seems to me you will lead a rather unhealthy agency.

These families have raised questions about a variety of issues, from uniformity of training requirements to relations between the regulators and the airlines they regulate.

I hope you will consider that a priority.

And we should say that we are discussing this through the lens of a tragedy, and understand, always, that that is the case.

We should address the issue rather than ignore the issue.

But, isn't that the key: You don't know.

And you're bringing them in Monday?

You ought to know the same about the pilot that you know about the plane

I think we have to propose some legislation that fixes that.

I want to thank you for holding a hearing on the issue of the Federal Aviation Administration and its role in the oversight of commercial air carriers.

There’s no excuse, in my judgment, for the FAA to wait another month to begin a rulemaking.

My--the reason I asked the question is, my understanding is that somewhere around seven out of the most recent nine accidents were accidents with commuter carriers.

I went back and read the de-icing issues--or, the icing issues, this morning in the transcript.

I was stunned, frankly, learning what I learned.

I'm a lot less interested in what regulations are in force versus how regulations are enforced.

It seems to me that we need to fix that, and fix that soon, because there's no reason to know everything that you can know about the airplane, but not the pilot that's flying the airplane.

It is my hope, and the hope of those who lost love ones on that flight, that the answers will lead to changes in the way that the Federal Aviation Administration operates and interacts with the airline industry.

Just two other questions, if I still have time? What is your status with respect to standing up the new B-52 squadron at Minot Air Force Base?

What kind of experience are you having with recruitment and retention?

And could you just give the subcommittee a general description of the Air Force presence and activities in the war theaters of Iraq and Afghanistan so we get a sense of assets and personnel and so on?

We need to streamline that somehow because we need to have energy development on these Indian reservations as well.

We have very serious law enforcement problems on Indian reservations.

But this nutty idea of going out and hiring a bunch of Federal sharpshooters and helicopters, you know, the sky is the limit apparently with the budgets of some of these agencies.