Frank Lautenberg

In New Jersey we have a nationally known philosopher whose name is Yogi Berra.

We cannot afford it. There's no credible case for doing it.

If the House Republicans get their way, how is that going to affect the CFPB's ability to start up and fulfill its mission of protecting consumers?

But nothing is more important than putting people back to work and making sure that our economy is never again threatened by the risky bets of Wall Street gamblers.

Right now, we've got to help Americans get back to work. That's got to be our top priority.

This, to me it looks like we might wind up back in the 2008 situation if we had to restrict ourselves to the things that you're now planning to do and improve the supervision and the reliability of the marketplace.

We would be taking action. And that is exactly what Senator Brown and I want to do is take action.

Senator Brown has been a strong advocate for bus safety in the wake of a 2007 bus crash.

We owe it all to the victims of bus accidents and their families to get to the bottom of what caused these crashes.

We will do that. Thank you very much.

But the FMCSA gave the company a satisfactory rating.

Thank you for your excellent recommendations. We will look to see that they are followed up on.

I am also a cosponsor of the Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act, sponsored by my colleagues Senators Brown and Hutchinson.

Unfortunately, the events of March 12 demonstrate a clear failure of the system which puts the public in harm's way.

Thank you, Madam Chairman and thank you again witnesses.

We, in our conversation yesterday we discussed a total review of all plants in America and I think that your time target was 90 days.

I have called on the NTSB to expand its investigation of the incident to review the possible safety risks.

The Congress must to step in and ensure that the safety improvements NTSB has recommended for decades are adopted by the DOT agencies.

Well, the--you know, we have the oldest plant, commercial plant in America, built in 1969.

When I asked you at the previous hearing what you thought was a safe distance, I think that the response that you gave me was 20 miles.

Just to say, Madam Chairman, this not only obviously is timely, but we are pleased to have Mr. Jaczko here.

So it was late and should never have occurred.

the implementation of these mandates will cost hundreds of millions of dollars

We need to understand why these dangerous drivers and bus companies were not taken off the road before these disasters took place.

Senator Brown and I began working on intercity bus safety legislation in 2007, and we have now reintroduced the bill.