Political Quotes

“now on to East Palestine. Yesterday, I called on Norfolk Southern's CEO Alan Shaw to come before the Senate and answer questions under oath about the derailment in East Palestine. The accident has been deemed 100 percent preventable. So Mr. Shaw should be transparent, forthright, and he should not duck but, instead, testify before America, before the Senate, as soon as possible. Norfolk Southern owes the American people some answers to some very important questions. Why, for example, did Norfolk Southern spend years pushing the Federal Government, and particularly the Trump administration, to repeal--repeal--safety regulations intended to prevent accidents similar to the one in East Palestine? Why has Norfolk Southern laid off thousands of workers while reporting over $3 billion in profits in 2022? And why did Norfolk Southern launch a $10 billion stock buyback program last year, when they could have used that money to upgrade safety equipment, hire more workers, or pay their employees better wages? Disasters like the one in East Palestine are precisely what can happen when safety takes a backseat to maximizing profits. It is a pattern that has played out to devastating effect over the years: Corporate interests lobby the government to loosen safety rules, then they cut costs, cut workers, reward shareholders; and sooner or later, disaster strikes.…”