"I mean this is nuts. I mean TSA is inventing a whole new thing when all they need to do is read the damn cards."
"They come up with this phenomenal number of $51 per passenger on Amtrak. But they ignore the bulk of the passengers."
"This is the only form of transportation that the Federal Government subsidizes. Well, that is blatantly not true."
"If we go back to the proposal in H.R. 7, which would mandate outsourcing the long-distance routes to the lowest bidder, but then would transfer the operating grants to the lowest bidder, I am puzzled ..."
"So, then I guess I am puzzled as to where the savings comes. And I guess I don't see there are savings."
"There is no successful model of operating a system of any great size more efficiently and contracting it out. Hasn't worked."
"The Federal Government should not be involved in coordinating our national transportation system on the surface."
"The Port of Los Angeles should get no Federal assistance."
"Can you name a country that has gone down this route, withdrawing all Federal support, all national support for their transportation infrastructure in the air, on rail, and on the ground?"
"The system was implemented before results of a study and concerns about, in particular, the crash issue was raised at that time, and they seem to still be outstanding."
"So 60 percent of the carriers out there are, at this point, somewhat disadvantaged by this system because they are not in the system because they haven't had a violation or roadside inspection."
"I suggested some ideas about how we might get people into the system in a benign way."