Peter DeFazio

Chair DeFazio has always held this important value that when it comes to the transportation of people, safety must always come first, and that includes protecting people from sexual harassment and assault.

We appreciate this committee's efforts to solicit the concerns of airline workers who continue to bear the brunt of chronic understaffing.

Millions of frontline transportation workers have worked through the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We can't allow CEOs to send one dollar to Wall Street before fixing operational issues and concluding contract negotiations.

This was purposely done so federal funding would be directed to frontline workers for our pay and benefits and to prevent growing inequality.

We knew it would be immediate devastation for two million aviation workers if we couldn't get relief, but there was no way we were going to agree to a bailout for airlines.

We refused to follow the old 'blank check for corporations' bailout playbook, especially for airlines.

We owe our jobs and a functioning airline industry to Peter DeFazio.

Thank you Chair DeFazio, Ranking Member Graves and members of the House Transportation & Infrastructure for convening this hearing on the importance of investing in our nation's transportation infrastructure and its workers.

Chair DeFazio broke the mold, remembering where he came from, and using his commitment to everyday people to drive his relentless advocacy.

It is hard to imagine this committee without its inimitable chair, Peter DeFazio, who has transformed safety for our profession.

We can't allow $1 to go to Wall Street before fixing operational issues and concluding contract negotiations.

The program that Chair DeFazio championed was the most effective and transparent jobs program in COVID relief.

Climate change is an existential threat to our nation and the world, and I'm glad we're finally taking action.

When faced with the unprecedented challenges to the transportation industry from the COVID-19 pandemic--we delivered.

But I am proud of the work of this committee, and this Congress as a whole, these last two years--to defeat that sense of inertia and deliver for the American people.

We have a $100 billion deficit to bring transit up to a state of good repair, let alone providing new transit options to people to help them get out of congestion.

I look forward to hearing from Sara Nelson with the Association of Flight Attendants and Greg Regan of the Transportation Trades Department about how they came through and their members came through the pandemic.

We saved the aviation industry by keeping the employees paid and in status, not directing money as a bailout to the airlines themselves.

The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates the deterioration to have a pricetag of over $2 trillion just to bring it up to a state of good repair.

This Congress passed three bills that will grow the economy, strengthen global competitiveness, create good-paying union jobs, can't be sent overseas, and make our communities more resilient.

In the face of this challenge, we passed COVID relief: first the CARES Act, and then the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, and then the American Rescue Plan Act.

This Congress, we passed three bills that will grow the economy, strengthen our global competitiveness, create good-paying union jobs that can't be sent overseas, and make our communities more resilient--the American Rescue Plan Act, the…

I think we can be very proud of what we have accomplished, and in good part, generated by this committee.

Surface transportation is the largest single contributor of greenhouse gases in the United States, and we need to begin to meaningfully address those.