Peter DeFazio

The last time this Committee held a hearing to examine grade crossing issues was 15 years ago.

Thank you, Chairman Lipinski and Ranking Member Crawford, for calling today's hearing to look at issues surrounding grade crossing safety.

The issue is, and you heard eloquently from Alderman O'Shea and others who raised concerns, that because of pressure from Wall Street, we are moving to destroying the freight industry with Precision Scheduled Railroading, which may improve…

So if they were running a 3-mile-long train through mountainous terrain where we could prove or we would know that the inadequate radio systems they have--not satellite-based--couldn't communicate, would that be a safety violation that…

I thank the chair for holding this important hearing as we work towards surface reauthorization, which will include a robust rail title.

I don't think there is any distinction between leases and outleases.

We don't care. I mean he is President, we have a secret legal opinion that says it doesn't violate emoluments.

I don't think we are going to have another President who has an outstanding outlease with the GSA.

Does the Constitution--does that trump a statute?

Would you agree that this hotel is in a sensitive place, since it is across the street from the FBI?

In October, I issued a subpoena to GSA for copies of legal memos and financial data regarding the Old Post Office lease to the Trump International Hotel that GSA has refused to provide to the Committee for over one year now.

The GSA's own internal watchdog, the Office of Inspector General (OIG), concluded that GSA failed to consider the Emoluments Clauses when evaluating this lease.

We are here today to protect the interests of the people of the United States of America, the taxpayers of the United States of America, and the Constitution of the United States of America.

So the question is, who is GSA serving here, Trump LLC or the people of the United States of America?

That is outrageous, absolutely outrageous.

It seems that that is a problem.

We wouldn't be holding a second hearing here today if GSA had followed the recommendations of its own internal watchdog

This is a remarkable lack of curiosity on the part of GSA.

Isn't that a bit unusual, that this unsettled technical legal issue regarding emoluments and a personal relationship...isn't that a little bit unusual?

This is becoming a pattern before this committee: profits over people.

The airlines made a collective $11.8 billion in profits in 2018.

It is time for this abuse to stop. In an immensely profitable industry, they can do better, and they should do better.

At the same time, Boeing was buying back stock, paying dividends, and rewarding its CEO generously.

What are the necessary steps to transition our marine transportation system toward 100 percent clean energy sources?

The world's largest shipping company has set a goal of zero emissions by 2050, but that should be a goal for the entire industry.