Ted Cruz

If you are sitting in that Southwest flight, you knew how close you came to having a plane land on top of you, killing every person on that plane, you would understandably be horrified.

I think you are going to see, as you have seen, bipartisan interest in assisting the FAA in ensuring redundancy so that we don't see air traffic grounded again.

Do the fixes that you proposed remove the risk of a similar single point of failure for knocking the NOTAM system offline?

So, the 80 percent didn't help. It is not like it was only a 20 percent ground stop.

Why has it taken 10 years, and why isn't it done yet?

Congress has fully funded NOTAM modernization for more than 10 years.

I know Texans and Americans across this country are deeply concerned about these near misses.

This Administration's desire to signal its virtue seems to know no limits.

The current nominee that is pending lacks that aviation experience.

The ground stop was because America was under attack. But this time, this ground stop was the result of the Federal agency's inability to modernize.

This kind of failure is hard to excuse.

I have to say I am disappointed by the absence of a Senate confirmed witness like Secretary Buttigieg.

Secretary Buttigieg, in my view, instead of engaging in politics, should be focused on the job he has now.

How did air traffic control direct one plane onto the runway to take off and another plane to land, and have them both within 100 feet of each other?

What is to prevent another ground stop in the 2 to 3 years between now and then?

Today, the flying public is stuck with a self-regulating and flailing agency stuck in the 20th century.

There is a role for partisan advocates. It just doesn't happen to be on an independent agency charged with overseeing communications in the United States.

Do you think it is poor judgment to cut checks to Senators who are voting on your nomination while it is pending?

Here is a billboard that Fight for the Future put up in West Virginia in 2017 attacking Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat.

You have been a significant political donor over the years, giving over $32,000.

I have been in the Senate 10 years. I have never seen a nominee make contributions to Senators while your nomination is pending.

I do not believe this is a nomination that will earn the votes to be confirmed, and I do not believe her record is suitable to serve on the FCC.

Vetting a nominee to the Federal Communications Commission is a serious task.

And I've got to say, Ms. Sohn, the timing of the settlement stinks.

I think the fundamental problem is that the Government's comparative advantage is not really to manage and operate a technology service.