Jay Inslee: “Already been fined $1 million. They got caught again with their hand in the cookie jar, hiring ex-felons. You have to…”

“Already been fined $1 million. They got caught again with their hand in the cookie jar, hiring ex-felons. You have to ask yourself another question, how can this system of private contractors under Federal supervision be such a failure? Would one think that if we had a Federal agency supposedly riding herd on these contractors we could accomplish a fair degree of training and certification? One would think. But the problem is this dirty little secret. We knew in 1995 that these companies were giving us a lousy job, they were not providing adequate security; and this Congress passed measures to require the FAA to adopt additional rules. But it never happened in 6 years. The reason is that every time the FAA tried to pass a meaningful safety regulation, those companies and airlines, too, to some degree, sent lobbyists up to Congress and blocked those safety regulations. That is why this experiment is a failure, because our agencies have been under the control of the ones they are supposed to be regulating. And you cannot break that iron cycle unless we get campaign finance reform which we have also not had a vote on. The American people need to know that the reason this has not passed is, we have a sick campaign financing system that needs to be reformed. But until we get that, we need a new system of airline safety.”