Maria Cantwell

For a passenger who presented no threat to safety or security of a flight to be treated that way is completely unnecessary and unacceptable.

You need to ask yourselves as providers: Are you prioritizing those shareholder profits over the basic needs of consumers?

We must continue to identify and evaluate the threats to the system as well as appropriate investments in technology to reduce these threats.

The electric grid is essential to our lives and also the lifeblood of our economy.

The task before us is difficult. For us to extend the Secure Rural Schools programs, the House, the Senate and the White House all must, ultimately, support the extension.

That is why I am joining my colleagues, Senator Wyden and Senator Hatch, tomorrow in introducing a bill to reauthorize the now expired Secure Rural Schools program.

Unfortunately, some of our colleagues in the House do not understand the importance of Secure Rural Schools program, and the President's budget did not seem to understand the importance of this. We are going to have to work harder.

I specifically want to thank Senator Cantwell's unwavering efforts to help Pend Oreille County recover from this tragedy and for her work to reform fire borrowing.

I just wanted to get, if I could, the witnesses on record about whether we should fix this SRS problem now, ASAP, and not wait for other discussions.

I am just trying to make sure that we're continuing to shine the bright light on these issues.

H.R. 339, the Northern Mariana Islands Economic Expansion Act, is something that we all need to discuss.

I was disappointed in the Administration's proposal to eliminate the EAS program, which would have a very negative impact on small and rural communities across the country.

We must look at ways to make aviation, and especially general aviation, safer.

We obviously want good programs that work.

I cannot tell you how much we appreciate this program in Washington State.

The new rules should reduce the time and the cost of moving these technologies through the certification process.

I was disappointed along with many of my colleagues by the $239 million budget cut the President proposed for the IRS, nearly erasing the bipartisan efforts we made last year.

I was heartened to hear Secretary Mnuchin say during his confirmation hearings that the IRS was 'understaffed' and 'under-resourced' and hoped we could move beyond the era of punitive budget cuts for the IRS and make the Service the most…

Well, we definitely want to see those exemptions. And I guess I would be the wingwoman on the wingman team on this issue of streamlined critical pay authority.

Do you know of any steps the Secretary is taking to advocate for the IRS's exemption?

I was heartened to hear Secretary Mnuchin during his confirmation hearing say that the IRS was understaffed and that we needed to make sure that we moved beyond the punitive budget cuts.

I think what I would like to do is see if I can get the witnesses on record about what we need to do to continue our investment in freight mobility and our port infrastructure.

I would just note for everyone that the Chair and I have worked hard on this and we still have provisions of the energy bill that we would like to see passed that would double the R&D for this effort in DOE and help us look at a supply…

Alaskans are used to goods and services being more expensive than the Lower 48, anywhere from two to ten times more expensive.

Thank you, Chairman Murkowski, for holding this oversight hearing.