Transcripts For CSPAN3 Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao Testifies On FAA Reauthorization 20170609

Cspan2s book tv. Transportation secretary elaine chao testified before a Senate Committee on the future of the federal Aviation Administration and the president s proposal to privatize the air Traffic Control system. This is just over two hours. Morning. I want to welcome secretary chao back today. This is her first time beforee the committee since being confirmed. Secretary, i want to thank you for appearing before us today to discuss reauthorization of thehe faa. We arend working hard on a bipartisan basis to produce a bill, hopefully during this work period. And we appreciateld the administrations engagement. Already this year, the committee has held hearings on a range of topics underpinning this legislative effort including safety, drone policy, rural issuing, aircraft certification, consumers concerns, and infrastructure financing. One of the key governance issues we have not yet focused on this yearld but which has been discussed extensively overall the last two years and whether the United States should separatete the air traffic serve provider function from the faa and create a nongovernmental, not for Profit Corporation to do the job. Thet faa runs remarkably safe operations. But outside auditors have dinged the governments performance on deliveryry safety and efficienc upgrades prompting a debate as to the best path forward. Yesterday the president used his pulpits to join those who advocate reform. It is hard to ignore the many independent studies and reviews that documentri the flaws with y current structure. Immi looking forward to a robu discussion today on the merits of the reform proposals as well as ways the administration will seeke. To address concerns of k stakeholders especiallyek those with a rural i perspective. While atc reform has garnered much of the attention this weekt there are plenty of other important issues that require the consideration of thess d. O. And this committee. R the department administers severalry key programs includin essential air Service Program and is responsible for consumer production oversight for the aviation industry. Last month, aviation subcommittee chairman blunt and rankedpa member cantwell held a hearing on recent consumer issues. And im interested to hear directly from the secretary on what stepsps the department has taken to address these matters. In addition, as we craft our faa bill we will continue to focus on certification treform, the integration of drones into the Airport Infrastructure development,o aviation safety, and rural air service. There is still a lot of work to be done. And i i look forward to working with the administration and all of myy colleagues throughout th process. With that i reiterate my thanks to secretary chao for being here and turn to ranging member nelson for his Opening Statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you to the committee in the way that it is so interested in this subject and with which we dispatched this subject matter last year in an exceptionallywa bipartisan way d anan almost unanimous way. Madam secretary, welcome. The current extension ofte the a set to expire at the end of september, im hopeful that we are going to have ami bipartisa and a long term reauthorization bill ready to go in the coming weeks. And what i had expressed my preference to you just a few minutes ago, a bill somewhere in the range of five years, to give you certainty over time that you had thexe authorization with whh you need to execute the executiveh branch of government. I remindf our committee that we passed this oneyear extension with a lot of substantive stuff in it. 953ar in the senate. And at the ntime, the chairman and i focused on areas of agreement. This i resulted in legislation that addressed the safe integration of drones in the National Airspace, significant reforms to the faa certification process, and w broad ranging aviation a consumer issues. This was a win for aviation stakeholders as well as the traveling public, which was reflected in that overwhelming vote. Now, any further progress on that bill was thwarted in the house by the proposal of privatization of air Traffic Control. So we l now operate just on a oneyear bill with a new looming deadline. Madam secretary, i understand that you will present the administrations support for the shiftingty atc services from th faa to an independent entity that will be governed in part by the airlines. My views on this matter i have already shared with you, are the sames as i expressed rather vigorously last year when this subject was up for debate. Why . Because we have the safest air Traffic Control system in the world, why would we risk that by handling the whole thing over to an colleagues on the other side of the aisle, which really is not so much applicable to this committee as it is to the full senate had not rallied behind this proposal because they understand the potential harm to general aviation as well as to small and Rural Communities. And a fundamental break up of the faa cannot advance when there is such Strong Division among aviation stake holders and in congress. So this entire discussion over atc privatization distracts from legitimate matters which must be doctorsed by the congress on the part of faa reauthorization. Now its no secret that the traveling public is frustrated and i want to grant what the chairman has said about this matter. There are certainly ways that w. We are right at the point of handing over a lot of the communication via radar to the gps satellite system. That, as i understand it, is going to occur in about three years. Whereas the remaining implementation over of the entire next generation is going to be over a dozen years. That can certainly be made more efficient and effective and indeed it will save time and fuel and money for the traveling public as well as the airlines. If you can go from point a to c instead of having to go a route because of a radio beacon from a to b to c and you can cut off that dog lag with a bline straight to your destination, then it save as lot of time, fuel and money. And thats the point of next gen plus having Situational Awareness in the cockpit so that you know at all times because you have a much improved Communications System in the cockpit what is around you. At the same time the traveling public is frustrated. Look what we are seeing. Every day theyre frustrated. They cant check their bags or board flights with increasingly shrinking sizes of and or over booked seats without paying fees. So one of the airlines is ordering a whole new set of boeing 737s. And instead of 31 inches between the seats in tourist, in fact theyre going to get it down to 29 inches because they are going to put in this new boeing 737 an additional 12 seats in the same amount of cabin space. Passengers are expressing their frustration. Theyre frustrated that airlines wont design their websites that clearly communicate their fees and policies. Theyre frustrated that failing airline i. T. Systems result in cancelled and delayed flights for days on end and i see a lot of our members with very interested expressions on their faces because its happened to us as well. So this is why this years faa reauthorization legislation must once again include strong Consumer Protections to address these growing frustrations. Afterall, if the airline cant even manage their own i. T. Systems, you can imagine if you took and put all of that into air Traffic Control, that doesnt give us a very good result. So lets deal with the real problems like the way passengers are treated as valuable customers, which the arlz obviously want to do. Lets dont go around trying to find a solution in search of a problem thats not a problem. So lets keep the focus on a bipartisan long term and id say fiveyear comprehensive faa reauthorization bill and lets try to do it and show that actually in this congress we can get something done and passed and passed in a bipartisan way. And so as usual, madam secretary, all of us look forward to working with you. Youre an excellent public servient. You have given yourself to Public Service over the years and we are appreciate that very much. Thank you. That know ynk you, senator n. A lot to chew on there. We look forward to hearing from you and if youll proceed with your opening remarks and well open it to the panel. Thank you very much. Ranking member nelson and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify before this committee and the future of the federal averation administration and the faa reauthorization relegislation. Nearly a century has passed since the federal government started navigating the nations airspace. Weve come a long way. Light towers and huge concrete arrows painted yellow. In the decades since, a progression of congressional and president ial initiatives has resulted in the air Transportation System we know today and altered the Regulatory Framework along the way, sometimes quite dramatically. To keep up with it technology, new regulatory entities were created and old ones were restructured to make more effective use of our nations airspace and improve aviation safety. We can all take pride in the tremendous gains that have been achieved. Technological change has increased dramatically over the past several decades. At the same time the traditional model is making it more and more difficult to keep up. Air Traffic Control is perfect example. Despite billions of dollars of taxpayer investments, the implementation of state of the art air Traffic Control technology is not where it needs to be. So this administration has taken a bold step and joined many of our counterparts world wide by separating air Traffic Control operations from the oversight functions of the f a, a. This administrations proposal will create a separate, nongovernmental, nonprofit cooperative to operate our country pfs air Traffic Control system. The new entity would be a fully capitalized, financially self sustaining entity funded by users of its services. All surplus revenues would be reinvested back into the system. Because just because its not profit, doesnt mean that it doesants accumulate surpluses. Mie mindful that the key to any organizations success is its employees, it proposes that the new entity honor existing labor agreements and that employees transfer from the faa would be kept whole in terms of pay and benefits, although they would no longer be federal employees. This will accelerate new technology which is so critical to managing the National Airspace with more precision, thereby enhancing safety. Passengers will benefit because these reforms will speed up technology that will reduce delays and congestion. Air Traffic Controllers will benefit because these reforms will insure that they have the most up to date tools and technology. And i want to single out and thank these dedicated professionals who are indeed the best in the world. Theyre true heroes, keeping the flying public safe every day. And taxpayers will benefit because a system will be fully financed with user fees. 100 of the surplus will be able to be reinvested back into the system. We also believe the proposed new entity is necessary for the dramatic increase in passengerer traffic over the last decades and to integrate new entrance into our airspace such as commercial space and commercial space operations. My written testimony contains more detailed information on the proposal and of course legislative language to be submitted will contain many more details. It is worth noting that over the past 20 years more than 60 countries have successfully managed similar atc air Traffic Control reform efforts. Each country is different. We recognize that. And we also recognize that the u. S. National airspace is the biggest and most complex in the world. Nevertheless there are lessons to be gleamed from the experience of other countries and we need to embrace transformational reform. Innovation and the ability to chapg with changing times is one of the hallmarks of our country and part of aviation history. The proposed reforms will insure that the United States remains the worlds leader in aviation Going Forward into the it future and this is an industry that we pioneered. So thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today and ill be happy to take any questions that you may have. Thank you, madam secretary. As i mentioned in my Opening Statement there have been many concerns raised regarding recent proposal s for atc reform and te potential impact on Small Community airspace. I was glad to see the principals continue the need to maintain access for rural kmupt communities. How do you see this proposal, n insuring there are such safeguards in place for Rural America . The administrations proposal will enhance safety, improve access, and also increase efficiency. All of these features will help make the system better. As we have already heard the congestions and delays we are seeing in our airspace can be alleviated by a different governing structure. The tardiness with which we are implementing technological advances can be addressed through taking this air Traffic Control entity out of bureaucratic Government Procurement rules. We have the best and safest system in the world. We want to maintain that and to enable the system in the future to maintain its supremacy, we need to have a much needed technological advances. We need to have a different way for the air Traffic Control system to be able to space airplanes, for example and on the rural front, im very concerned boit access for Rural America. Currently the rural areas are most hurt by the status quo in terms of air Traffic Control towers, many of which are the first to be cut in any budgetary cutbacks. So Rural America, if it were, would actually the be enhanced if the air Traffic Control system were taken out of the bureaucratic budgeting and procurement processies. As you would understand look at the composition of this committee. There are a lot of people that represent rural states and people with smaller airports where general aviation is important and i, like you, share a concern that rural kbrareas b treated fairly. My question is to what safeguards in the Administration Proposal in what ways would they are go about insuring rural areas would continue to have access and that would be affordable . So if you have maybe you havent at this point, since theres no legislation to look at, sort of gained that out. But thats something a lot of people would be interested in o knowing about. There were editorials that echoed the president s call to spin out the atc function from the faa and noted the basic concept has enjoyed support by republicans and democrats at different times. What would you say, for instance, to those that argue reforming the atc system will actually slow down the modernization process . Well, we respectfully disagree. The men and women who work on next gen are doing their very, very best and we do not want to criticize them, but next gen effort has been going on for quite a while. It has expended billions of dollars and facing many procurement issues, delays that existed decades ago. I was Deputy Assistant of transportation in 1989. Coming back in 2017 i am hearing the same arguments, the same descriptions of the problem as i did then. The procurement issues are real and we need to make sure that hard working men and women who man our air Traffic Control system have the latest technology. Right now the air Traffic Control system is still operating from vacuum tubes and paper strips at an age when we have Digital Technology available. So we need to again equip our air Traffic Controlests with the best tools they have going into the future. Senator nelson. Thank you. Madam secretary. Well just have a disagreement on this and i appreciate the position you have to articulate for the white house and entirely respect you as you go about your duties. I would point out that one of the reasons for the delays on the next gen implementation is lack of money. Yeah. And lack of money also gets in the way a lot of rural airports are covered by contract towers. Theyre not faa. And we went through that drill a couple of years ago and had to really get with it because some of the contract towers were being cut out simply as savings. A lot of the rural airports that dont do have them now would like the have contract towers. But its a function of money. I dont think when you compare that to the organization of the implementation that is a reason why you suddenly turn all of the government assets over to a private entity. That is my opinion and we will certainly in the crusable of debate proceed and see where it comes. I want to give most of my time to the other members. Its pretty well known where i am. I just want to give you another topic for your consideration. Takata airbags have been linked to 180 injuries and 11 deaths. Several of those have occurred in my state. Last week we released data from an independent monitor that showed after two years of the nation wide recall, 2 3 of the cars out there still have not been repaired. And it appears since you were sworn in the national Highway Safety administration has not taken any further action to speed up the process. Last friday chairman foon and i sent you a letter requiring additional action to get the process moving again. So i wish you would be refreshed on the contents of that letter and see if you could crack the whip on nitsau to get them going. Do you have any additional detail or steps you might want to share with us at this point . Senator nelson, thank you very much for the letter that you and the chairman have sent. Were in receipt of the letter. It just dame in the last few days. We understand this is a concern to you. Its a concern to us. We hope we are working diligently on this issue, but obviously not fast enough. And so thank you for reminding us and we will redouble our efforts. Thank you, senator nelson. Well, its wonderful to see you again rsh madam secretary. Let me say with are eguard to the air Traffic Control proposal this is a tough sell in states like my state of mississippi where the small airports are very concerned where this will lead them. I think youre going to see this on both sides of the aisle. So the sale needs to be made and made convincingly. What assurances can you give us about the fear of higher air fairs and higher fees presulting from this proposal particularly in light of the fact the privateized model in canada found after the first six years in canada there was a 59 increase and in the United Kingdom a 50 increase. I think canada had a 30 decrease in useer ing. In the United Kingdom, ace fees rose 30 but your testimony is in fact it decreased. For general aviation, which i know theres a group very concerned about this dash. Thats something we need to nail down. And folks back home need a Comfort Level about what this might result in. What do you say to the statement and let me turn it into a question of senator nelson about the effect of this on the contract towers and can you comment on the value of contract towers . The contract towers are very important to Rural America. I understand and am very concerned about the impact on Rural America because i come from a state thats rural i know that the majority of the members of this committee come from rural areas and states. So ive taken to advisement very seriously this concern about how to address rural issues. The contract towers are actually much better if the governing system were separate. For example how do we know that . Contract towers are the first to go in any budgetary cutbacks. We had sequestration. When theres uncertain budgetary demands as senator nelson mentioned its a matter of money and the contract towers are always the first to go and yet theyre so important to Rural America so the air Traffic Control system were to be separated and able to have much steadier budget stream, budget scenario, the threat to the contract towers actually drop and that would be very good for Rural America. Well be visitic about this over time. Let me shift in the minute 1 2 i have left. We had testimony from the air force today about the global shortage of pilots and that effects the civilian sector in the United States and with all of our allies. Can you comment and do you have any specific recommendation about what your Department Might do in working with all concerned entities to address the Pilot Shortage and do you acknowledge rural was put in by congress and it set a much higher standard for the number of hours, obviously, that a potential pilot has a to attain before they can enter into service. So thats really an act of congress and theres really little the executive branch can do about that. Let me say theres a larger problem though. And i would direct your atection tension to the problem that he mentioned yesterday. The chief of staff of the air force. There is a shortage across the board in the military, the air force, the navy, in the United Kingdom and among the commercial pilots. Which we and our friends are going to have to deal with. So i would simply ask you to go back the department on the civilian side be part of a solution because it is a serious problem. What were talking really about is a skills gap and theres a larger issue about a skills gap in our ecaneomy and so i share your concerns about the pilots and where were going to get them in the future and love to working with you on that. Thank you, maam. Thank you for being here. And thank you for answering questions about contract towers. Its a hot topic because theres 250 contract towers in 46 states. So i think just about every part of the country is intertsed in this and given senator wickers question about the value i would assume you would be willing to say youll protect these contract towers no matter what . I cant promise you that now because under the current budgetary process its an issue of whats available dollars is that what youre asking . Yes. So thats why the proposal of separating out air Traffic Control from the regulatory safety part of faa is to address some of the budgetary issues as well so this new entity will be self financing and will not be victim to the vagueies of year to year annual appropriations. But thats good for the contract towers. Are you saying they wont get protected unless we do that . Youre asking about under the current budgetary process . Im not saying i wont protect them, im just saying i cant guarantee that. I would hope that you would protect them no matter what. On the next gen system, do you know if the president s inf infrastructure planz plan supports in next gen. Just on next gen because obviously one of the things we struggle with here as a committee is we get all the players here and they debate amongst themselves. I wish we could make them stay there until we got a resolution of funding issues. And so does the president s infrastructure plan include making some investments in next gen 2 . Had. The president s infrastructure proposal has as a major part of it a separation from the regulatory safety aspect which remains with faa. So in fact the modernization of faa is the corner stone of the Infrastructure Project. Theres an Aviation Trust Fund we cannot use, even though its got huge surpluses in there because its not been appropriated and the whole issue about financing and the budgetary process from year to year and how uncertain it is which imbeads the ability. So this whole issue about funding certainty is tight in with why ethe separation would be good to maintain a more robust air Traffic Control system. Im here to work with all of you because i know this a controversial issue. Next gen is paying dividends. So if we get this to point where we dont get there, we hope well keep making progress on the implementation just as we did under the last extension bill. Thank you. And i know its a little more related to broader 4 eer freigh. We recently sent you a let r about the national highway and grant program. Are you expecting a second round of freight grants this year . This and other grants have been under review because of the new administration. So we hope to finish the review quickly and then get these grants out as quickly as you you can. I would hope so. Thank you, madam chair. Welcome, madam secretary. Nice to see you. I think you just mentioned about the need to have a longer planning period and a longer reauthorization period not just with regard to air service and air prorts and i hear that from stake holders across nebraska as well because it takes a long time plan projects and get the permitting done and go through the construction. First of all, do you agree with that . And what are you going to do for the longer planning period when it comes to infrastructure . It will help if its longer period the committee can come to a consensus on. I think that would alleviate some of the pressure. And as we look at air services, specifically in the access thats there, i know you have mentioned the needs in Rural America and its very critical we have access to our communities and families in the businesses so they can take advantage of opportunities. I am concerned about the elimination of congressional appropriations of essential air service in the president s budget request. Can you tell us what the administration plans to do, what their intentions are, concerninging these rural areas. How are you going to insure they have access to the air services. If Rural America is going to be able to grow. And its a big part of that. Restructure the way it is. I am working with within the administration to see how we can address that and i am hopeful to have a partial solution to this shortly. I would be happy to work with you on that as well and i know theres many members of the committee where the essential air service play as big part in keeping areas in our states connected and continuing to grow and have opportunities for economic growth. So i hope you feel free to reach out to try and work through the problems that i see with the requests thats come down from the administration. I am pleased to hear the president has talked about the importance of Regulatory Reform as a way to address infrasfrukture investment and freight movements. Sometimes theyre pretty restrilktive. And i try to look for ways that we can develop more innovative methods for a regulatory goal put out there. Do you agree that performance based standards could facilitate technologies and if so has a department moved to a more performancebased series . We are in total agreement on that and we hope to move in that direction, yes. Do you have any examples of specific ways youre looking to address some of those right now you can share with us . There was an executive order i believe dated february 28th and it was an effort to look lat of the regulations from a status quo point of view that have been just issued. Everything was frozen for 60 days. As part of the Infrastructure Project proposal, were looking at the permitting side and were going to have announce some of that. But there will be a day devoted to how can we work with some of the permitting issues, for example and i dont want to go on for too long. Some of these permitting issues are we all want to protect the environment. But some of these permitting issues does it not make sense to have some of these permitting procedures occur concurrently. So very simple issues like that can make a big difference. So were having a gathering of mayors and governors this friday. On this particular issue and have some furtherer dialogue as well. And i would just add my concern about the contract towers and looking for a way we can continue that. Thank you. Thank you, senator fisher. Bloomen thaul. Thank you, welcome back, madam secretary. I want to thank my colleague for working with me on a previous session on the contract issues consideration and we stated then and i will restate my commitment to working across the aisle on this very important issue with my colleagues i have been discouradi discouraged by the lag in responses to some of our inquiries. There was a report from politico that they were telling agencies to do you know of any such contracts j you had a discussion with white house officials . Well, first all of i have always worked very hard to insure that whatever department i am leading, that it would be working very well with both sides of the aisle on issues we pride ourselves in being very responsive and i have a history of working collaboratively with members of congress. I hesitate to interrupt you but my time is limited. I wrote to you just days after the now infamous incident involving United Airlines demanding an investigation into the issue that was raised there. Dot said publicly it was reviewing that issue and i asked for answers about the airline employees knowledge of passenger rights. I helped lead the effort of a new passengers bill of rights. But in the meantime ive received no response to my inquiry. Im sorry you did not receive a response. I have not received that. Its actually not unusual for an administration at any oversight oversight responses be to the ranking member. Oversight is a bit different and this has always been the policies through all administrations. Im very skeptical, with all due respect, about the plan that has been aed vanced that would provide for socalled reform in a system that has seen no fatality on a commercial plane since 2009. I am puzzled that they want to break apart into the hands of an unknown untested entity that will be controlled by the airlines. Particularly since nearly 40,000 people are expected to die on our roads every year and the administration has yet to propose a specific set of measures to build new roads, and new infrastructure. President trump promised to replace our quote obsolete end quote rails with the quote bleeming and quote infrastructure our country deserves. So im wondering why breaking apart the faa when we have not seen any specifics in the cut in investment in infrastructure in the 2017 budget. I wonder if you could explain what the impacts would be to the cuts kpaunlt platd in the Tiger Program and other programs in the jurisdiction of your department . The separation of faa, air Traffic Control is a corner stone of the infrasfrukture project. The current budget of 2018 does not reflect the priorities of the new infrastructure proposal. The projects that were cut will be realeaned to newer pruorts. Are you saying the tiger will be fully fonded. It will be a different funding. It will have 200 billion of direct federal funding which is higher than december 2015 and t will be leveraged and through Public Private partnerships and through possible sale of government assets. And when will we see the specifics . Hopefully soon. We hope to have the legislative schedule probably Third Quarter this year. My time has expired. Mr. Chairman, thank you, madam secretary, thank you for your presence today. I appreciate recollecting the efforts to make certen the Contract Tower Program was funded. I would remain skeptical you indicating Rural America and Contract Tower Program said would be more squur a board of 13 people. Based on my experience dealing with this issue in the senate, as i recall to restore the funding for that Contract Tower Program, there were 26 democrats and 25 republicans who joined together in offering amendment on the senate floor. So a majority of republicans and democrats put the efforts together to make sure contract towers were supported. I would put the risk of the survival of contract towers in the hands of Congress Much more easily than i would put in the hands of a board of 13 people making decisions nation wide. I think one of the problems is the removal of congress from having a role to play and by rural what i think i mean is almost any place is rural. So i would put my eggs in the basket of asking congress to be supportive more than in the gakst of a 13 member private board. To senator fishers question. Longer reauthorization is a good thing. I was disappointed we were unable to gelt a longterm reauthorization faa bill pasds through the Congress Last time. But the reason we were unable to do that is the topic in front of us again. Private zashz of the faa. And so if it becomes clear the votes are not present in this committee or the United States senate, will you help us pass an faa longterm loan without the privatization provisions . As you know i cannot. Perhaps im only making a point. The issue that now faces us faced us faced us the last time. At some sometime the decision needs be made is our priority a longterm faa authorization because those two may be mutually exclusive and then i want to thank you for responding to our february letter. We wrote you asking about your assurances that your comments in your conformation hearing about reaching a National Consensus on this topic we received your response last night and i thank you for offering that letter. I know the effort was made to seek input from a variety of interested parties when it comes to this topic and finally on a different topic let me ask you about spectrumification. One of the significant legislative accomplishments that we worked on was to expand the Spectrum Fund to include a pool for research and it investment. Im pleased to see the faa is taking advantage of that pool to see if it can investigate some of the mega hurts band. Thats encouraginencouraging. It will free up more spectrum if you reach that conclusion to deploy next Generation Wireless Networks five g. Can you bring us up on the stats of the effort in your department. Investigation is extraordinarily complex and i dont have a good answer for you today but i will get one. Very good. Thank you again. Thank you, senator muran. Senator shots is no longer here. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Let me first we talked about there are other issues. Several questions should be asked. I want to make one comment about contract towers. I agree with the comments that senator muran made and major requests that i have of you is if this becomes a discussion in the administration, id like to be a part of that discussion. We would be have a serious problem. Does that sound reasonable to you . Yes. Okay. On that issue of the privatization, i think almost every question i could ask, youve already answered. Is there just a shortancer to a specific reason why next gen would be better served under the system that youre proposing . Is there a short answer to that because i have not yet heard one that really make as lot of sense to me. We are procure new equipment faster. Thats short answer. Right. Because the Government Procurement rules are very bureaucratic. By the time federal government gets the equipment, many times its not state of the art, modern Technology Just because of the lengthy procurement process. On maepd and i did didnt attend it but i did read the what the president was saying about the proposal. The one thing that was not mentioned was the having to do with user fees. One thing about the house bill, it specifically excluded user fees in certain areas, then it gets to be more confusing but it goes up from there because of the quasigeneral aviation ideas out there. It was not directly excluded in the conversation you folks had monday. Your assessment is correct. We look forward to working with the committee and congress. This is a point that needs to be discussed, we are willing to do so. The next thing i want to bring up is we have talked to the staff quite a bit about a proposal i have that we refer to as thor fight act and what this does is give assurance to general avation airports to do a number of things, including extending that amount from six to seven years and yeah. Six to seven years and assure figure there is a surplus that they be reserved for general aviation airports. Another provision. I chaired the environment of the Course Committee when we had the fast act and some of the things we successfully did in concert with Barbara Boxer was to have somer of the environmental streamlines put into effect. I think we could emulate. Well, actually i dont have time to get in a lot of detail on this but have you had a chance to review the flight act with your staff . We have. Im interested in specifically what you have in mind. We could have an offline discussion. That would be good. Senator booker and i were interested in and have worked together on some of the drone legislation weve had in the past and weve been successful. Weve got language to allow drone drones environment take care of problems that are like pipelines anducter areas that have been successful. And while the faa has established a process to establish such applications, such line of sight applications, the faa has approved very few of them. Is there anything you can think of that is causing the faa to be a lot slower than they should be in this respect on drones . I think theyre trying to be very deliberate and careful and taking into account all the different viewpoints. But your and senator bookers concerns about this issue is registered with me today and i will go back to faa and talk with them further. Thats good. I appreciate that and maybe let us know what the response is. Would the senator yield for a point of clarification . The faa is exempt from the federal procurement rules. This was set in the 1990s. So in your examination of the procurement rules and whether or not there are delays, i point that out. You want to look in the specific procurement rules. Theyre dragging their feet and should be done much more expedishe expeditious expeditiously. Thank you, mr. Chairman, secretary chow for boeing here. It seems almost every week there has been a new episode of passengers on airplanes being treated unfairly and its obviously created a number of pr debacles for the airline and every instance is an example of airline said violating the trust that their customers have put in them with their dollars. Id like your perspective on what you think the department of transportation can do and waut we ought to consider doing faa reauthorizatio reauthorization. This is a private intenterprised we dont want to be too descriptive but it is difficult to understand this contract as a meeting of the minds when somebody clicks agree. So id like your perspective on what should be done, especially with your department. In light of whats happened in recent months, we obviously have kept very close track with the united incident and also we have created a whole new section of the dot website that informs the traveling public what their rights are as passengers and what they can expect and demand in terms of lost luggage, over booking. Delays of over certain period of time. So we have tried to help the traveling public and to know what their rights are and thats right on our website. Im not so sure what the protocol is but im going to make shis point. 21 did streamline procurement, but the procurement of faa equipment is still a problem. We are still dealing with vacuum tubes andpaper strips. Theres such a long gap of what we need to do. So without being disrespectful i wanted to respond to the ranking on that, that despite air 20, theres not been that much improvement, unfortunately. Ms. Chao, thank you. I wanted to talk to you about drones and drone legislation. Congress is happy about this accomplishment in relatively a short amount op of time and looking forward to getting to 100 . Wut they ruled that the faas regulation requiring drone registration for Recreational Use is illegal. The Decision Just came out from the koefrcourts a few days so were in the process of reviewing and evaluating. If you have specific viewpoints, wed be pleased to work with you on that. And if you would consider this are a request for Technical Assistant on statutory changes to clarify. Drones are exciting from Civil Defense perspective, from a r recreational perspective, but there are new issues and i think its important to make policy and not devolve all of our authority to the executive branch in this instance and since the autharesation bill is a live vehicle, its important to do this on a bipartisan base. I knee fisher mentioned air service and i think i can speak for everybody on the committee when i say the proposed reduction in funding from 175 million to 108 million in the fy 18 budget is alarming and i would just like to get your assurance that you understand how important this is to the committee and that were going to make sure that essential air service is part of the basic promise that the department of transperation makes to our constituents. The budget was put together in the beginning part of the administration when many key members were absent. Thank you. Thank you, senator shots. Next up is sen tr marquee. Thank you very much. We have a situation, madam secretary where theyre over capping or check a couple of bags. Its just not fair to these passengers across the country. Theyre kind of just captured. But today several airlines actually charged 200 to change or cancel, and that might actually be greater than the value of the ticket which the person actually purchased. And on top of that, many are charging as much as 25 for the first checked bag. 35 for the second bag. That could be 120 for a round trip for that bag from one destination to another and back, and the fee epidemic is just growing. Carrieon bag, print carryon passes, blankets. The reason they can do it is that theyre not operating for the most part in competitive situations. Four airlines now control 85 of the traffic in the skies, and an analysis from the u. S. Travel Association Found that 74 airports are served by only one airline and 155 airports are dominated by one carrier controlling over 50 of the seat capacity, and the result is that the airlines reap 4. 2 billion in baggage fees. 2. 9 billion in change of cancellation fees just last year, and passengers are just demanding some relief. Theyre put in situations where they can be tipped upside down at the desk. What can the department of transportation do in order to give relief to these passengers . Well, as i mentioned, we try to give people we posted on our website at passenger bill of rights, but these are frustrating issues. We all travel. Weve all experienced it. I look forward to working with you if you have additional ideas about that. Thats what im afraid of. You can only give people notice that they dont have any rights, and i think as we do this faa reauthorization, senator blumenthal and i are intending on ensuring that we make an amendment that gives passengers rights, gives passengers protections. Its the fair fees act, but well make it as an amendment to ensure that the fees are fair and reasonable, proportionate to the costs of the service which is being provided. I think we need to debate that, because notice that you have no rights no, were not saying that. We do try to help passengers and put the passengers bills of rights on, but these are issues that do emerge, and we really cant do very much about pricing, but we want to work with you as you go forward and thinking of solutions. Thats the point. Were going to need to pass legislation so theres a definition of what is fair, what is reasonable, what is proportionate, and over on i. T. , the whole world is operating on i. T. Right now, but Southwest Airlines and Delta Airlines experience Technology Issues that resulted in thousands of Flight Cancellations across the country last summer, earlier this year delta and United Airlines had two large outages within a week causing even more flight disruptions. The airlines i. T. Testimonies still havent been brought into the 21st century. Weve also found that airlines have not fulfilled their obligations to take care of the stranded passengers when there are cancellations and delays, Many Airlines do not have interairline agreements in place which allow airlines to reboot stranded passengers on another airline at no additional cost to the consumer, and i think its going to be critical for us to deal with this issue so that the airlines understand that we believe its critical for them to upgrade their i. T. Services, and many instances, they dont even notify passengers that they have a right to compensation because of the delay or the cancellation of flight. Theyre not expressly notified. Can the Department Help on that issue to make sure that the Airlines Give passengers are supposed to be told that they have a right to compensation. You may have heard, a number of airlines in response to the recent incident on united has raised the compensation, for example, for over booking to 10,000. From my perspective, when i look at the airlines and their own i. T. Systems right now and their need to be upgraded dramatically in order to deal with all these issues, and then i look at a proposal to give the airlines on a nonprofit board the per pond rans of the control of that board to move us back to the 20th century, i think. If they cant upgrade their own i. T. Systems and cant figure out how to do it for their and passengers, to give them the key seats on this kind of a board, it seems to me, given the record of safety of the existing system, would be from my perspective, sequentially wrong. First they should prove they can do all these things for their own passengers before were giving them responsibility for taking on all of these larger now governmentallycontrolled responsibilities. We thank you for your service to our country. Were going to have a big debate here on this faa authorization. Thank you. I have senator hassen up next. Welcome secretary chao. Its good to see you. As you know, earlier this year there was a truly unfortunate incident in which United Airlines forcibly removed a passenger bringing new attention to the lack of Consumer Protections that exist in the airline industry. The United Airlines incident does not represent a onetime mistreatment of passengers. There have been several incidents between the yients United Airlines and todays hearing. Today there were cases reported to the d. O. T. Im sure you join us in finding the incidents unacceptable. Its why i introduced the tickets act. This legislation will improve transparency for consumers, review overbooking, guarantee paying customers have a right to fly and makes other common sense reforms. Does the department of transportation share my concerns and the concerns of granite staters and people across the country that more needs to be done to ensure better flying conditions for consumers and how does your team plan to address this . Of course were very much concerned. What has happened is inexcusable. As mentioned, we have alerted all the airlines of what their responsibilities are. And we have posted a passengers bill of rights so that individual passengers, travelers can access the website. And as we go forward, we want to make sure also that the airlines understand what their responsibilities are, and its to their own best interest to treat passengers with respect and with curtesy. So i think that effort is ongoing, and the Airlines Need to take that responsibility on themselves. And thank you. And will you and your staff work with those of us who are sponsoring the bill to look at the elements of the bill and see if it makes sense to incorporate into the faa reauthorizatioreau . Yes. Thank you. Last Congress House of representatives put forward to change the way our nations air space is governed. Senators on both sides of the aisle have raised questions about how and whether the plan might work. As we assess changes to the current air Traffic Control system. We have to make sure that safety is pair mount. In march of this year, over 115 mayors including the mayor of New Hampshire wrote to the leadership of this committee expressing concerns, specifically noting they are concerned that commercial airlines would be essentially governing themselves which would devastate rural and mid size communities where its harder to attract robust airline service. What is the president s plan, if any, to safeguard Rural Communities should major changes take place to our air Traffic Control system . I want to make it clear, first of all, because i think theres a lot of concern about this. That this new air Traffic Control system, if it were to be taken away from faa so that the inherent conflict of interest which currently exists which is that we have an air Traffic Control operating system, that is regulating itself on safety, that is an entrinsiintrinsic cof interest. Number two, this new air Traffic Control system is not going to be controlled by airlines. What the president s proposal says is that theres going to be a new governing structure and a new financing structure. The governing structure will comprise of 13 members and only two seats are available by airlines. The rest are going to be filled by airports, labor groups, labor representatives, general aviation. Well have at least two. It will be the whole stake holder group. Their responsibility is not to look after their parochial interests but to look after the interests of the whole air Traffic Control system. So Rural America is very much a part of that. Were very much aware that the members of the committee come primarily from rural states. It is an issue that we are aware of, and as we go forward, weve now released this proposal. We look forward to working with the members of this committee and the senate and the congress on this issue. Thank you. And i think it would be very helpful if we could include mayors and governors in that discussion as well. Were meeting with them this friday. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Secretary chao, thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to answer some of our questions. Can i change directions for just a minute and talk about drones . Its an issue that ive been working on for the last couple of years, and its important to the state of nevada, because its one of the six nationally recognized Unmanned Aircraft systems test sites, and youre probably familiar with that. I think our states a Perfect Place for commercial testing. And i think its proven so, mostly because of the states expertise, the expansive air and space corridors. Theres predictable climate in nevada. Theres low startup and operational costs. Ive worked with my colleagues during the last congress, and from states other sites, and the extent the faa support for these sites through 2019. Unfortunately its my opinion from the Previous Administration did not their faa did not utilize the test sites to the best of their capabilities, and i think theres a lot more work to be done. I guess my question for you is to ask you if you support extending the authorization and the sites beyond 2019. That is a question which i did not anticipate. I will go back and take a look at that issue. It was a folder on my table, but i didnt think it was going to be asked today. Ill take a look at that. Ill anticipate a followup. Thank you for that. One of the reasons that i think we need the extension is the ability to conduct these tests beyond the line of sight. Right now theyre limited. They have to be able to see the drone, and actually its prohibitive to testing these things if youre only limited to line of sight. In fact, some of the commercial companies that are being tested right now are saying that if they cant go beyond the line of sight, that theyll have to do their testing overseas. So thats the concern that we have. I want to see if you had any insight, or do you support any testing that would be outside the line of sight . Im aware of the issue. I just havent linked the two together in terms of the testing site. The other issue is having drones fly over the heads of populations. Were looking at those two issues. Well work with you on that. We hope to come out with something that is common sense cal. As youre aware of, theres a lot of drones out there. Theres a lot of commercial drones. You can walk into a store and by yourself a drone and start flying this. I have one of my sons, its just the latest and greatest. He wanted to see how they work. Now hes learning the restrictions of what you can and cant do with one of these mechanisms, but i think theres real possibilities in the future. I want to make sure nevada stays in the forefront of this issue when it comes to commercial use, and being able to work with your office on this particular issue does mean a lot to our state. Theres a difference between the commercial and the hob yiss. Most commercial operators understand the rules. Its much more the hobby people. Hes a hobby person. And because of the recent court action that came out the last two days, were reviewing the issue about how to deal with hobbies. Id like to work with you on that, obviously he has an interest, and i think theres a group of millennials out there that have the same interest and need to be aware and educated of the use of these things. And practicality of it. What they can and cant do. I do know theyre restricted around airports. I was with him one time when it stopped. Its programmed in it how close you can get to an airport. That drone will stop and hover and wont continue to move forward. Its fascinating to see the technology is already there for the necessary protections around corridors that perhaps are a little bit more sensitive than others in i understand. We look forward to working with you. Thank you. Thank you. Senator peters. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for being here today. Its always good to see you and appreciate all the work youre doing in the Auto Industry as well as what were doing here with the faa. I want to start off before i ask a couple specific questions and just add my comments to what i think is incredibly important for my state and clearly as important to other senators. That deals with rural airports. Michigan is an industrialized state. Im proud of our Auto Industry. Were a rural state. We have more were second in terms of the air Service Airports in the country. And i know youve responded to several questions related to that, but it really goes back also, i think, to the privatization of air Traffic Control and in your opening comments talked about that type of privatization would actually help rural airports, if i got your testimony right. Theyll be able to preserve contract towers that may be in some of the smaller airports. There wont be movement away from Regional Airports excuse me. Rural airports into larger Regional Airports, but it seems inconsistent that we have a budget that was pult forward by the president to cut essential air service which is truly essential in Rural Communities. Without it its difficult to have economic development. Its a major negative for the rural areas of our country, and then if we are moving to a privatized system run by the airlines who are profitmaking entities, the reason they dont serve rural areas is because they dont make money. The economics dont work. But they are essential for Public Service reasons. How do you square that . How do you square the administration wants to cut essential air services and says privatizations air traffic system will help rural airports but putting the Major Airlines that dont make money in airports. Walk through that. If i may, i would say these are two separate issues, but having said that, let me assure you that the interest and the concerns of Rural America is one that i share. The essential air service, that was part of the budget of the fiscal year 2018. I can defend it, but i will say that that decision was made when a lot of people were when the administration was just staffing up, number one. On the issue about Rural America, we are very concerned about Rural America. And we want to some of the issues, for example, with contract towers, is actually an issue of budgeting uncertainty. If you take it out of the government, the budget certainty will benefit Rural America. The third issue is the new air Traffic Control system, the structure were suggesting through the administrations proposal is not one thats controlled by airlines. There is a board of directors, of 13 people, and only two seats of the 13 are to airlines. The rest are to airports. Its to labor. Its to advocates. Its so other stake holders so this is not controlled by the airlines. And i think thats a very important well have to i appreciate you bringing that up. Well have to see what the actual legislation states to have fuller discussion about that. I appreciate that. With the recent attacks at airports in Fort Lauderdale and bru brussels. Ive heard from airports in my state their frustrated the faa and tsa cant agree who is responsible to help airports reach their security needs. This finger pointing is putting the traveling public at risk and unacceptable. One solution that i have been working on would provide airports greater flexibility to use passenger facility chargers to improve their infrastructure. I know for my airports, if money were no object and they had greater flexibility with their pfcs, they would be investing in other things to protect from vehicle born attacks like the one we tragically saw in london recently. Additionally we should look at allowing, i believe, Airport Improvement Funding Program for airside perimeter, cc tv systems. Just your sense, does that make some sense to you that we look to provide greater flexibility for our airports to provide the type of infrastructure necessary to protect passengers going through them . I think security is very important, obviously. But so much of this with the passenger facility charge is really up to the congress. Right. Thank you. Next up, senator gardener. Thank you for your time and testimony today. I appreciate the opportunity. To senator peters, last congress this Congress Committee passed a bill called the screen fast act. However long it took someone to come up with that name, i dont know, but i would encourage the faa and tsa, in two different departments to continue their Work Together to implement the screen fast act and the opportunities to develop new technologies, new emerging technologies and how we make sure our passengers and airports are secure. Theres great opportunities under the screen fast act. The opportunities are there for the faa and tsa to continue to Work Together on those new technologies. Secretary chao, in october 2015 the Northern Colorado Regional Airport working with the Colorado Department of transportation put forward and selected by the faa as a site for a remote tower Pilot Program. The goal is to demonstrate technologies and not depending on traditional towers. One of my goals of this is to include language that would allow airports to use remote towers, allowing them to be eligible for airport improvement funds. My question would be if you would support remote towers in inclusion if the technology is certified by the faa . Yes. Thank you. And the other question, another dealing with Denver International airport land uses. There are challenges in regard to land use. Theyve been attempting to get land approval for jefferson parkway. The parkway is the final piece of the denver beltway that would go around the metropolitan area. Corridors in the region have significant cob Jeff Sessions challenges. This would help alleviate that. Faa was suggested for approval for the right of way in 2013. The faa is requiring a multimillion dollar review. Even though its been the subject of an environmental study. Theres a study done for 15 million and the faa is requiring another one. In march i joined with senator bennett sending my colleague from colorado a letter to the faa urging expeditious consideration to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. Given the administrations goal, would you commit to me to reviewing the jefferson parkway situation and reporting back to me . Id be pleased to. Denver International Airport has been looking to develop the nonair nautical land use to raise additional revenue for reinvestment. They have red into red tape that increases the cost and prolongs time lines for construction completion. Do you think theres opportunities to reeliminate reform . If so, could you help describe some of the steps the department has taken to eliminate some of the red tape . Yes, we are working on addressing the permitting aspect of the infrastructure proposal, because we have talked to many people in the private sector, and they are very many are very interested in helping to finance the infrastructure. Public infrastructure. But in certain states they are discriminated against and unable to participate in the infrastructure needs. Thats another issue you did not ask about, but on the permitting, were at work on that. One example of how we can perhaps ease the permitting process without, of course, compromising any Environmental Concerns is if some things are something as simple as that can shorting the permitting process. Thank you. Over the past several decades weve watched as weve made strides in development of new airplanes and airplane technology. They are more reliable and the United States is obviously a leader in that aviation manufacturing, and we must maintain that. One area that has remained stagnant is the development of the speed of commercial aircraft, and colorado weve made advancements in the speed of aircraft. I think theres incredible opportunities in super sonic aviation. In a much more safe and reasonable responsible manner. Do you have a position on expanded super sonic Aviation Technology in. There are noise limits. Nasa is working on this issue, and to the extent that the noise level of the super sonic flights can be reduced that would meet current regulations, thats something that we hope will happen. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for your presence here today. Let me begin by commending the administration for proposing something new with respect to our air Traffic Control system. So often government falls into a stay sis where we dont propose creative new ideas. Even those tested tried and proven to work in other areas. I know we have to incorporate the very valid concerns which i share about our Rural Communities and their service into this proposal. As you indicated, this modernization proposal may enhance safety, lead to more independence between the safety side of atc and the operation side, and improved procurement. Hopefully we can improve the proposal and make it acceptable to more members of congress. Id like to turn to standards that your department is currently reviewing with respect to transportation of lithium ion batteries aboard passenger aircraft. I respectfully request that you consider the impact of the policies on Public Health as it pertains to the transportation of life saving medical devices. Many are produced in the state of indiana that use the High Standard batteries. I urge your department to carefully consider the implementing of any restrictions that would impede the transport of the life saving medical devices. As your departments review moves forward, i look forward to working with you and your staff to ensure there are limited exceptions established to protect Public Health and provide the seamless delivery of lifesaving medical devices in Time Critical situations. Could you offer your thoughts in establishing to allow for such transportation . Lithium batteries can be a problem on flight on airplanes. Theres a problem of them instantaneously igniting, and they dont need oxygen to keep on burning, and its very difficult to put it out. Which is why theres such concern about it. So one of the Current Issues is whether these batteries should be banned overall or whether they should be put in the cabin where if something did happen, the human factor, human beings will be able to see that something is burning and do something about it versus putting it into the cargo hold where it was thought originally to be safer, but if theres no human surveillance, then that actually makes it more dangerous, but let me assure you that this is a difficult issue that the administration is grappling with, especially from a Security Point of view. You bring up a new point where i have not heard being voiced before. Let me have my staff work on your staff on understanding more of that issue. I think its worth noting that not all lithium batteries are created equally. Some are more stable than others. These devices which are often implanted inside human beings to save their lives are incredibly stable and hardened. Very low failure rates. So its my strong conviction they ought to be treated distinctly from lithium ion batteries that are found, for example, in a cell phone. Well look forward to continuing the dialogue. Its my intention to move forward with any improvements your department may have to offer in incorporating policy changes in the faa reauthorization in this matter. If i could briefly turn to reiterating the importance of a d. O. T. Program thats out of the purview of faa. Its the Capital Investment grant program. Back home in indiana, we have several communities depending on the longterm viability of this transport program for projects like the south shoreline which provides a vital corridor from south bend, indiana, to chicago. Indiana communities have worked to provide the necessary local funding for this transit program, and we believe any state matches are also going to be there, and so were depending on the federal programs viability and continuance. I look forward to working with you and your staff at the federal Transit Administration to ensure the economic benefits of this program, realized in communities like south bend, gary, and east chicago, indiana. So on behalf of our bipartisan hoosier congressional delegation, i hope the d. O. T. Will prioritize the projects and do so in the 2019 annual report. I also want to inheight you invite you to see the potential of the south shoreline in the west lake corridor extension project. In your nomination hearing we discussed you visiting indiana, and i was encouraged by your response. Im hopeful that you might visit and observe this project. I look forward to it. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you senator young. Next up is senator cortez mastl. Thank you. Secretary chao, thank you. Its good to see you again. I appreciate you being here and answering the questions. Let me say this. Thank you for the passenger bill of rights on your website. I found it after sitting for just under three hours on a tarmac on a commercial airline. It was there. Thank you for that. A couple of things that my colleagues touched on. I want to say while i understand your position on air Traffic Control privatization, i do have concerned. Similar concerns that have been expressed by the dozens and dozens of mayors across the country, including from many of my Rural Communities like fernly and miskeet and poulder city, i want to talk a little bit about. And this pertains to the Contract Tower Program. In boulder city, there is a nontowered airport that had about 100,000 Aircraft Operations in 2016. Theyve experienced several incidents where aircraft using crossing runways at the same time have had close calls. A contract tour would add air Traffic Safety at the airport. Boulder city about 250,000 Passenger Carriers an an increase of 15 over 2013. What can i tell the mayor of boulder city who is looking to be a part of the Contract Tower Program and whether it is going to exist and be protected for their potential to their potential benefit . Whenever theres a budgetary pressure, what happens is the contract towers become the easiest target for elimination and cut baxs which is why the administration is making the point that the air Traffic Control system needs to be separate from the regulatory part of faa. And it will be a selfsustaining, the air Traffic Control. Its basically a change in the governing and financing structure. Nothing will change from during one day to another during the transition. Can i ask either way, is boulder city assured they would be able to obtain a contract tower under either program whether we privatize or not . They should still be able to rely on that benefit . I would hope so. In the new entity, the Rural Communities will continue to be very important. Again, because of the steady budget process, theres a greater chance of steady funding and greater stability for programs like the contract towers. Is that something youll be advocating for to make sure the Rural Communities are protected and the budget is there to protect the needs . Yes. Im always concerned about Rural America, and in particular, yes, with boulder city, wed be more than happy to speak with them. Thank you. And youve heard from senator heller. Of course, i am also looking for an extension of the programs, the uas innovation with the test site in nevada beyond 2019. I want to make sure if you could lay out for me, i know theres been federal personnel hiring freezes and the executive order requiring two for one regulations. I want to make sure those programs or policies are not holding back any of the development into the uas research and regulations. I do not believe so. The hiring freeze was put into place as is the case when the Administration First came in. I will take a look at and i dont believe the project youre talking about has been impacted. And you talked a little bit about it with respect to the commercial users versus the hob hobbyist. I appreciate. I know you stated recently at a drone conference in fargo that the administration is working cl collaboratively for integrating drones into our air space. Would you concur theres a number of questions for safety and oversight . Im not quite sure how to answer that. Its a new field. There are lots of issues with the line of sight and over the flying over heads of people, for example. I agree. I think theres a lot of issues were looking at. Many of them the safety. Many of them preemption. Theres concerned about federal reejs hindering any innovation in this space. Are you willing to work with us to address these things to make sure theres a balance, that were not hindering that innovation . And then also let me know or let us know here in congress, is there a way that we should be is there space for us to clarify the intent regarding the balance of that state and federal interest related to this space of Unmanned Aircraft . If i can get a yes. All right. Thats easy enough. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you mr. Chairman. Secreta secretary chao, thank you for being here. Im a pilot. Ive flown aircraft all over the world. Without a doubt, our u. S. Traffic control system is the best, but also the most complex in the world. Air Traffic Controllers do a phenomenal job in ensuring that u. S. Air travel is safe and efficient. Does our technology need an upgrade . It does, absolutely, but thats a procurement issue. If theres a problem with the system its that congress does not provide reasonable funding. The faa is exempt, so they could procure the technology they need faster than the current rate. When we last week, i highlighted a primary go of the fast act is to provide highway and transit Decision Makers with the funding certainty they need to make good decisions. In that same vein, if congress was willing to provide the faa with funding certainty, the faa could plan better and avoid a massive, costly and dangerous reorganization of our air Traffic Control system by privatizing it. Were not canada or great britain. The faa successfully manages the busiest air space in the world. And yet, the faa has made the air Traffic Control system the safest in the world. Its safer than any of the examples championed by advocates of privatization. I dont take our air Traffic Controllers for granted, and i wont gamble with the flying safety of the public. I oppose any privatizing of the faa, of air space. Transportation plays a critical roll in connecting americans and communities across this country, and to economic communities. As a member of three infrastructure related committees, one of my Top Priorities is ensuring that communities with federal projects are located benefit from the results from that investment. So those jobs remain in these particular areas. This is particularly important for workers in low income and rural areas. In 2015 congress established a local labor Pilot Program that enables states to consider geographic hiring references and labor hiring preferences for veterans, and federally funded highway projects. The pilot has been renewed twice, most recently for five years. Would you commit to working with me to expand that Pilot Program to aviation projects . I dont know enough about it, but im always willing to work with members of congress. Okay. That would be great. Thank you. I think this is if you look at the fact that its been renewed twice, its a good sign of the success. I would hope we could expand it. Earlier your office delayed a rule that would have made it easier for consumers living with disabilities to know how often airlines damage equipment. I sent you a letter asking for an explanation to delay the rule. You havent responded, and you just told senator blumenthal you have a reputation of always responding. Im surprised by that. Your letter i know about. I didnt mean to interrupt. Thats okay. Will you commit to responding to my letter now. I will. I truly believe that congress has a constitutional obligation to ensure that taxpayers dollars are spent wisely and we foster an environment where any individual can achieve the american dream. Effective and efficient government, thats my goal. Oversight of the executive branch should not be a partisan issue. Transparency should not be a partisan issue. They disregarded requests for information from congressional democrats. Im sure my republican colleagues see the folly. Both parties have experience in the minority. Will you commit to providing all can congressional offices with timely responses to requests for information. I always have, but this particular issue is different. This is an oversight issue. And in the administration past, the oversight always comes from the chairman and the ranking. Weve not always required the chairman to sign off on the requests. This is not a new practice by this administration. It was followed by the Previous Administration as well. Why did the administration feel the need to issue a new letter. And mr. Chairman, i request unanimous consent that this article i have on white house orders agencies to ignore why would the white house need to do that . Youd have to ask the white house. Right. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I was there earlier and heard a few of your answers and then had some other things. I wanted to first of all, reitera reiterate, i know one senator talked about some of our concerns with the air Traffic Control reform, and i know well be talking act those Going Forward. And hes covered some of that and also the special air Service Budget cuts that others mentioned. So i thought i would focus on something that havent been discussed, the small airplane revitalization act which i introduced. That was signed into law, and it requires the faa to modernize certification regulations for small airplane a design. Theres still work to do on the certification process. The faa reauthorization bill from last time including streamlining the certification process. Im hoping this includes important certification reforms. How would u. S. Companies be affected if the faa fell behind other countries in developing new certification standards . We would not like that to happen, and we want to be up to date and responsive. We continue to work on that probably not as quickly as wed like, but we continue to work on that. I think its really important we manufacture some of these jets in minnesota and we really try to keep up to date so we can compete with other nations, and a lot of it is safety reforms. I appreciate it. Heres one youve heard of. Open sky agreement, an important part of the u. S. Transportation policy for all air carriers. Both democratic and republican administrations have pursued and expanded these agreements. Which have provided u. S. Consumers and carriers in airports with more choice. We recently sent you a letter raising concerns for state owned carriers. Were very concerned about the negative ervegt as this keeps going that this is going to have on american carriers and american jobs. What steps is the administration taking to ensure the open skies agreements are protecting u. S. Workers and carriers from unfair competition. Were concerned about protecting u. S. Jobs, and this is a very complicated issue with stake holders on both sides. We in the administration are consulting with one another and we hope to have a decision pretty soon. Okay. That would be very good. It just keeps getting worse and worse. And yes. Okay. Thats good. Thank you. Safe skies in fact safety isnt just about the quality of the planes. Its also depends on our own aviation work force. A tired pilot, as weve seen in the horrible crash in the buffalo area. Its not just a danger to themselves but to those in the air and on the ground. The safe skies act which i plan to reintroduce as something i introduced with senator boxer. The bill would take the rest requirements put in place for passenger pilots after the and apply them to cargo pilots. And currently they have looser requirements. What actions has the administration taking to combat pilot fatigue . Well, there are rules and regulations on the books already. And so we are enforcing them. And if the congress has a different point of view or an additional concern about safety, we look forward to working with you on that. Okay. Thank you. And then one question. I recently wrote a letter urging the dot to investigate deceptive practices. Some immate titate actual airli. They can leave consumers with airline itineraries that cant be honored. Is the Department Taking new steps to combat what is a relatively new problem and thats Online Travel fraud. Were very aware of this issue. Were looking at it. I also hope to have more staffing in the future as we go forward. That will help us address this issue as well. Okay. Very good. Just one last question. The 2017 faa extension bill required the department to take measures to allow families to sit together when traveling on a plane. There hasnt been a proceeding or a study yet. The deadline to establish policies on family seating is coming up. Whats the departments plan on that . Were obviously sympathetic to traveling public who have family members who are separated. I would think that the airlines themselves, number one, would take it upon themselves to do something about it. Voluntary action in the cabin itself, but well look forward to working with you on it. Thank you. Thank you for your service. Thank you. Thank you, senator. We appreciate your patience. Well wrap up momentarily. Let me just ask a question regarding the general Aviation Community which is concerned about how it would fare under the proposed new proposed a the tc system. Theres importance of maintaining access for users be but also notes all users of the system should pay their fair share. Does the administration envision charging per flight user fees on general aviation operators. Im so glad you brought it up. In my previous statements, i had not mentioned general aviation enough. I was going to end my testimony today with a mention of the general aviations interest. We are very concerned about, obviously, their concerns about the administrations proposal. Were committed to working with them. Maintenance of access is a huge issue. General aviation will be nominating two of the seats out of 13 seats, the same as airlines. So, again, general aviations interest and influence will be felt. The other thing i should say is general aviation also includes corporate jets. So thats a big different than the mom and pop single pilot thats flying around the country. And so we understand the issues that general aviation is concerned about. And we want to work with them. Yeah. To that point, one of the Major Concerns is cost to access the air space and whether or not user fees would be assessed. Thats why its a specific question about whether or not the administration does envision that new entity assessing per flight user fees. Thats a question i think theyll i think its open at this point, but using just one example, in canada, under they currently just decreased once again, their keys for general aviation. I think its 65 in the year. Its quite low. As youve heard today, there are a lot of questions that need to be addressed. There is a consensus on that issue. Were moving forward with our legislation. Wed love to do a multiyear reauthorization bill that would attract broad support in the senate. That was the case we had last time. I guess what i would suggest coming out of this hearing is that you and your team and the administration make every effort possible to try and find consensus among the stake Holder Community on the issue. Its much easier to get consensus on this committee and in the senate if theres consensus by those affected most by the changes. And right now i think as you heard today, there are lots of questions on both sides about how this new system would function and operate. So the more precise as you work through this, the answers to those questions can become, i think the more clarity youll have about where this committee and in a broader sense, the whole senate might be. I know theres a great interest in moving forward in the house with the approach, and well be monitoring the action there and see what they are able to do. We wont wait forever. Were in the process of drafting legislation right now. Theres a range of other issues that was pointed out today that affect aviation in this country. Most of which if not all, we will address in our legislation. Well continue to work with you and hear from you and your team on all those issues, but particularly with regard to the proposal on air Traffic Control reform. I would encourage you to reach out to the stake Holder Community and try and find a consensus on this issue. It will make it a lot easier moving forward. I think with that, we will keep the hearing record open for a couple of weeks and if members wish to submit questions, well ask that they do that in a time frame to the degree you could respond as quickly as possible, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you being here and for your response to the many questions. And well look forward to continuing to work with you. Thank you. We look forward to working with you. This hearing is adjourned. Thank you. This weekend book tv is live from the 33rd printers road lit fest in chicago. The coverage starts on saturday at 11 00 a. M. Eastern with mary deerborn with her book. At noon 2016 National Book award winner and his book stamped from the beginning. The history of racist ideas in america. Followed by Michael Erik Dyson with tears we cannot stop a sermon to white america. And sydney blumenthal with his book. On sunday our coverage continues at 11 00 a. M. Eastern with Heather Ann Thompson and her book blood in the water. At 2 00 jeff row stone with sex and the constitution. At three tray raidl with his book, democrazy. And thomas ricks with churchill and or well. Watch our printers row lit fest starting saturday at 11 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan2s book tv. Sunday night on after words. Korea an marie ceo an marie slaughter has her book. She is interviewed by a former white house chief of staff in the Obama Administration from 2013 to 2016. What would strike me was that we knew there was a world of states and state threats. Today if you think about north korea or iran or sometimes china and russia, that world of state to state relations is still very, very important. I think of it as the chess board world. Because the its the world of how do we essentially beat our adversaries, and we think about a move, and we try to anticipate what move theyre going to make. And that world is there, and its very important, but equally important is what i call the world of the web. That world of criminal networks including terrorists, but also arms traffickers and drug traffickers. The world of business. Which increasingly big Network Supply chains, global corporations, and the world of nongovernmental organizations. I think of those actors as web actors, as increasingly important actors, but we dont have strategies for how to bring them together. Watch after watch after wo night at 9 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2s book tv. Chuck schumer talked about the rise of anti semitism around the world during remarks at the Jewish Committee global forum in washington d. C. This is an hour and 40 minutes. Im back. I hope you paid