quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. cardin cardin: madam presid? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: madam president, i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business for up to 20 minutes, with the time counting towards the postcloture debate time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: madam president, i intend to speak on three subjects. one dealing with the metrorail

tragedy that occurred on monday night. the second that dealed with the need to pass the matthew shepherd hate crime prevention act, and, third, to talk about health care reform. and i would ask that each of these statements appear separately in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: thank you, madam president. madam president, i rise today to offer my condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in the tragic collision of two metro trains this past monday evening. this accident, the most devastating by any measure in metro's history, has affected our entire region. my prayers are with those who lost their lives and my deepest sympathies are with their families, friends and all those loved ones that they touched. i also want to take a moment to praise the first responders who worked tirelessly through the night to rescue the injured and save lives. it is during tragedies like this that we fully appreciate the heroism and bravery of our first responders.

at this time, we do not know the cause of the crash and it may take considerable time for the national transportaion safety board to complete their investigation and make a determination. and we certainly will do everything we can in this body to assist the national transportaion safety board in their investigation to make sure it's thorough and complete and we fully understand how this tragedy occurred. news reports found that the train car that caused the fatal accident was an older model, that the federal safety officials have recommended for replacement. it did not have the data recorder or modern improvements to stand up to a collision, and it may have been two months behind in its scheduled maintenance. metro officials are replacing these aging cars that date back to the 1970's. these costly replacements are being made but at pace too slow. funding shortfalls have caused metro make repairs instead of

replacing aging equipment or structures throughout the syst system. last year, madam president, i visited the shady grove station and witnessed firsthand how they literally are using wood planks and iron rods to prop up station platforms. they have been forced to make such accommodations to keep the system running in the safest possible manner. the washington metrorail system is the second busiest commuter rail system in america, carrying as many as a million passengers a day. it carries the equivalent of the combined subway ridership of bart in san francisco, marta in atlanta, septa in philadelphia each day. but more than three decades after the first train started running, the system is showing severe signs o of age. 60% of the metro system is more than 20 years old. the cost of operations, maintenance and rehabilitation are tremendous. this is not the only