host: of the first call is 22 rr should -- the government should pay for their health care by them volunteering into wall air -- rural areas and slum areas so we can have health care throughout that.

i would like to ask a question, at the scene the movie "60s -- sicko." he took three busloads volunteered 9/11 and helped find bodies -- he took them to gtmo because the prisoners over there, the so-called terrorist were getting better health care that american citizens. he took these volunteers and gtmo would not let them in. he took them to cuba and they get free health care. that is a situation. q. but is a much poorer countries but yet they are able to give their citizens free health care. that is what i would like to see addressed. guest: sure, i agree with the gentleman in terms of health care being a right and i believe that in america everyone should have a right to decent health care services. actually that is our aspiration in puerto rico and exactly what i am trying to do.

having said that, however, i did not think cuba should be a model for us. actually i have been to cuba, when there was going to be an opening in the 1990's, many chambers of congress across the country were organizing trips and i went on one of the trips. health care services in cuba are not our model. we should not be looking towards cuba for that. i believe we have excellent health care professionals in this country. of course, i agreed that we need to make it easier to become a physician or a health-care professional in one way or another. but i do not think we should look toward cuba, but i think what we need to do is fix the system here and we have the foundations to do that. host: independent line, just in from illinois. caller: first-time caller and it is great to be on. i would like to agree with the last caller about how our medical system is costing too much and i believe that anyone that had it in them to go through college and make it as a

doctor or attorney should have their education paid for free and i also believe doctors are getting paid way too much. topical know, michael jackson who just recently passed away, they just reported there was only one doctor at a hospital at the time he was brought in. i just wanted to make the point that instead of spending one trillion dollars -- $1 trillion , up 12 zeros behind it, winston churchill said a nation cannot tax itself into prosperity, like standing in a locket and trying to pull yourself up by the handle, it is not going to work. recently they were talking in the senate and house about a missile defense bill and everything, costing $1.9 billion and i would like to point out that barney frank stolen over

$50 billion, more than our country is spending on missile research. anyway i just really wanted to call and say that the american people are being taxed to death and we need to audit the federal reserve the because $14 trillion or 15 trillion -- $15 trillion of our wealth is being sent overseas and we cannot afford anything. our last note i just believe that if americans had access just to dentistry, then we would not really have all of this health care because we really have minor things going on with us and we just want a little bit of care and i did not think we will get it by spending ourselves to death. guest: well, first of all i agree in a sense that we should not be taxing the american taxpayer even more. i do not think we can carry the burden any further. what we need to do certainly is, i believe we could be more cost- effective in many ways. i believe that true competition could bring about lowering

costs, and i believe that we need to make sure that we emphasize prevention. health care prevention is something in this country we are not doing enough of it. and actually we could be saving significant money by doing that. secondly, when we addressed different pockets of the population, there are chronic illnesses that have to be addressed, and what we should be doing really is making sure that they have access, those with cardiovascular problems, as small, or other pulmonary problems with diabetes, that they have access immediately not to primary care but to specialists who will be taking care of them and act with their quality of life would be much better and we could save money. but in order to do that, the way the system is structured right now, we are spending too much money, we are not achieving our goals as we showed. host: stone mountain georgia, lee on the republican line.

caller: how are you folks? governor, i just wanted to make swans a brief comment. one is i think it would be in your best interest, with all due respect, to actually think about running for president of kennedy in 2012. i say that not to joke at all -- presidential candidate in 2010. to get your reference -- message out regarding statehood for puerto rico, and also just being in the public eye it would cause more individuals to be concerned about your plight and i do believe taxation without representation is a hypocrisy we do not deserve in this nation. guest: thank you, sir. certainly i will do anything i can short of running for any other office to make sure that we are heard. i thank you for your concerns for the 4 million u.s. citizens who live in puerto rico. the fact is, if any of my constituents moved to the

states, they can vote for the president, they would have two senators and one voting member of congress representing them. if the gentleman from georgia moved to puerto rico to retire or work there, he would lose the senators, lose a voting member of congress and would not be able to vote in the next presidential election in 2012. it is something that would have to be fixed one way or another. actually the founding fathers never intended for 4 million u.s. citizens who serve in the military shoulder to shoulder with everyone else to be disenfranchised from and in that sense i believe the gentleman is right in a sense that we need to bring this issue out in the open and actually hopefully congress will be able to address it. host: have a constitutional matter, can the governor of puerto rico run for president? guest: certainly a u.s. citizen can vote for president -- but that is frankly not something i'm thinking about. just making sure we are heard in

town. host got a story from the associated press -- saying pr fired nearly 8000 government workers friday, the start of a wave of layoffs as the island struggles through recession. in the first round included mostly temporary clerical workers. the governor said he needs to cut 30,000 public sector jobs on an island where more than one- fifth of the people work for the local government. guest: i inherited five months ago proportionately speaking the largest state budget deficit in the country, largest -- larger than california's. this budget for the fiscal year that commences next week, we are forced to cut $2 billion out of state budget. but i did not want to raise taxes. i am very sorry. i think the taxpayer is caring and of the burden already come and i am very sorry about having to cut. we are trying to cut everywhere i can.

i have cut down on official vehicles. i canceled all credit cards, including the governor's credit card. i'm doing what we need to do to actually make sure that the taxpayers' money needs to get -- that's where it needs to come of those in need services. i want the state government to get out of the ways of the rest of our citizens can actually improve their quality of life and get ahead and achieve the american dream. that is our message and that is what governors across the country are trying to do. host: democratic line, how, south dakota. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am directly against this health care proposal -- direly against this proposal. congress is not listening to the american people. they are not listening to us on health care, they are not listening to us on the war.

talking about a do nothing congress that bush had, and now we are talking about a congress that is full of deception and lies. as a vietnam veteran, let me say that the va is taking care of me. i don't like some, but they do the job -- i do not like them, but they do the job. look at the veterans at the hospitals with the colonoscopy checks -- that is horrible. these are the true heroes, and the care we are getting through the va, we are being neglected. guest: sir, first of all, i want to thank you for your service to the country and i want to thank every veteran out there who have actually served our country as you have.

actually i am sure many of my constituents serve alongside with you in vietnam, as they did in korea, and europe during the second world war, and in both gulf war's end as they are doing today and afghanistan and iraq. in that sense, actually i have over 150,000 veterans in part 3 of that, believe cannot, don't have the same access -- it does not apply just because it is a territory. if they moved to georgia or florida or new york , they new givetricare -- they would get tricare. we are treated equally in wartime, but not peace time. the plight of our veterans across the country, but especially in my case, both live in puerto rico come as close to my heart. imagine the men and women in

uniform from puerto rico who may have served alongside you, sir, who did not have a right to enact their commander in chief. just imagine whether it is correct, morally speaking, in the 21st century in the freest and greatest country of the world. that is why i think congress should react -- act soon. host: the next caller, republican line from alabama. caller: i'm certain puerto rico has many of the same problems the rest of the united states is suffering from, and a lot of that is simply poured leadership. you know, you can't borrow the amount of money they borrow and call that business as usual. actually the government does not create wealth, it only creates bureaucracy.

those are not real jobs. make work -- like in prison, they just make jobs up for you. they last a little while but they are not real jobs, they did not account for anything. small-business is the backbone of america. that is what -- we need to put the backbone back where it needs to be. some of the leaders that we have up there, they are just absolutely pitiful. they have no concept of business of any kind. they just spend, spend, spend, and they don't create anything. sorry, i am very upset. a lot of people in america are upset at what is going on up there. guest: sir, i couldn't agree with you more and that is why at least many of the governors are doing exactly what you are asking washington to do. i don't believe we can tax the american taxpayer another dime. and i believe the government should do what every american family is doing every single day, making sure we can make

ends meet. and that is exactly what i am doing in puerto rico. you were alluding to the news, being forced to cut down in our work force in the government, at the state level, and other ways as well. well, every american taxpayer needs a break, and we cannot keep taxing our taxpayers more and more. that is what most governors are doing. i am not the exception, i am the rule, i believe. most governors are doing exactly what i'm doing. we are giving back to our constituents by making sure that the government actually provides basic services to those that need it, but that we did not spend more than we are taking in and that is why i'm balancing the budget and the next couple of years and our state constitution requires it. the previous governor paid no attention to that. i am making sure that we balance our state budget and actually i intend to cut taxes half with my first term. i believe that she -- is what we

should be doing at the national level as well. host: a big issue when congress returns, what are your thoughts of barack obama's nomination to the supreme court? guest: i think we need people like her in the supreme court. i made some nominations myself at the state level and i want our courts to represent us all. and she is a fine and very strong jurist, i would say that. i have read some of what she has published as opinions, and she is someone who is really a balanced jurist in that sense. so i have favored sonia sotomayor's nomination and i hope she gets confirmed. host: on the republican line, a christian from corpus christi, texas. caller:buenos dias -- como estas? i can't believe how much

pressure you must be under to be in your particular position. guest: we all have to do what we've got to do. host: democratic line, tommy from oklahoma. caller: how are you guys doing this morning? first of all, you say -- i would say i hope your territory becomes a state, and i want to ask how come it has not become a state yet? i don't understand, if the citizens are going to war for us all of these times, why has it not become a state? also i would like to say that it seems like you have a clear head and vision. you said earlier that you believed that and might be ok to have a government system but you also believe there should be competition. obama, when he was talking about the health care system in one of the speeches, he said i don't understand why people are afraid to let the government try

because that is competition, let the government tried to get in there. i am always surprised when people did not detect a little bit. if you are a private citizen -- one i'm working as an employee, i had to pay for my own health care. the more people you have -- when i was a postal employee -- the more people you had in the system, the less money you have to pay for that health care, and that is what this government of care is supposed to be doing and a lot of people are so fearful but if you look at other parts of the world like anti wind, germany, -- like in taiwan, germany, england, japan, they have achieved health care for their citizens. i wanted to make that point that it is possible. but i really want you to focus on how come puerto rico is not becoming a state? why do you think this is happening? guest: thank you for your call.

the fact that, again, we have served in every war in the 20th- century and 21st century so far, alongside the fellow citizens of the 50 stage should suffice and be enough. when i served in congress for four years, i would visit the military hospital on a regular basis. i would visit with every soldier i would run into. certainly i was visiting my constituents at the same time. and every time i left the hospital, as i do when i visit the va hospital in puerto rico, the question would come, how come these young men and women in uniform who are serving our country, who are defending democracy across the world, do not have the same rights that u.s. citizens across the rest of the country have? that is something we need to fix and i am hoping congress will provide for a process by which the 4 million u.s.

citizens in puerto rico will be able to speak up and decide whether we become a state or not. i think we will decide that we want to and do what was done 50 years ago with an alaska and hawaii, and a few years before that, actually w with oklahoma

i don't want your egos to be upset. there's a lot going on today and part of it, obviously is what happened with the metro rail system. it's actually depressing, sad, that there is no current way for the ntsb or the department of transportation or anybody else, they can make recommendations, but they have no enforcement authority. i did not know that. until this happened. and people can have a variety of philosophies about the federal government, but it seems to me that where you have

a heavy train being hit by -- vice versa, a light train being hit by a heavy train and something went wrong and yes, we know, we'll speculate and it'll all come come out in the end and in the meantime, the only thing that really counts is the, you know, all those families of the dead and sometimes the families of the injured suffer longer. but there's no authority to tell them they've got to run a safe train. there are recommendation, but no authority. the chairman has arrived. >> hello. sorry the train was a little late getting here. thank you, mr. chairman, among chairmen here, he's the chairman. thank you for being here, and my apologies for a couple of

minutes off target. the -- what we'll try to do in order to expedite things is to -- we'll limit opening statements to the three of us, make them short and we'll ask the other members who may come to include their opening statement in the record or in their question period. we're going to work in five-minute cycles here. so i will start by once again thanking you all for being here. the roles you play are very important and we're pleased to have a chance to talk to you. this hearing comes to order and we gather here at a rather sad moment. many lives were lost at the -- with the crash of the metro. and we -- there are numbers

still to be computed of those who were not only perished, but those who were wounded. and what it -- it tells us, as we see the confusion that's followed, and the effort that's followed, is how important the use of the metro, transit system, is. and for the last few years, we look and we see that amtrak, because we're talking now about intercity but we can't ignore the contribution that transit rail makes. the last few years, we've seen amtrak break ridership records year after year. and the -- in 2008, amtrak's

ridership hit more than 28 riders, -- more than 28 million riders, making the sixth straight year of gains. these gains prove two important points. it establishes the fact that people are sick and tired of waiting in traffic, standing in line at the airport, and hailing dangerous -- inhaling dages emissions and just waiting indeaf -- dangerous emissions and just waiting indefinitely for their travel mechanism to be there. if we provide convenient and reliable rail service, americans will choose it. secondly, these gains prove that time cries out, this time cries out for a major investment in high speed rail. we need to fill a rising demand for faster and more efficient rail service. for years, we've had flights --

beg and claw for funding against those who wanted to bankrupt amtrak, even as more americans were demanding increased amtrak service. in this chart we have here, in quick fashion, it describes some of the problems we face. for you who have a problem discerning the color the blue is highway investment, since 1949. aviation is the yellow and intercity passenger rail, you can just about see at the bottom is that green band. and we -- when we look at how much we've invested in highways and aviation system, it's obvious that we invested too little in the -- in rail. now we're not suggesting that those other modes aren't important, but we need to investment more in rail.

last year we took a major step forward with my landmark law to preprayer for the next -- prepare for the next years. it take -- takes $5 billion over the next few years to grow and prepare and we created new grant programs for high speed rail investment. it has been a long road but this new law finally paves the way for solid and ongoing federal commitment to passenger rail. fortunately, we have strong partners in the white house in president obama, vice president biden, and with the help of secretary lahood. they know that to keep our commuters mobile, to keep our nation competitive and to get our economy back on track we cannot simply rely on cars and planes to get people from place to place.

we need to balance -- we need a balanced transportation system and high-speed rail is part of that equation. that's why the recovery law we passed in february contains more than $8 billion for high speed and intercity passenger rail. this will not only improve rail service but create jobs. in this tough economy, these transportation investments are smart investments. they put people to work, reduce delays, and congestion, and cut carbon emissions and our dependence on foreign oil. president obama and his administration have presented a great vision for high speed rail network here in america and i'm committed to working with the president to turn that vision into reality and i look forward to hearing from our witnesses on how to make that happen and i turn first to my -- to the ranking member on the subcommittee, senator thune,

and then we'll hear from chairman rockefeller and ranking member hutchison. mr. thune: thank you, mr. chairman, for calling this timely hearing and we've got a dwibbed panel i want to welcome as well and look forward to hearing from all of you. my state is one of the few in the country that doesn't have passenger rail and you have to hearken back a long ways in theages of history to a time -- in the anals of history to a time when we did. i recall my father who is now almost 90, talking about back in the 1930's taking the railroad from my hometown about 130 to 140 miles, that was a fairly frequent thing, people at that time traveled by passenger rail a lofment it's been some time since we had that in south dakota. we're dependent on freight railroading. i can probably approach this issue more