.. and consumers. we look forward to continuing this collective engagement with takata and nhtsa to address the critical situation related to the inflators. we've remained actively engaged since i spoke with the committee last november. much has transpired since that time through multiple campaign expansions and based on the information from both takata and nhtsa they are on the process of recalling 4.8 million inflators across the united states. we are taking actions determining the raptors which

remains with no one at this time and if they are an active participant in the independent testing coalition the group consisting of all of the affected manufactures formed in december of 2014, and again trying to determine the root cause of the raptors. in addition, they continue to further the resource and understanding. but despite that determination to date, the mission to identify and implement solutions that will improve the safety of the customers haven't been delayed. i'm pleased to share with the committee. they are replacing all driver-side inflators in the recall with an alternative and permanent design provided. customers that received the inflators. the inflators that are no longer needed in the supply are being quarantined and returned.

all of them will be notified to return from the update as well. in addition to driver-side efforts, they've been working with takata to continue the passenger inflators designs. these will contain an improved material as well as they protection for the propellant from the moisture exposure. these designs will complete the validation testing in august and expects to begin installing those in november of this year. to date they continue to be aware of just a single incident involving a driver side airbag including an injury in one of the vehicles. actions demonstrate the abundance of caution we are employing. in closing i would like to read or write promoting and ensuring the safety is the responsibility shared by the suppliers government and consumers and we will continue to collaborate with takata nhtsa and others to

address the matter. i want to extend my thanks for discussing this issue and i would be pleased to answer any questions. >> thank you. as the next ranking member nelson and members of the committee, i appreciate the opportunity to update the committee on the efforts to last appearance before the committee. we've confirmed two more customers lost their lives. one in september, 2014 and the other in april of this year as a result of takata and later ruptures have occurred in the older model vehicles. this is heartbreaking. and a painful reminder to us of the reason. it's for the families of the victims. we sincerely apologize to them and extend our deepest sympathies.

we are working very hard to solve the problem. over and above the notification to the effects of customers and we have pursued new and creative ideas to encourage customers to check their vehicles identification number in order to increase the rate of response to the recall. we have enhanced and created a site to make it easy for them to check their vehicles for the open recalls. honda is so voluntarily initiated a bilingual advertising program to end -- m4. the commercials in full-page newspaper ads represented here to my left was designed to grab the attention of customers and the nine high-temperature humidity states and the u.s. territories. we are also using social media channels in a targeted way including the facebook with good

success. and let me ask mr. chairman that whenever we issue a press release or statement on the matter we request the news media help us by directing customers in the recall website to get the vehicle repaired and we have the assistance in the effort. to accelerate the actions and increase the supply of inflators, they began with supply to facilitate the repairs of these over model vehicles and that led to agreements with auto leave in the trw to provide us with replacement parts in addition to takata. as we go to this effort and the actions taken by the dealers we are averaging more than 50,000 readers per week. we've also asked them to expand service hours and never turn away a customer with an effective vehicle. we require them to check every

vehicle that comes in to the dealership. to support this policy in february we initiated a system that alerts the others whenever their staff fails to check the car brought in for service to see if it has an open recall and we've reinforced the policy to provide customers a loner or rental car free of charge while the vehicle is repaired or if they are reading for a replacement parts to be delivered. all are authorized to make a vehicle available without prior approval. we've been searching salvage yards nationwide to secure recall the inflators and we've identified many thousands that never will be installed in another vehicle. we've enlisted the special for affected by the inflators

recalls for many reasons it's difficult to locate and get them repaired. i suggested that we find a way to tie the registration process to the requirement that safety defects be addressed before the completion of the vehicle registration. subsequently injured by the rupture and who also appeared before the committee last fall joined me in writing an op-ed in support of the idea of such a registration requirement. we continue to be the there is a promise in this approach and we want to thank the senators for introducing it. i recognize there are some issues that require further discussion but i'm convinced this is the single most significant step we can take. again i appreciate the opportunity to be here before the committee and i am happy to address your questions.

>> they'd urged takata to get replacements in the vehicles of the defective airbags as quickly as possible even if the root cause hasn't been identified they have to be replaced again some years down the road. we are all concerned that this has persisted for way too long. we've got eight people have died from the numerous others have received serious injuries. takata has been looking at the problem for several years. we need to know why this happened and make sure that it doesn't happen again. so tell me what they are doing to find the root cause. >> well, senator, we have been working with a number of avenues to get to the root cause. as you mentioned we've been working on it for a number of years.

we have learned much especially the last six to eight months we understand a number of factors that caused the issues that we don't have a cause we can turn on and off but in spite of that, we've gone forward with the automakers to replace parts in the best interest of the public safety. >> without a root cause. >> the inflators don't have the same defect so why is it a good idea to put new inflators into cars that might have the same defect. >> many of the replacement parts are alternative design. they are not the same that was

used. as i mentioned particularly on the driver side they they caused all of the fatalities in the field as well as most of the serious injuries and we were not replacing them with bat wings. we will go out and get every one that was ever made including all of the remedy parts. if we are using alternative inflators from the competitors to speed up the replacement parts into the field. and then we are continuing to work to improve. to make sure that they are safe. >> of these replacement bags are they going to be safer than the original equipment?

>> what we do know is that it takes a considerably long time for the condition to manifest itself. they said seven to 12 years. so we know that there is a large increase in public safety and at the margin of safety by putting a brand-new inflators and we do know there were manufacturing defects with all of the testing in the last six months, so we feel very confident in those that we are making today. >> takata stated as you know that they are safe in the interim that require replacement at a later date and it also endorsed this approach. you stated that chrysler will be replacing all drivers side and inflators but they designed by manufacturer to describe the

design has permanent customers that received the replacement will not need to come back for another replacement. given that we still don't know the cause for this defect why are you so confident that they will not have to be replaced in the near future? >> in this case, the inflators that we are replacing with their help mind you has a track record and we are not aware of the field. we were fortunate to have the inflators with the characteristics to utilize the token that has a track record and that explains the confidence. >> for the automakers i'm sure that you both recall because we had her in here who was seriously injured by shrapnel and testified in the hearing she

took her car to the dealership and is was subject to an open recall. that's pretty incredible. three times. the question is what steps have you all taken since then and i know that you described some of them but how are you going to give us an insurance that is important safety recalls have been addressed to ensure they will be shared with customers when they get their cars in and have service? >> it's an important question on our minds. we have more than 1200 in the united states and we are working hard with them. we've done a number of things since the last word here in november. as i mentioned we've initiated a new report that the dealer neglected to check when the customer came in. we have face-to-face meetings

with the dealers and we had solid managers and district managers and every dealer and they talked about the importance of checking for over ten recalls. we have periodic regions of the dealer principals. we have in the last several us reinforced again that obligation. mr. chairman and there is sometimes turn over the need to continue to make sure that education is well understood and principles understand this is our expectation and we are going to check every one of these. we've taken multiple efforts already and we will continue to remind them of their obligation. >> i would read a great many of the same planes that were highlighted we are doing this with respect to informing the responsibility and i would add something he mentioned earlier we made sure the technology is also there to make this a nondomestic step in the process

and vehicle rolls into the dealer with most cases in the automated fashion they uploaded the information to the service writers screen and they are flagged to schedule the activity so an in admission to the responsibility and the urgency here making sure that they ached as an automatic step in the process. >> what you all hold up that photograph please. this is the picture of a massive explosion in 2006 in the mexico plant so massive that it blew out windows.

the display accused the nitrate performance to make airbag leaders is that correct? >> that is correct. >> in your written response to the november letter the kennedys that explosion was caused by improper storage of repellent to scrap. >> that's correct. >> is that the type of concerned the safety audits were intended to identify? >> one of them yes sir. >> then why would takata decide to hold these audits for financial reasons? >> i believe you are referring

to the report yesterday by the committee. i think that misrepresents what happened and if you would allow me i would explain that. but that was referring to first of all there are a number of safety. the number of audits referred to in the e-mail were not the safety and quality audits on the product first of all. i think that was implied or inferred from the report. second the only thing that was suspended was the participation of people from other regions of the world. we helped the local safety audits. we helped the local quality audits. >> ..

clicks the report from the institute has concluded that it is a multifactor combination exposure to high humidity clicks how do you describe the southern

california death? quakes that is why we are continuing to look into the issue. we have experts from penn state georgia tech and are working with a vast array and are continuing to try. clicks would you want your daughter to drive a vehicle quakes would you replace

clicks are placed in the passenger side clicks is just a driver-side design. it is purely a driver-side quakes the batwing design is attributed to the defect quakes all of the fatalities and most of the serious injuries have involved those deflator's which is why we have agreed to get them in the field quakes i i did not get your answer that you jumped to the passenger side quakes you asked me -- maybe i misinterpreted your question quakes driving the automobile that you had replaced that design clicks i would i would have no

issue at all senator. how do you feel the consumers can think this is fixed quakes that is why we have agreed to place everyone. a lot of people have talked about the adversity that we as an industry and government need to concentrate we need to get analyzed. you get a new airbag manufacture. tell us about that. quakes again as i stated, we are fortuitous and the ability to identify an alternative this is a

permanent solution, not understanding what might happen. we wanted a clear path clicks thank you, mr. chairman clicks senator blumenthal clicks thank you. thank you for being here today. you have been with takata for about three years clicks just over ten years quakes you were with the company in 2005 quakes december of 2005

quakes i would like you to commit that takata will establish a confirmation fund. >> i have not been involved in the recall so i cannot do that. i will take it to our chairman and get back with you on that but i am not in a position to commit to that >> do you not run the company north american operation? >> i have responsibility for certain aspects, customer activity including sales and marketing engineering, program engineering, program management, core engineering not related to insulators but other projects as well as it and communications. >> i am just a country lawyer, but it sounds like

you run the company. >> i report to a committee a committee and the president of north america. i do not run all aspects. clicks -- >> the fund you should establish likely to result in additional death.

lexuses and inflator that caused the explosion caused by the answer. the result by explosion and you can see where the shard emanated and could well have caused the kind of death we have seen a time so far correct? >> yes, sir. i believe sincerely that you are.

have you replace the chemical, ammonium nitrate? >> some of the chemicals include ammonium nitrate but it is a design we have not experienced issues with. >> you have not experienced issues because you have not finished testing. >> they have been in the field for a number of years using a number of different vehicles and it is an alternative design that have not seen issues. >> why are you continuing to use ammonium nitrate when it was very likely a

contributing factor if not the factor in causing these exploding fighters? >> i would respectfully disagree is the issue causing the inflator ruptures. one of the potential factors in it. the materials we were using it is highly, highly toxic. some of the other materials we have used issues with handling and manufacturing because they were energetic in a normal state stabilized ammonium nitrate, if you put it on the table and put a torch on it you cannot even lighted. safe, clean, burns efficiently which addresses the concerns with previous propellants causing respiratory issues. >> but the problem is it

becomes unstable when it becomes moist or accumulate moisture, correct? >> it is not a phase stabilization issue. it is an issue with the phase stabilization of ammonium nitrate. the conclusions of the institute has come to is this is not a phase stabilization issue. we cannot measure the loss of phase stabilization. it is not a phase phase stabilization issue. it is a much more stable issue that takes many years and sometimes in certain vehicles, sometimes vehicles, sometimes in one able perform well. the same exact area will have issues. there are there are a number of things. we were trying to act so that we could

continue the analysis. >> you are continuing to use ammonium nitrate with a different design? >> we have many designs that use phase stabilized ammonium nitrate. there are of the six involved in this, most -- five of the six are out of production. the ones involved in this particular issue are not in production any longer. >> looking forward are you replacing the batwing propellants or inflator is out there now with insulators that have ammonium nitrate. >> a completely different design but they still use phase stabilized ammonium nitrate. we are 50 percent of the inflator kids our competitors outside of leaders.

>> have you tested these designs? quakes yes. >> how rigorously? >> for years. >> have a a shown signs of moisture? >> not to my knowledge. >> you are continuing to use ammonium nitrate? >> yes. >> and that is one of the reasons you are going to ammonium nitrate? >> as i stated the path provided me with confidence, the most confidence that it would be a permanent solution. >> that is a genteel and a genteel and nice way of

saying that you want a safe propellant, and you are going with a company a company that does not use ammonium nitrate, correct? >> that is accurate. >> mr. kennedy, your company filed for a patent in 2006 that in effect demonstrated the knowledge of moisture's effect on ammonium nitrate, correct? >> i am not involved in the path of our insulators insulators, senator. if you give me more information i may be able to comment. >> i will give you information available to all which is that your company explained that moisture could seep into the inflator and might cause the propellant to become more unstable. i have said that numerous times. filed for a

times. filed for a patent in 2006 the demonstrated it was aware of the problem in that year we have addressed that in our designs manufacturing process. >> are you familiar with the chemical nun's desk can't? >> yes, i am aware. >> at what time did takata begin to add desiccant? >> it was in the timeframe you mentioned, 2007 until 2008. >> and 2008. >> and the reason was to reduce the effect of moisture in making the ammonium nitrate more unstable. >> there were a number of changes made to my number of design changes that were made in that time. the propellant formulation was changed.

desiccant was added to a number of components were updated. it is part of what in japan they called kaizen, continuous improvement looking at ways to improve parts. in those particular parts on the passenger side we were able to shrink the size by 10 millimeters which saved weight and space health meet requirements and customers meet goals of weight reduction and performance improvement. >> continuous improvement? >> yes, sir. >> kaizen in japanese? it sounds like a you -- euphemism for trying to avoid exploding airbags. >> no sir. not at all. i disagree. it was a. it was a continuous

improvement on the product. every manufacturer -- >> how did it improve the product? the propellant exploding as a result of moisture. >> a number of changes were implemented into the inflator's. the addition was one which allowed us to make the inflator smaller lighter. those were all things that we are always looking to do. >> is it not fair to say one of the reasons was the presence of moisture inside the inflator? >> moisture is a problem. every inflator has leak paths. it is full of holes in order to let gas come out. so out. so it is an issue that every manufacturer deals with. >> your new insulators, have

they shown evidence of moisture? >> i don't -- i am not sure if i can answer that completely because i do not know that we have gotten parts of that from the field on these newer ones and looked at it. >> i i thought your testimony was they had been rigorously tested. >> they have. >> but you don't know whether moisture has been found? >> i i don't know the answer to that specific question. >> where i am going is essentially there is a lot of evidence that ammonium nitrate is a root cause and that there may well need to be a recall of the recall and continuing problem. gm at least redesigned and manufactured the defective product that caused gas on the road as a result of the

defective ignition switch. the continued use of ammonium nitrate leads me to believe there may well need to be a recall of the recall >> as part of the consent order we have agreed to continue to test the remedy parts all of our efforts internal and external with the consortium individual oem, automakers doing their own testing. we have not stopped anything in relation to this issue and are continuing to look everywhere to make sure that we understand this issue. >> have you issued 25. >> we need to keep moving. >> i knew my colleague would

be here. >> you are so kind. >> let me ask, would you commit to supporting a bill that i have offered the requires used-car dealers to repair outstanding safety recalls prior to selling the lease? >> we support that concept. we expect those to be taking care of. they may have a product from another manufacturer. similarly a chrysler dealer in their independent used-car dealers. we would like to discuss the need to ensure oem. most definitely we support the concept. >> i know you reached out to the honda owners affected that could not contact them because they bought the car

used. they died as a result. >> indeed, the unfortunate indeed, the unfortunate aspect of fatalities older model vehicles that tends to change hands. we have not been able to contact the appropriate party. we support the concept. >> thank you. i will be brief. last november as evidence emerged airbags might be susceptible i call on an expanded recall. responding to the responding to the recall request letter stating he believes the data currently available did not support a nationwide recall. what information did takata have last month that it did

not have earlier? >> that is a great question that i would i would be happy to answer. we have much more test data now and have completed over 57,000 deployments most of the last six months that have helped us understand where these issues are and what is causing them and do not have definitive root cause. also we have had a two day meeting where we brought the people in and their experts and had our third party offer report directly to them not filtered all and did the same thing with oem and have continued to work with a number of other outside experts that i mentioned earlier, penn state, georgia tech. >> this goes back to 2006. it seems like a long time and we have heard so many

explanations about why the different explanations and why it took this long and nearly ten years to get done. >> there has been a lot done a number of recalls that have been issued starting in 2008 the first one. we have anticipated and supported multiple recalls in that timeframe. it was on this latest issue that got started in 2013. the end of 2013 was when the first incident outside of previous recall population occurred. >> go ahead. >> now with this recall and it will involve a lot of

vehicles, how do you prioritize in terms of -- is it geographically, the age of the vehicle? >> again a again a very good question and one that was contemplated and it varies by design. the drivers side where we had the most issues are being prioritized based upon location. a location of where they are currently registered, originally registered or ever registered. the others are prioritized by age. as the administrator mentioned, that is administrator mentioned, that is part of the consent order. we will be working with k2 and the automakers to do the prioritization and get the right parts to write owners of the right time as of a

couple days ago we are right now -- this -- this month we will produce close to 700,000. >> how many total. >> the total replacement is elusive but somewhere in the 32 million range vehicles that were ever manufactured. kaywun how long do. >> how long do you think it will take to do that? >> 1 million units a month shortly. 32,000,002,000,000 assumes that all of those vehicles are still on the road. a a number of them are not on the road. it will be somewhat less. >> one last question. how many affected honda and chrysler vehicles have received replacements?

>> have received replacements? on the driver side just side -- just shy of 50,000 units and have implemented a recall of the inflator. maybe 1,000 units. >> okay. >> we have replaced nearly 2 million. >> it sounds like there will be a lot more. all right. thank you very much. >> senator nelson has one question to ask. let me ask you manufacturers if your companies or other auto manufacturers are looking into what role if any the vehicle design may have played with regard to persistent high humidity of affecting performance and if so what have you learned? >> mr. chairman, i will

answer that first. you are referring to a report recently that takata is mentioning a theory about vehicle a theory about vehicle design mainly on the passenger side not the driver side with theory is grounded. we have not received much information and when we do we will be happy to look into it but have not begun a study of our own. >> i would reiterate that we are not doing our own study. >> senator nelson. >> one quick question. do you think rental car companies should be prohibited from leasing vehicles under recall until

fixed? >> thank you. i am aware of s2119 the rental car recall act. act. we are in support of that concept and support the concept. the young woman who lost her life was driving a rental vehicle. i understand from i understand from our business model, honda we don't sell to fleets companies like hertz, avis, so forth but there are vehicles that end up in rental car inventory. dealers might sell to one of the large rental car companies. small rental car companies also might buy a vehicle on the used market. we strongly support the concept that they should be

fixed. if that had fixed. if that had happened in the case of the young woman southern california who we notify the auto auction there on around the vehicle for the rental car agency bought it and notify the rental car agency and neither of them took the repair it is to our everlasting regret that it had an impact gleick's just to.out that the hearing record will remain open for two weeks during which time the senators are asked to submit questions for the record. witnesses are asked to submit their answers as soon as possible. i want to thank our panelists and witnesses. it continues to shape the record we build. we want to make sure we are

doing everything possible to give accountability and provide the solutions that will prevent this thing from happening again. with that, the hearing is adjourned. thanks. [inaudible conversations]

floor. mr. wyden: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president before he leaves the floor let me just commend the senator from rhode island. he has made a number of important points this afternoon but i'm particularly pleased that my colleague has laid out such a thoughtful way the implications of the pope's encyclical. this is very, very important as a major new focus of the debate, and i really commend my colleague. i suspect we're now on 101 or 102 in terms of -- 104. i was there for 100. i must have missed one along the way. but i commend my colleague and thank him for his commitment. he knows i share many of your views with respect to creating a fresh set of approaches as we deal with this climate change question. i look forward to working with my colleague.

mr. president, today the senate is taking major steps towards a new more progressive trade policy that will shut the door on the 1990's north american free trade agreement once and for all. one of the major ways this overall package accomplishes this goal is by kicking in place a tough new regime of enforcing our trade laws. and here i'm talking about our customs package with the fact that later today the senate's going to vote to go to conference with the house on strong bipartisan legislation that was passed by the chamber only a few weeks ago by a vote of 78-20. and it has long been my view,

mr. president, that vigorous enforcement of our trade laws must be at the forefront of any modern approach to trade at this unique time in history. one of the first questions many citizens ask is, i hear there's talk in washington d.c. about passing a new trade law. how about first enforcing the laws that are on the books? and this has been an area that i long have sought to change, and we're beginning to do this with this legislation, and i want to describe it. and for me, mr. president this goes back to the days when i chaired the senate finance subcommittee on international trade and competitiveness and we saw such wide spread cheating such widespread flouting of our trade laws, my

staff and i set up a sting operation. we set up a sting operation to catch the cheats. in effect, almost inviting these people to try to use a web site to evade the laws. and they came out of nowhere because they said cheating has gotten pretty easy, let's sign up. and we caught a lot of people. so we said from that point on that we were going to make sure that any new trade legislation took right at the center an approach that would protect hardworking americans from the misdeeds of trade cheats. and in fact, the core of the bipartisan legislation that heads into conference is a jobs bill a jobs bill that will protect american workers and our

exporters from those kind of rip-offs by those who would flout the trade laws. and the fact is, mr. president when you finally get tough enforcement of our trade laws, it is a jobs bill. a true jobs bill, because you are doing a better job of enforcing the laws that protect the jobs, the good-paying jobs of american workers. and i guess some people think that you're going to get that tougher enforcement by osmosis. we're going to get it because we're going to pass a law starting today with the conference agreement that's going to have real teeth in it. real teeth in it to enforce our trade laws. foreign companies and nations employ a whole host of complicated schemes and shadowy tactics to break the trade

rules. and they bully american businesses and undercut our workers. so what we said in the finance committee on a bipartisan basis that the name of the game would be to stay out in front of these unfair trade practices that cost our workers good-paying jobs. my colleagues and i believe that the senate has offered now the right plan to fight back against the trade cheats and protect american jobs and protect our companies from abuse. it really starts with what's called the enforce act, which is a proposal i first offered years ago that will give our customs agency more tools to crack down on the cheaters. then we have more tools to crack down on the cheaters. a a bipartisan bicameral agreement for the need for this unfair trade alert which is another major

upgrade in response to what we heard companies and labor folks say again and again. what they would say is, trade enforcement laws get there too late. they get there too late. jobs jobs are gone. hopes and dreams of working families are shattered. what we said is what we are going to start using some of the data the information we have territorial trade alert so that we can spot was coming up. get that information. communities and working families and companies, textile companies, textile workers, unfair trade work is another major upgrade in how we tackle mr. president, enforcing trade routes. my view is any bill that comes out of that enforcement conference the

customs conference needs to reflect important american property which should certainly include smart protection of our environmental treasure. when trade agreements establish rules on environmental protection they must be in force at the same rigor as the rules that knocked down barriers for businesses overseas. .. structive proposal that's going to accomplish this important goal. it was overwhelmingly agreed to by the finance committee and passed by the senate. and i'd like to note that much of the good work done by senator bennet mirrors what my colleague in the other body, senator blumenaur, is doing on this issue as well. it is my view, and that is why it is important to hear from senator whitehouse, that climate

change is one of the premier challenges of our time. and it's critical to make sure that this enforcement package sends the right messa o sends the right message on environmental issues and whether the issue at hand is climate change or fisheries are conservation this package, the package that we are going to be dealing with in the customs conference strikes the right balance for the environment. now i also want to take a moment to build on what i discussed yesterday with respect to the democratic priorities my colleagues and i are going to fight for in conference. this stems from an important point that was made by our

colleague from north dakota. senator heitkamp said we really need to go in to this customs conference with some markers some strong markers that lay out a path for some of our priorities with respect to enforcing the customs law. so after the pro-trade democrats met on monday night i talked with chairman riemann with respect to these issues and we intend to champion provisions by senator shaheen which is going to help our small businesses take full advantage of trade. a lot of people say trade bills are for the big guys. the big guys are the ones who are going to benefit. i have always thought they could take care of themselves. they have lots of people to stand up or down. what senator shaheen is saying that is particular important in my home state is to present

where we have mostly small businesses senator shaheen is saying that she is going to make sure as part of the enforcement effort we beef up the effort to help small businesses particularly the state-level nod that the at the federal level, at the state level to promote these efforts to add more markets for small businesses. in addition to senator shaheen's amendment as farce those customs markers are concerned we are also going to make the environmental protection provisions that i just described at the i senator bennett a priority and senator cantwell's trade enforcement trust fund and i am very hopeful about the trade enforcement trust fund as well and suffice it to say there centers on both sides of the aisle because there is an awareness that again you can

have trade laws. we are going to need some resources in order to make sure they are implemented so i think the trade enforcement trust fund is another very important priority and it is one that the pro-trade democrats have said would be part of our shortlist in terms of our customs markers. so as i noted mr. president when i have town hall meetings at home and had 730 of the men more than the sub coming week, i do find that people say everybody in washington talks about new laws, new proposals, trade ideas ideas. enforce the laws on the books first and it has been too hard in the past for our businesses to delay small businesses to get

the enforcement that matters enforcement with teeth, enforcement that serves as a real deterrent to cheating. this legislation is our chance to demonstrate that strengthening trade enforcement enforcement and trade laws will now be an integral part of a new modern approach to trade an approach that says we are not part of the 1990s on trade where nobody had web sites and iphones and the like. we have got a modern trade policy with a centerpiece enforcing our trade laws. our policies are going to give america's. enforcers the tools they need to fight on behalf of american jobs, american workers and stop the cheats who seek to undercut them. i strongly urge my colleagues to

vote on a motion to send the enforcement bill to congress and work on a bipartisan basis as we did in the finance committee to put strong trade enforcement legislation on the president's desk. mr. president i also would like here briefly to make some remarks on the trade adjustment systems package. as we said later today the senate is going to take a series of votes that again speak to how we kick off a new progressive era in trade policy that closes the books on the trade ideas of the 1990s once and for all. once again, a key part of that effort is protecting our workers and ensuring that more trade

means everybody has an opportunity to get ahead and that's why the package of legislation under debate expands and extends the support system for america's workers called trade adjustment assistance. now this program dates back to the days of president kennedy. president kennedy during his push for the trade expansion act of 1962 call that and i quote, a program to afford time for american initiative, american adaptability and american resiliency to assert themselves. since then this program has been extended by republican and democratic presidents. the program is now a lifeline for more than 100,000 americans including 3000 oregonians who

receive job training and financial support. the heart of it is to provide a springboard to new opportunities and guarantees that workers and their families don't get knocked off stride when times are tough. in my view, it is a core element of what i call trade done right and as i noted yesterday mr. president tim nesbitt the former past president of the oregon afl-cio, essentially said that our legislation was the blueprint for trade done right. now for a year and a half the trade adjustment assistance program has been running at reduced strength but that's going to change once this legislation becomes law. the funding for trade adjust --

adjustment assistance goes back up to a level that will cover everybody who qualifies. once again service workers will be eligible for the program because in today's economy they are facing competition from overseas as well. trade adjustment assistance will be paid into account competition from anywhere in the world not just from our trade agreement partners. there are significant improvements here that i will tell you mr. chairman and colleagues i flawed very very hard for and what were negotiations that really lasted well over six months with chairman hatch. i believe these changes are going to make a big difference for workers across our nation

who fall in tough times. if china manages to lure and manufacture away from the united states, for example now those workers will be covered. they will have a chance to learn new skills and find a job that pays good wages and they won't have to worry about whether the bills will get paid or if they are going to have food on their table. along with trade adjustment assistance this legislation will reinstate the health coverage tax credit that expired at the end of last year. now the majority of workers in this country tens of millions of middle-class people and their families get health insurance through their employer. the health coverage tax credit guarantees that workers of families affected by trade are going to still be able to see their doctor. if they get sick suffering

injury they aren't going to face colossal medical bills or the threat of bankruptcy. they get protection and they get it until there back on their feet. in the process of bringing this legislation together my friend and colleague on the finance committee senator brown offered a proposal that goes a long way in my view to strengthening our enforcement of trade laws. it's called leveling the playing field. i urge the senate majority leader to include this important legislation in the taa bill. both because it's a good policy and it's a sign that both parties are working on issues that are logical bipartisan priorities. level the playing field and i can say this mr. president at this point in the debate if you

look at the senate finance committee leveling the playing field with a top priority for those in the unions, the steel unions and others and also a top priority for their companies. and so having this policy in the trade adjustment assistance is exactly that kind of bipartisan work the american people want done. business, labor, democrats republicans a strong record of evidence as to why it's needed. this legislation is going to be the difference between steelworkers and paper workers being on the job or being laid off because it ensures that the remedies of trade laws called countervailing duty laws antidumping law is going to be available to workers and their companies earlier and in a more

comprehensive way. it's going to protect jobs. it's a priority of both political partners and i made mention how important this was to me. my first hearing, my first hearing when i became chairman of the finance trade subcommittee was on trade enforcement. i could have taken a lot of topics. we could have talked about exports hugely important to my state. we could have talked about the fact that the trade laws haven't kept up with the digital age, hugely important. i said my first hearing was going to be on trade enforcement enforcement. and my good friend from the steelworkers leo gerard with mario long he still -- bucket length about how american workers wanted to see the senate and finance committee stand up for them and finally fix the shortcomings in our trade remedy laws. that is what we have done now.

getting behind shared rounds proposal to strengthen our trade laws and to stop unfair. map so that foreign companies do not undercut american workers and manufactures ought to be an american priority, a red white and blue priority, a priority for every member of this body. i am rad to have worked with senator brown on this important issue. i want to thank him for the fact that he is brought this up again and again and again. i said it quite sometime ago that we were going to let this package become law without leveling the playing field authored by senator brown at the outset and that is going to be the case and i thank him for his work. the three programs for trade adjustment assistance program the health coverage tax credit

senator brown's leveling the playing field are now moving through the senate alongside legislation that creates new economic opportunities for impoverished countries in africa and other places around the world. this trade package will extend the biggest of these programs, the african growth and opportunity act called joe ha for 10 years. i'm a strong believer in it. it works for a country that works for africa and it will take stronger economic future for so many around the world. we have worked hard on a bipartisan basis in the finance committee to find ways to strengthen it. that was the point of our hearing to find ways to strengthen it and extended for another decade and the committee came together on a bipartisan basis to make smart improvements. once again mr. president we see the value of the progressive

trade policy. two of our very outstanding colleagues my colleague senator coons on the side of the aisle our friend senator isakson on the other side of the aisle always working in a bipartisan way pointing out that this is what our country is all about and certainly creating opportunities in impoverished parts of the world as a core american priority hearts and minds around the world hoping that we will have this kind of leadership. and i will just close mr. president and i think this will be my last comment before the vote. it's my view that for all who want to see trade done right for all who want american

workers to thrive in the 21st century getting behind these key programs is an ideal way to do it. by supporting this legislation the congress reaffirms as president kennedy really rhapsodized over half a century ago. you get behind these programs and it reaffirms america's commitment to american initiative, to adaptability and resiliency and i encourage all of my colleagues to vote yes to support these important programs when we vote later today. mr. president i yield the floor. >> thank you mr. president. i've come to this floor a number of times arguing against trade promotion authority. we have done that for months. this body should not give up its authority and should not pave

the way for trade deal that looks like it's going to be more of the same. corporate handouts and worker sellouts. we have seen with nafta. we saw a similar kind of move on pntr with china where the trade deficit are bilateral trade deficit has literally exploded since 2000 with this body and the other body move forward on tnt are and we sought it with the free trade agreement where president bush had to be woken up in the middle of the night and get on the phone with republican member after public or member to get them to change their votes on fast-track so he could get the central america free trade agreement which he sold in the name of counterterrorism. we saw but the south korean trade agreement when this president made promises of more job creation and higher wages neither of which is has for now. we have seen big promises and

bad results on trade issue after trade issue after trade issue. we have seen it through the presidencies of george bush the first, bill clinton, of george bush the second and now barack obama. this body as i said should not give up its authority to make better trade agreement. in essence what we are saying in this body with his this but within the hour so we are willing to give up these powers to the executive branch to give us more of the same trade agreements that don't work for our communities don't work for our workers, to work for our families and don't work for small businesses. while this chamber will vote on trade promotion authority today so-called fast-track it doesn't mean we throw in the towel with congressional oversight of america's trade policy. moving forward with fast-track means is more critical than ever that we protect congress's prerogative to have a say on a deal that could offset 40% of the world's economy.

members on both sides of the aisle and both sides of this debate supporters and opponents were republicans and democrats a good mix of each have had conversations with me and with many others about how this deal is too secretive. a transpacific partnership. we have had conversations about how the u.s. trade representative is not answering the concerns of members and supporters of tpa and supporters of tpp on issues like kurianzi on issues like worker protections workers rights on issues like tobacco and public health. we need to make sure starting today we need to make sure that any transfer to -- transpacific partnership deal and that is the deal we are putting on later. i assume it will go to the president and i assume he will sign it. the next step is what happens with these partnership with its 12 countries coming together a handful of countries in the

western hemisphere including the prenab to countries, couple of south american countries and asian australian continent subcontinent countries will be part of this trade agreement. we hope if china is added to it because a vote of congress although no promises there yet either from the but we need to make sure that any deal with a transpacific partnership includes strong labor protections. all these big promises about labor protections never president delivering on these labor protections. i'm particularly concerned about vietnam a large country of tens of millions approaching 100 million people in vietnam a country that has one labor union controlled by the congress party a country that doesn't have collected bargaining rights and yet we are stemming somehow that wages are going to come up high enough from vietnam but they don't undercut wages even though they don't have free trade unions even though there's no

mechanism so far in any of these trade agreements whether it's through tpa or transpacific partnership that vietnam reach these levels, reach these ways ways -- ways levels and free trade unionism. we need to figure those questions out. when to make sure that any tpp deal has strong of arm of the protections and the thomases and other agreements never much on the delivery side of these promises. we want to see strong currency provisions. again big promises on tpp little results in the past and so far an administration not willing to carry it out. we need to make sure we protect medicare and medicaid rome investor state dispute resolution. we need to preserve access to medicines. we know that medicines in the developing world citizens in the developing world can't afford the high cost of western

medicines. americans much of the time can afford the high cost of medicines. when you look at some of these tpp countries in south america and asia that can afford it even less. we have to make sure they are strong and preserve access to medicine provisions and we need to include protections that prevent this deal for being at deal for big tobacco. perhaps the simplest to understand one of the most troubling because of its moral bankruptcy. this body is about to vote for fast-track legislation which it we don't stop this train from going down the track which is seems to be having that we are handing big tobacco even more power to a addict children to tobacco in the developing world. countries that don't have nearly the public health system we do countries that don't have the affluence to be able to fight back against big tobacco that we

have been pretty successful in protecting our children. i remember mr. president 15 years ago i was a member of the house energy and environment subcommittee on health and i remember seven tobacco executives came to our committee. it they were set picture on just about every front page in the country where the seven ceos of the biggest tobacco companies raise their right hand pledge to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth and out and out lie to that committee about nicotine in cigarettes and the addictive qualities of nicotine. the same tobacco companies over time pledge that they would no longer put billboards in their schoolyards pledge that they would no longer hand out sample packages of cigarettes near schools, pledged that they would stop their joe camel promotions. i remember the ranking member of

the finance committee senator wyden was a member of that committee and was outraged as i was by big tobacco. i asked a question at the hearing. i said so you are willing to do that in this country. you are willing to say no to billboards near high school and no handouts of sample cigarettes packs in your schools and you will stop your joe camel ads. i said are you willing to do that in other countries around the world? no, no no, no. these tobacco companies you know when they go to the developing world and peddle their poisons they know the public health in public health and developing worlds about fighting cholera and fighting aids in fighting malaria and fighting tuberculosis. they simply don't have the public health resources we have in our country to fight that the tobacco. that's my concern about what can happen to let me talk about how big tobacco is using this trade

agreements to undermine public health. tobacco use we know mr. president is the world's leading cause of preventable death of my countries around the world are passing stricter laws to protect their citizens from the massive health risk tobacco poses. big tobacco is turned to trade deals and heard trade deals into it tool for defeating common sense. why would a trade deal be a vehicle to weaken tobacco anti-tobacco laws that protect children especially against addictive tobacco. it uses a trade provision known as investor state dispute settlement to attack the public health law. under this process corporations use trade agreements and dispute laws they say undermined investments. right now there it is the best example but there are several. australia passed not many years ago the plain packaging act.

the tobacco challenge this law. first of all they have posted in the australian legislature. they lobbied against it and they weren't successful. the australians legislature passed the plain packaging consumer protection anti-addict teen children tobacco law in 2011. then they sued and went to australian supreme court. that tobacco lost that case to. this is clever and i give them credit they pay their lawyers a lot of money. big tobacco challenge the new law under the bilateral investment treaty and a world trade organization dispute settlement. that is even australian courts made up of amazing australians, australia and courts ruled in favor of this law. the legislature passed it in the supreme court said is constitutional. they tobacco from the outpost from the platform of hong kong sued the australian government

saying fundamentally that would undermine their profits so the tribunal that i believe the three-person tribunal that will hear this case australia has nothing to do with this case except they will be victimized. potentially and i know the presiding officer cares about sovereignty for our country and this cuts across party lines. what we are doing is turning over sovereignty of our nation to these tribunals that can undercut their sovereignty. tobacco companies have launched similar cases against uruguay. cases like these could bankrupt small countries. togo one of the 10 poorest countries on earth was forced to give up its tobacco labeling laws bowing under pressure from philip morris a company whose sales i believe are larger than the gdp of togo bowed under

pressure from philip morris which threaten to quote encounter world trade litigation so here are u.s. trade lawyers have threatened to sue a poor african or in some cases latin american government which wants to exercise its sovereignty and protect its children against potential addict to tobacco marketing that will lead to children being addicted to tobacco. but they back off because they can't afford to go to court against the deep pockets of phillip morris. this is big tobacco strategy. litigate bankrupt companies into submission. what we are facing is huge corporations using trade was to blackmail countries. call it another work you want but blackmail is as close as he gets into overturning laws passed by their legislature usually ratified by their court system and people from another country the very rich country one of the richest industries in that country represented by some of the most privileged harvard

yell trained lawyers say we are going to overturn your democratically-elected law because our problems are more important than protecting your children in togo or your children in uruguay and protecting her children's health. so i vote today since we haven't fixed tobacco a vote today on fast-track essentially saying unless the people voting for it are going to go to bat for a change against big tobacco fundamentally we are saying it's okay for big tobacco in the privilege of the big tobacco lawyers to go to court and choose big tobacco profits over 15 and 16 or may i say 12 and 13-year-old children's health in poor countries in the developing world. that's a rather uneven match yet we ratify that with a yes vote today. we also have a responsibility to look out for the american worker who we know will be heard why this deal. we know while i may disagree

with the presiding officer from pennsylvania over whether or not these trade agreements produce net jobs or he believes i believe these trade agreements produce a net loss of jobs. people on all sides of this debate understand and acknowledge that because of our action because of what we do here in this body and in the white house what we do this trade agreement we will throw people out of jobs. people will lose their jobs because of our decisions so how in the world can we possibly pass this without first taking care of those workers who lose their jobs? we make a decision. you get thrown out of work. my colleague makes a decision you get thrown out of court. we are going to turn our backs because we don't care about helping you even though you lost your job because of our decision. it's not that we should pass the trade assistance it's what we should do as a parent is the

point of the bill being considered today is minimalist. it's significantly less generous to those workers. there will be many workers who lose their jobs. there will be many workers who lose their jobs that are not taking care of under taa that does not make the program available to all workers. i'm disappointed the bipartisan funding levels almost every democrat in this body are cosponsoring my legislation at a more generous level that we agree to it in 2011 but for no reason at all -- i want to expand eligibility and increase funding. we are making it easier to pass tpp but cutting the taa program by 20% so how does that dig your? we are going to pass this agreement and 40% of the worlds economy yet we are the a to

those workers that lose their jobs because of our debt is -- decisions in this body. last mr. president we have an opportunity in this bill today to support the level the playing field. this will be the vote after the tpa vote. this bill is essential in protecting our manufactures from the legal competition. we can't can have trade promotion without enforcement. this shouldn't be partisan. regardless of how you vote on tpa we need to make sure deals are enforced. it will increase a company's ability to fight back against unfair trade actresses and it's critical for businesses and workers who drown under a flood of illegal subsidized imports has the support of business workers republicans and democrats pretty want to thank senators portman engram and casey for their work on this issue. no matter where you stand on tpa we should be able to come

together to enforce the laws. we can't have trade promotion without trade enforcement of protecting those workers who we know will be left behind. we know these agreements cause wages to stagnate. we know these agreements cause factories to close. they cause imports to increase. they devastate counties and communities. this is a terrible mistake we will make which we have made over and over and over if we pass this today. if we passed tpa is the same mistake we made with nafta. wages going up and bad results. we did it when we passed ntr and cafta. we did it when we passed the korean trade agreement and we are about to do it again. shame on us and at least take care workers if we are going to pass this legislation.

south carolina senate delegation tim scott and lindsey graham spoke about last week's shootings in charleston south carolina which lets nine churchgoers dead and one wounded. it they talk about the reaction in their home state and the support they received from their senate colleagues. this is 10 minutes. >> i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 212 submitted earlier today. the clerk will report. >> senate resolution 212 condemning the attack on emanuel african episcopal church in south carolina and expressing encouragement and praise for all affected by this evil assault. >> is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection the senate

will proceed to the measure. >> thank you. i is in unanimous consent the resolution agreed to the preamble be agreed to the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. >> is there objection? without objection. >> thank you mr. president. i stand before you today before the nation not as a senator, not as an elected official but as a humble south carolinians. the past week has been one of terrible tragedy and amazing unity. last wednesday night we experienced an unimaginable tragedy. nine men and women nine mothers, fathers, sisters brothers sons daughters lost forever. the hateful and racist actions of one deranged man have changed nine families forever. it has changed south carolina forever. charleston forever but what we

saw from the nine families at last friday's launch hearing was simple, it was powerful and absolutely the best of who we are as americans. just a few minutes ago i was back in the cloakroom and i have the opportunity to talk to one of the victims sans daniel simmons junior. i was talking to him back there and i said is there anything you want me to share when i go to the floor of the senate and he said please share that god cares for his people. god still lives. i was amazed. and then he said with great enthusiasm and energy with a sense of excitement that this evil attack would lead to reconciliation restoration and

unity in our nation. those were powerful words. it is with great sadness and amazing hope that our future as a nation has not changed. it has been changed because one person decided to murder and

nine. it has been changed because the response of those nine families has been so courageous so inspiring and if you would permit may i will read the names of those nine individuals. we honor the reverend sharonda coleman singleton, a beloved teacher, coach. her son chris has shown us all what an amazing mother she was through his strength over the past six days. we honor cynthia hurd whose love for education has been shared for over 31 years as a library in in the public library system. we honor suzie jackson to add 87 years young still offered her beautiful voice to the choir and

recently returned from visiting her family in ohio. we honor ethel lee lance who served her church with pride whose daughter calls her the strong woman who chose tried to keep her family together. we honor to pain medical -- middleton doctor who helped her students as an enrollment counselor at southern wesleyan university. we honor my good friend reverend clement to pinckney. an amazing man of faith, a great dad and a wonderful father. we honor tywanza sanders beloved son of tyrone and felicia whose warmth and heartfelt spirit has

kept us moving. we honor the reverend daniel simmons senior whose granddaughter said my granddaddy was an amazing man. seemed like every time he spoke it was pure wisdom and we honor pastor myra thompson who serve the lord with grace and dignity. she loved her children, her grandchildren and her great ran children. if you would just pause for nine seconds, a second for each one i would vitiate it. thank you. in closing i want to thank all of my colleagues in the senate and the house for their kind words over the past week and for the prayers that continue to

come into our city from across the nation. we are charleston. we ourselves carolina and we are absolutely united and we are committed to replacing hate with love pain with kindness and ill will and hostility with goodwill and comfort. i.e. yield to senator graham. >> thank you. >> the senator from south carolina. >> i want to recognize senator scott. we all know tim as a man of quiet faith. he does it when we are not looking by the way. tim is over in the corner with head tones dons a nice it would be listening to and he says i'm doing my bible study very sheepishly. you have been a great comfort to her state because you are truly man of god. to the rest of you i want to tell people in south carolina

the senate picked out a lot of differences and we display them a lot great i wish you could have heard what was said to me and tim. everybody in this body has come up to us in one way or another and said the most kind things to the united states senate we have problems but we are still a family so thank you all from all over this country for the kindness you have shown during these difficult times. very quickly i don't know how you can sit with somebody for an hour in church and pray with them and get up and shoot them. that is something i didn't think we had here but apparently we do. i can imagine what it takes of an individual to be welcomed into a church and here's what happened. he went to charleston with a plan. the people in the church had no idea who he was or what he had in mind and he came into the church and sitting in the pews by himself and they invited him up for the bible study and spent an hour with him. he said they were so nice i

almost backed out. that says a lot about them. it says a lot about him. but tim mentions something that i can't get over. within 48 hours of having your family member murdered they appear in a public setting looking the guy in the eye saying you ruined my life but i love you and i forgive you. that is a level of love and understanding that can only come from some higher authority. i don't have that in may so when it comes to representing south carolina tim and i will do our best but on our best day we are nowhere close to these people. there is no politician in america that can represent their state better than the people of mother emanuel ame church when they went to a public place looked the killer in the eye and said i forgive you and i am praying for you. i wish we could muster that out of love for each other just for a little bit.

what would america be like? thank you all for your kindness.

approve trade promotion authority for the president. >> today a house hearing looked at rail safety and positive train control technology designed to automatically stop or slow down a train traveling at unsafe speeds. congress has required train operators to fully adopt e.t. see -- ptc by the end of 2015. this hearing of the house transportation subcommittee on row roads pipelines in hazardous materials is two hours, 15 minutes.

>> the subcommittee will come to order. good morning welcome to the subcommittee on row roads pipelines in hazardous materials materials. our hearing will focus on the implementation of ptc positive train control in the united states. one of the most complex and costly safety positive train control his or gps-based system designed to automatically control trains to follow speed limits and avoid train to train collisions. following a deadly crash in southern southern california congress mandated the installation of ptc on line for certain hazardous materials are carried at any line which commuter rail services operate. the recent tragic amtrak crash in philadelphia has reminded us that while these accidents are rare they can happen in ptc will

make our rail network safer. this mandate was included in the rail safety and improvement act of 2008 and congress set an implementation deadline of december 31 of this year. implemented ptc will require, its 38000 weigh side interfaces, 18,000 locoh motives to be updated and thousands of signals. ptc has never been implemented on such a scale and never required such a high level of inner inner inner operabilty. freight rail is expected to spend a total of $9 billion to fully implement. the american public transportation association estimated they would have to

spend $3.5 billion on ptc and the sheer cost and complexty of the system there have been many delays. the process of approving the polls along the right away was delayed when the federal communication system mandated each pole goes through a review process. they created a more streamline process and we will hear about how it is working from them. commuter and passenger railroads have failed to provide the spectrum. today we will discuss how long it will take to get ptc implemented across the country and what it will take to meet the current deadline. in closing, i look forward to hearing from our witnesses in regarding the issues. i mind like to recognize rank member from massachusetts mr.

capuano. >> we know where we are today. tell me how to get to where we want to be as quickly as we can. that is what america and i want. if you think you need federal assistance be clear. we have our opinions on if we should put funds up or not and if you think we should i would say so. i yield back and look forward to the testimony. >> full committee chairman mr. sires. >> the number one priority of this committee is safety. rail safety has been going in the right direction but the terrible amtrak incident showed

us we should remain focused on the efforts to improve rail safety. as chairman denham said this is one of the most costly enhancements the railroads have taken. we knew it would be challenging but seven years into the future we know that will not be the case. with a few exceptions most railroads will not meet the deadline. technology has been more difficult to create spectrum has been hard to acquire particularly for commuter railroads that serve populated areas. and finally the federal communication commission approval process for new

telecommunication polls was not set-up to handle the tens to thousands of polls needed to deploy ptc. i am looking forward to hearing from you today, the witnesses, and where it stands and your testimony will help consider how we move forward to deal with the mandate in an appropriate fashion. >> i will call on mr. defazlo for opening statements. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thanks for holding the hearing. we will focus on the extension of the deadline. it is clear the class one will not meet the deadline and some passenger rails will not. this has been something that has been a very, very long time in the making.

it was 45 years since ntsb first recommended the idea of positive train control. you know they have had it on their most wanted list for many years and it was removed after the passage of the legislation in 2008 but it was put back on when it was clear the deadlines were not going to be met. just to revisit why we did this chatsworth took place after the house acted. it was a compilation of accidents over the years including in particular one in 2005 that was a release of chlorine gas with 5,000 people evacuated, eight people died, and 554 were injured.

the ntsb at the time said they never saw something like this happen. it was the cause of human error and if ptc had been installed this wouldn't have happened. so we passed ptc, chatsworth took place after house passage which led the senate to change its position. they started with 2018 as the deadline and they were approaching the two california senators and we compromised on 2015 as something that could be achievable. unfortunately we will not meet that deadline in many cases. congress you know, was in helping some of the passenger

rail folks with grants. the president has asked for a billion dollars. we got one $50 million grant, but since 2010 nothing has been allocated by congress. for freight, it is a heavy expense. but it is something -- it is at least a business expense. for passenger rail non-profit passenger rail it is expense that is hard to pass on to the customer so grants could be helpful i believe and hopefully we will hear more about that today. and yet, our colleagues on the appropation committee, it doesn't take the same view of the issues as we do we are more enlightened on the committee, cut amtrak's grants by $290 million the day after the accident and among other things they found is advanced train control and another

infrastructure likely to cause other accidents. the system is decrepeit and needs investment. we got a man to the moon after president kennedy issued the challenge it only took eight years and that was one year after the ntsb first asked for, you know positive train control. i know we can do it. we just need to hear today what impediment impediments remain and what we can do to expedite the instillation across all of the system in the critical categories we categories. we define routes in addition to the passengers and heavily used routes. i look forward to the testimony and if necessary i would urge the committee to take further

action if we hear testimony saying there are steps to get it done. >> i would like to welcome the panel of witnesses. sarah feinberg acting administrator of the federal rail instruction, fra and want to say a special thanks to you for continuing to come before this committee. there have been a number of big issues that this committee is addressing. and you have not waiververed as far as coming before us. also mr. charles mathias, and mr. frank lonegro, and russell kerwin. i ask consent the witness' full statement be put in the record.

no objection. we will ask you to keep your statements limited to five minutes. ms. feinberg you are recognized with that. >> thank you, charman denham ranking member capuano, and members of the committee, thank you for allowing me to appear before you. ptc is the most important safety development in more than a century. elements of ptc have existed since the early 20th century. regulators and safety advocates have been calling on the rail industly to implement some form of the ptc for decades. the rule is fully implemented by december 21st 2015.

ptc is required on lines where hazardous material is transported and required on any railroad where inner city or computer rail passenger service is conducted. following passage of the ptc in 2008, railroads submitted their plans in 2010. these plans laid out a path forward that would allow each railroad to meet the deadline. safety is the federal railroad association top priority. the rail system is not as safe as it could be without the full implementation of ptc. a safe rail system requires the full system of positive control and that is why we will enforce the 2015 deadline for implementation just as congress mandated. faa has been sounding the alarms

most railroads are not meeting the ptc. fra has dedicated resources to assist and guide implementation. we hired staff to oversee implementation and worked with the fcc to resolve spectrum issues and improve the process for communication towers we built a ptc test bed at the transportation technology center in colorado we have provided 650 million in grant funds to support ptc implementation including american recovery and investment act grants and amtrak grants and other annual appropations. we have requested $825 million to assist computer railroads and issue issued a loan to new york's