my wife, terry, my son, christopher, and lauren's boyfriend, kevin, miss loren every minute of every day. i will not have the opportunity to walk my daughter down the aisle and give her away in marriage. she will not experience the joy of a growing child within and raising a loving family as we did. our traditional christmas eve visit to new york city for some last-minute shopping and taking in mass at st. patrick's cathedral will probably come to an end this year, it will be too painful to make that trip without lauren. many of my fave -- fellow crash victims' families sitting behind me have similar stories and similar losses. so now it is up for you to make a difference. everyone in this room today and those who were here last wednesday expressed that they had come before you to make the necessary changes in safety. winter is coming. if we do not implement critical safety changes before then and another accident occurs, we can only blame ourselves for losses of those families. i do not wish to shoulder that burden, and hope and believe that you agree with me. mr. chairman, ranking

it is unsustainable for americans like lauren klitsko, a young american i met who has learned that the breast cancer she thought she had beaten had spread to her bones. now she is spending time thinking about how to recover the $50,000 in medical debts she has already aqume lated when all she wants to do is spend time with her children and focus on getting these are not worries a woman like lauren should have to face in a nation as wealthy as ours. [applause] stories like lawyer's are being told by women and men all across this country, my families who have seen out of pocket coast costs soar and at a rate three times faster than wages. people going without check-ups for the prescriptions they and that you know they need. it is creating a situation where a single illness can wipe out a lifetime of savings. our costly health care system is unsustainable for doctors, like michael kahn, in new hampshire, who spends 20% each day surprising a staff explaining insurance problems to patients, compleeth authorization boards, writing appeal letters, a routine he calls disrupting and spending le

it will be too painful to make that trip without lauren. many of my fellow crash victim families sitting behind me also have similar stories and similar losses were so now it's up to you to make a difference. everyone in this room today, and those who were here last wednesday, expressed that they have come before you to make the necessary changes in safety. winter is coming. if we do not implement critical safety changes before then, and another accident occurs, we can only blame ourselves for the losses of those families. i do not wish to shoulder that burden, and hope and believe that you agree with me. mr. chairman, ranking member senator demint and all the other aviation committee members, thank you for your time. i am open also to answer any questions. >> mr. mayor, thank you very much. i indicated in the last hearing that i have some discomforts about a good many things here. reading the transcript of the cockpit recording, demonstrated to me a number of errors occurred, a number of deficiencies occurred in the management of that flig

it's unsustainable for americans like lauren could skip, a young mother who i met in wisconsin just last week, who learned that the breast cancer she thought she had been had spread to her bones. but who is now being forced to spend time worrying about how to cover the $50000 in medical debt she's already accumulated, worried about future debts that she is going to accumulate, when all she wants to do is spend time with her two children and focus on getting well. these are not the worries that a woman like laura should have to face in the nation as wealthy as ours. [applause] >> stories like laura's are being told by women and men all across this country. by families who have seen out of pocket costs soar and premiums doubled over the last decade at a rate three times faster than wages. this is forcing americans of all ages to go without a checkups or the prescriptions they need. that you know they need. it's creating a situation where a single illness can wipe out a lifetime of savings. our costly health care system is unsustainable for doctors. like michael kahn in new hampshire who, a

principles and there are three principles that i am sure many of you are aware of -- the first is laurenthe cost for american families and american businesses and the second is maintaining choice so that folks have both choice of their doctor and their plan and then the third it is assuring access to affordable health care for all americans. the fourth issue can put in their and john that talk about this is we have to get a pass this. getting it done this year. so we're going to have our friends go out and talk to their friends about why it's so poor that we get health care passed this year, getting people to sign a declaration in support of the president's principles and the second component is also public service and we are going to be doing public service of funds across the country this summer. and we want those public service events to be health care related. i think organizing for america has a couple unique roles in what has been a very long battle to get health care reform. the first is we have the ability i think to tell very personal stories about what health care reform is so

lauren serves as president of the organization of miso states where she's leading a regional planning and cost allocation effort for developing electrical transmission over the midwest iso region which includes 13 states and one canadian province. prior to her appointment to the wisconsin psc, commissioner naz ar worked as an attorney and practiced extensively in the areas of electric and water utilities representing rate payers and utilities. she helped to create the first stand alone transmission company, otherwise known as atc and helped to cite a 210 mile extra high voltage line in wisconsin and minnesota. in addition to all of these credentials, i can also tell you what she eats for breakfast and grow in her vegetable garden because as you all know she is also my partner. i welcome her to our subcommittee. >> thank you, congresswoman. >> we welcome you and whenever you're ready, please begin. >> thank you, ranking member upton, and the members of the subcommittee, thanks for inviting me to appear at this hearing on the future of the grid, and my primary messages for today are num

maurer is joined by his wife teri and lauren's boyfriend.appreciate the work of the maurer and all the families of the victims of flight 3407 as a father of four and a grandfather of two, i can't begin to imagine the pain that can see from so tragically losing a loved one. speaks highly of all the families here today that you're working to take what must be a deep sorrow and focusing it on improving airline safety and helping other americans. i'm looking forward to hearing your testimony, mr. maurer and the recommendations this morning. and both and the chairman and i -- and i know i speak for everyone on the committee, we thank you for the sacrifice that you're making to try to improve the system for others. m mr. lautenberg? >> thank you for calling this hearing because though our flight safety record is so outstanding, when we look at the total of aviation it services, the situation with the flight is one that shook our bodies, our minds. the plane took off from newark liberty international in february. it cost the lives of 50 people. fli

lauren dealy who will handle communications for the office of legislative affairs at the department of defense. frank rose who's off to work in the strategic weapons and missile defense issues in the department of state. bill nadler who recently left to be the deputy undersecretary of the navy. sasha rogers, who's off to get a masters degree of public policy. christian lamb, who will off to get a masters in m.b.a. and ben glaom who will be working on a law degree. in addition, i'd wish to recognize the unsung heroes who allowed our staff to get together a bill of this enormous size and complexity. the staff members who are called staff assistants, zack stacy, ms. drummond, megan putnam, roselyn, kathleen kelly, mary kate cunningham and scott boozman. tray howard, cindy howard, derrick scott and katie bloomberg all deserve a special thanks. i want to also thank joe higin for a long effort with us as well as alicia haley. without their hard work and coordination and patience we would not be successful as we are today. a final thanks to the team and the office of the legislative counsel l

lauren serves as president of the organization of miso states where she's leading a regional planning and cost allocation effort for developing electrical transmission over the midwest iso region which includes 13 states and one

he was born and raised in the red ink, pennsylvania or he and his wife raised their daughter, lauren. he currently lives in south carolina and i appreciate him taken the time to come to washington, this is his third week here, this is very difficult for him to continue to recount. this tragedy in public as well as private. mr. mauer comes before this committee as a representative of over 150 people and families, the flight 3407 group. they come together as a result of a terrible tragedy with a goal of making changes in the airline industry in the faa hoping to keep an accident like flight 3407 that from happening again. and saving many other amylase the sadness that they are continuing to endure. he is also joined this morning by his wife, terri, lawrence boyfriend, kevin. i'm deeply impressed with the work of a them and all the families of the victims of the flight 3407. as a father of four and grandfather of two, i can't begin to imagine the pain that comes from so tragically losing a loved one. it speaks very highly of all the families today that you are working to take what must b