Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20131012

In the hearing on capitol hill today the Senate Commerce Committee Looked at some of the government functions that have stopped as a result of the ongoing Government Shutdown. Among the witnesses was one of the stars of the popular reality show deadliest catch who spoke on the issue of commercial fishing permits and how its an issue to fisheries in alaska. I was one of the government functions addressed at this hearing. Its about two and a half hours. [inaudible conversations] for Debbie Hersman [inaudible] its like coming back on making no jaguar and so they will be here and johnson may or may not come and if he doesnt come i bless him and if he does, i bless him because this is what happens when you are in washington and the new breed about snowfall in the upper midwest. 1 2 of all the cattle in his state were killed. And thats their business. That is their business. They are not in north dakota. They are in south dakota. They have got cattle and farming. 1 2 and so if he comes back its glorious and if he doesnt then we should all wish him well in that. Losing cattle is they are not people but they cause people to lose their way of living. Do you think i should just leave it right there and head into my statement . Do you promise not to go to sleep this time . [laughter] [inaudible] you are probably interested in fisheries . Do you . In 2008 and 2009 this country went through the worst recession since world war ii. We were probably never about what or who caused any of this but we know the come back from the great recovery has been very slow and very painful. Its odd actually to look at the charts that there continues to be new jobs pumping into the economy which is the good part and then you start thinking about all these people that have been laid off and then all the Ripple Effect of all of that so you dont really know where the economy is that you have a feeling that does not make you much progress and a lot of people are trying hard on that. Five years after the crash that Department Released its highest levels stubbornly and while our country is finally growing a little bit it isnt really a whole lot of satisfaction. I think we can say that fairly. Our Financial Experts and Business Leaders are telling us its still a fragile recovery. You know that the economy is still not systemically coming back to where they want. They are saying that if we are not careful with their actions and nobody has been very careful around here for several months, the a misstep could easily slip the economy back into a recession. If it goes back into her recession than thats very very bad news. Then i think you are talking several years to begin to have a come back. Im just going to be frank about this. A small group of people in congress have been ignoring these warnings. They have in my judgment been recklessly hurting our economy and putting it at risk of a relapse which would be a disaster. Last week they wanted to repeal the Affordable Care act. This week they dont know what they want but instead of coming to their senses they are taking in that not only affixes further pain on her businesses and families. That is one of the problems around here. As they dig in other state in on both sides and you are just sort of even though i would predict that there are some breakthroughs that will be reached either wear reached or will be reached in the next couple of days the feelings have not declined and therefore the implications for the future are not necessarily good. Some people seem to think that manufacturing budget crises is good politics and theyll be frank about that. I think a day have been learning over the past two weeks and is not good politics and i hope they are also realizing its really bad public policy. If you dont trust my opinion that this shutdown is hurting our economy that may read a letter from the from the u. S. Chamber of commerce and the Business Roundtable which usually rights to different kinds of letters. And 250 other business groups sent to the congress on september 30. They said its not the best interest of the American Employees or employers who risk a Government Shutdown would economically be disruptive and create more and certainties for the u. S. Economy. Not an enormously interesting statement that the fact that they both rode it and send it and are now sort of putting pressure, more and more pressure on all parties they think is very important. The damage and disruption caused by this Government Shutdown are very real. What i regret in this hearing is that we will be talking about things which come under our jurisdiction and we wont be discussing things like head start in the wind program and food stamps and everything of that sort so by not discussing all we are recognizing as we only have jurisdiction over certain things that within a certain that within a certain thing is theyre human tragedies that are happening. It is hurting our families under our jurisdiction. Our businesses are government and our standing in the world. We often talk about the economy in abstract terms but what we are really talking about is millions of skilled productive americans in both the public and private sectors whose hard work and dedication made our country strong and all those who serve on the Commerce Committee understand economics assesses based on a successful Publicprivate Partnership and in this case the private sector will do anything to help. Its the Public Sector which is being cantankerous and not particularly helpful. Let me give you a few examples. U. S. Aviation Manufacturing Sector enjoys a worldwide reputation for quality and safety. How do we know the aircraft are safe and reliable . Because the federal Aviation Administration and specs that. Have you ever seen the faa inspector and airplane . I have. Its terrifying. Nothing is safe and that is why we have a really safe record. And they certify that they meet high Safety Standards and if they dont they cant take off. Our highways and railroad and pipelines networks. They are among the safest in the world. Its hard to say when you see all the tracking and Natural Gas Drilling that fires the tomato pipelines that no one knew where their we are still pretty good at that but because experts in the department of Transportation Safety board constantly monitor them and they study how to make them safer and when they are doing that they often have to make new maps because they have uncovered new pipelines which they didnt know where they are simply because pipelines have never really been inspected and that is why you have to have regulation over the things which can have a disastrous effects. Why has the United States led the world for decades in the nations . Because scientists and technical experts like nasa nsf, d. O. T. And other federal agencies have performed the basic research and engineering that private aerospace and Technology Companies need for commercial purposes. How do we keep dangerous imported products off of store shelves and out of the hands of children . Consumer Product Safety Commission officials monitor our ports and stop dangerous products from entering our stream of commerce. The good captain sitting before his chief hicks is going to explain how novel helps the commercial fishery industry harvest our Marine Resources in a Sustainable Way and perhaps he will explain to us how we rely on something called the coast guard which is part of our work here. To prevent foreign vessels from fishing in our United States waters which i suspect is now taking place progressively. For two weeks House Republicans have blocked these Government Agencies from doing their jobs. They have told most of our Safety Experts scientists and engineers and before i conclude and i apologize for the length of this. You know if you dont have appropriations some of the worlds most talented professionals are prohibited by law from continuing to help our country. One of the people sitting home this week on furlough without a salary as an employee named named dr. David weinman who i had never heard of but the nobel prize people have and they gave him a nobel prize in 2012 for his work on atomic physics while he is just sitting at home here if you cant go his lab. The lab closed. A small handful of members of congress engineer the Government Shutdown dont seem to value dr. Weinmans work as much as the rest of the scientists in this world do. I regret that i have to call this hearing today and i dont want it to be partisan but i have to say what was on my mind, okay . The shutdown is doing enormous harm to our country and was totally avoidable. Its like black lung. Do you know what black lung is . You probably dont have a lot of fat. You mine coal and you breathe dust and when you do autopsies are the most part they are going to have black lung and they died because they cant breathe. This is an in our jurisdiction but the federal inspectors to inspect these minds who find expensive to keep safe and ventilated and sprayed with water. There are no federal inspectors around so nobody has to worry and that scares me in places like West Virginia that do have coal and other states what is going to happen. All we needed was a house of representatives willing to accept reality and the clean cr bill the senate has sent them. Now i am just going to end and i apologize to all of my colleagues. I just want to read this thing. It says very short and its terrifying. Consumer Product Safety Commission 518 of 540 total employees furloughed. Not there. Department of commerce, 40,000 of 46,000 total employees not there. The department of transportation 18,000 from 55,000 not there. The federal Communications Commission 1700 of 1754 not there. The Federal Maritime Commission 120 of 120 total employees all not there. The federal trade commission 925 of the 1100 not there. Nasa 17,000 of 18,000 not there. 97 the distinguished senator tells me. The National Science foundation which i cherish 1970 of 2000 not there. That concludes my statement and who should i call on . Are we in order of arrival . Go to the witnesses . Say mr. Chairman you spoke so eloquently. This is unprecedented behavior. [laughter] let me do that then. We are going to start with the honorable deborah ap hersman. I didnt know the ap was there but i do now. Chairman of the National Safety board and the honorable Marion Blakey president and chief executive officer of Aerospace Industries Association Former head of the federal Aviation Administration. Dr. Alan leshner the chief executive officer of the American Association for the advancement of science and executive publisher of science magazine. Captain Keith Colburn alaskan fish and owner and operator fp am i right . And legislative director and senior counsel Consumer Federation of america. Deborah hersman maybe start with you please . The good afternoon chairman rockefeller and members of the committee. I appear before you today to discuss the effect of the federal Government Shutdown on the mission of the national Transportation Safety board. On october 1, 2013 the ntsb delivered furlough notices to 383 of our 405 employees. Our contingency plan for operations following a lab semipro creations provides that all activities of of the ntsb be shut down except for those necessary to prevent eminent threats to the safety of human life or protection of property. Consistent with antideficiency act requirements and omb guidance. Here is what we are not doing. In the 10 10 days that have passed since the shutdown. 14 accidents have occurred in which we have not dispatched investigators including an fatal bus crash that occurred in tennessee for fatal accidents that occurred in errors and a worker fatalities that occur just blocks from here on washingtons metro system. In addition to the activities that we are not initiating the shutdown has resulted in the suspension of work on over 1000 investigations in all modes of transportation. These delays slow our determination of comparable cause in the issuance of safety recommendations. It essentially, to laying safety to the American Public resulting in lost lives and injuries. As examples this week we announced the postponement of two investigative hearings. The first a rail hearing involving two accidents on Metro North Railroad and the second an aviation hearing involving asean at 214 that crashed on approach to San Francisco airport. Both of those hearings have been postponed due to the shutdown. As one of the preeminent Safety Investigation agencies in the world we routinely fill requests from our domestic and International College to provide Technical Expertise in their investigation such as reading flight recorders. In the last 10 days we have declined to International Requests for assistance and one requests request from the state department for support. The ntsb has also received dozens of notifications from our counterparts around the globe about accidents involving u. S. Manufactured aircraft. While we are shutdown the ntsb is not able to fully represent u. S. Interests in aviation around the world. Here is what the ntsb is doing during the Government Shutdown. In the last two days we have identified five accident investigations that met the legal requirements for accepting employees from furlough. We have also issued two sets of urgent safety recommendations identifying eminent threats to life or property. In the event of a major transportation accident that means the legal criteria for bringing employees back from furlough. We will launch a limited investigative team. Our furloughed employees are prepared to resume their roles as transportation and safety investigators to collect perishable evidence and issue urgent safety recommendations only. However you should know that the investigations would do just that, very limited. We would not provide the other important functions that the public has become accustomed to that do not meet that eminent threat to life or property thresholds such as providing support to accident survivors and victims families after a crash or providing updates to the public on the progress of our investigations. The ntsb provides a Vital Service to the traveling public as the independent voice in conducting detailed accident investigations. I urge you to reopen the government so that the ntsb can fully resume or Safety Mission. Thank you. Steve thank you very much chairman and now the honorable Marion Blakey president and chief executive officer of Aerospace Industries association. See thank you chairman rockefeller and thank you members of the committee for holding this hearing today. It is a very important topic and we are very appreciative of your attention on this. Unfortunately the shutdown is negatively impacting many Civil Aerospace programs both technological and economic progress. The longer this goes on the worse it becomes. While not much attention has been paid so far to the private sector workforce that supports or Government Agencies they too are suffering shutdown consequences especially those Smaller Companies that are a vital link in the aerospace and defense. With limited cash flow they are at risk of shuttering their operations in the event of an extended shutdown and unlike the department of defense and the domestic agencies have furloughed most of their financial and accounting staff there for leaving companies that are told they need to perform essential support for government work without pay. In the civil space arena nasa is operating just as the chairman said with a Skeleton Crew less than 3 of its 18,000 workers. While Industries Work on highvisibility Space Programs generally so far it has been unaffected due to smart prior planning on the part of nasa. These programs are on borrowed time. If the shutdown drags on major problems will develop and additionally industries and commercial programs are being affected. With a few exceptions nasas unique facilities are shattered unavailable for Industry Access to working their own government or commercial Space Programs. Support contractors working in National Locations simply are unable to do their jobs. To compensate Larger Companies are encouraging their workers to take unplanned vacations to try to find other assignments. For smaller firms are facing very difficult decisions because they have no insurance and they will be paid for work done during the shutdown and of course the Ripple Effects are being felt throughout those communities. At the faa office of commercial space transportation reduced staffing is leading to delays in the approval of licenses. This is burdening companies that are already risking their own capital to restore americas leadership and help nasa to come independent of russia for crew launch. There is also the potential impact of nasas weather satellites for noaa. The satellite system gpss disc scheduled to launch no earlier than 18 months after the end of design life for the satellite that is functioning. The gpss schedule could worsen the shutdown extends much longer. Turning to civil aviation. At the faa nearly 15,000 employees about one third of the workforce are furlough. While air Traffic Controllers are still working they are doing their job without normal support functions and they are not able to train or qualified comptrollers. A larger impact is being seen in faas safety and certificacertifica tion programs. Allow requires that faa certified all aircraft equipment trainings simulators before they go into service. Although some certification inspectors are being recalled to work more than 90 were furloughed when the shutdown began last week. This is delaying the delivery of new products to customers and worsening a backlog that was already affected by the sequester last spring. Also faas Aircraft Registry Office in Oklahoma City is Oklahoma City is closed halting delivery of new aircraft to their rightful owners and incredibly the faa has suspended the developing operational testf nextgen technologies designed of course to make our transportation safer environment with better and efficient. As difficult as the shutdown is we should not lose sight of sequestrations longterm harm. Federal agencies have dealt with fiscal year 13 sequester by freezing hiring eliminating training and cutting operational travel. These priorities cant be sustained indefinitely. As agencies are forced to choose between todays operating budget and tomorrows Capital Investments there is no doubt investments will suffer. In working to develop a final fiscal year 14 budget we urge the sequesters replacement be found with more reasonable budget cuts. In conclusion its important to stress that the shutdown has only lasted 11 days and while i have discussed a tangible harm to our industry a much lengthier shutdown could lead to cascading devastating consequences. I believe congress and the Administration Must end the shutdown began work on a bipartisan grand bargain. Lets ensure our government will not only continue to operate but the federal programs which enhance our nations economy and our security interests receive the funding they need. Thank you very much. Steve thank you very much Marion Blakey. Dr. Alan leshner chief executor officer of executive publisher of science. When the issue comes out you have read it all. Every word. The i. That is good. Thank you mr. Chairman and members of the committee. I am pleased to have this opportunity to testify before you about the impacts of the Government Shutdown on the scientific enterprise and i can say that the shutdown has come as a very serious blow to an already beleaguered american scientific enterprise. The shutdown is affecting both government scientists and many of those supported by federal agencies and it will interrupt many longterm studies that depend on continuity over time for their success. Many kinds of data in which the nation depends will be lost or foregone. Our community has already been hit very hard by the sequester which came as an overlay on federal science science budgets that authority declined dramatically just in the past three years. These realities are coming at the same time that other countries, many of our competitor countries, are dramatically increasing their research and Development Investments despite similar economic conditions. Accumulative effect of these trends now exacerbated by the shutdown are threatening americas very standing in the global Scientific Community. Losing our our eminence and science would be a drastic consequence. It likely would result in fewer foreign scientists coming to study and work in the United States, fewer usbased science and Technology Breakthroughs and fewer u. S. Startup companies and jobs. About the shutdown unfortunately the vast majority of federal science staff and programs fall into the socalled nonessential category that are directly affected by the shutdown. I would like to get to just a few examples examples and there were more in my written testimony. The National Institutes of health nih employees that are allowed to continue to provide care for patients in the Clinical Center for new patients are generally not being exempted into trials every day. Moreover at least six new clinical studies have been deferred. The National Science foundation this week nsf announced that it will be forced to cancel the u. S. Antarctic programs entire upcoming field station field season if the shutdown continues past october 14. This could jeopardize the entire research season for hundreds of important projects in astronomy particle physics whether biology and many of these projects are impacting several thousands of researchers who cant collect important data. At nasa scientists have been tracing the shape of a milky way using the very long baseline of rape which is now shut down. They are missing an observation and that means that a years worth of data could go to waste and they will have to start over. Much of no up no ms constitutes what you might think of this Environmental Intelligence requiring Continuous Monitoring interpretation interpretation of the note rate of scientific parameters. Monitoring will be suspended. For example effective Water Management such as in the great lakes is dependent on understanding Water Quality issues. That monitoring will be suspended as a noaa scientists have been furlough. The same is true for drought managers in the department of energy most of the labs which are managed under contract would be shielded for a time that their resources will be shortlived. For example Sandia Laboratory in new mexico plans to shut down on october the 21st. An oak ridge tennessee the wide 12 security complex critical component in the Nations Nuclear defense enterprise has already started partial shutdown. What they call extramural researchers those in our Great Research universities are somewhat shielded from the immediate impacts of the shutdown but the effects will soon reach their labs as grant renewals are disrupted and new grants are delayed to start. We know that Congress Faces many fiscal challenges in the weeks ahead. Let me say the millions of scientists and engineers in academia Small Businesses and Large Industries that we represent colony is to to ensure sustained and robust support for Scientific Research as you do with these challenges. I have to say that continuing to decrease the nations investment in research will only exacerbate our fiscal problems slowing down the engine of discovery drives innovation and economic growth. We urge you to help provide a powerful legacy of scientific discovery and innovation for future generations. Thank you very much sir. Captain Keith Colburn alaskan fishermen and owner and operator of the f wizard. You have much to tell us her. Thank you chairman rockefeller Ranking Member thune and members of the committee. I appreciate your invitation to appear here today. Mr. Chairman thank you for caring on the late senator in a way. I would also like to thank the senators Begich Murkowski Murray and cap well from the alaskan washington congressional delegations for their strong support for alaska fishermen. My name is Keith Colburn Keith Colburn and i am an alaska trapper. Some of you may recognize me as the captain of the fishing vessel wizard on the discovery channels i would rather be awaiting the opening of my fishery. This is the first time in 28 years that i have not been a bering sea in the month of october. I am here today on behalf of fishermen. I am here to talk specifically about the impacts to my fishery and i want the committee to understand that the shutdown is causing impacts to fisheries nationwide. Lack of personnel to perform routine Administrative Functions such as managing quota allocations will result in in the loss of millions in revenue to that sector of industry. The federal Observer Program will also be impacted the longer the shutdown continues. Across the country vessels that are required to carry federal observers will be forced to stay tied to the docks. Many fishermen in coastal communities are already facing tough times. This unnecessary shutdown may be the Tipping Point if the situation isnt resolved soon. The alaska king crab fishery is the model of Sustainable Management practices as manager under a strict quota system where quota system or each fisherman is allocated a percentage of the total catch. The alaskan king crab stock is healthy and scientificallybased concerted management approach overfishing does not occur. The fishery results the fishery results in hundreds of millions in Economic Activity and provides thousands of jobs for fishermen and processors and supportive businesses such as wellversed mechanic shippers distributors and retailers. I want to be very clear. Bering sea crab Fishermen Fund the cost to the Cost Recovery program. We are taxed on our their landings to cover management costs. Noaa has money left over that could be used to pay for the personnel we need to issue our permits. Despite this fact noaa has furloughed employees that are necessary to start the fishery on the october 15 season opener. We asked the secretary of commerce to find the authority and direct noaa place to do the task that we have already paid for and issue our crab quotas. A delay in opening up the fishery will have significant impacts on our fishermen and Alaska Coastal communities. Collectively the fleet has invested millions of dollars outofpocket gearing up for the season. Stay tied to the docks will cost these boats thousands more appeal of the shortterm impacts are relatively easy to measure the longerterm market impacts are the scary part. For the majority of our crab we rely on the Holiday Market both in the u. S. And japan. If the crab is an the crab isnt caught processed and shipped out of alaska by the last second week of november we stand to lose access to the market. We cant afford to to lose anymore days from the Government Shutdown if if we want to meet a deadline. It will decrease the revenue we earn by 20 to 25 . In a case of japanese market we stand to lose market share. If the japanese buyers dont have the product on hand for the new years holiday painful source crab from russia. The russian king crab fishery is unsustainable unsustainably manages subject to significant amount of pirate fishing. The pirate fishing has cost the crab lead an estimated 5 million such such a cousin. The shutdown continues that amount will only increase. We have been racking up bills. If we are tied to the docks waiting for the government we cant pay those bills. On behalf of all fishermen im asking congress to end the shutdown now. Im a small businessman and a big with big bills and i need to go fishing. Thank you and i would be happy to answer any questions. Thank you captain. And now deborah weintraub. Weintraub. Speaker after named chairman rockefeller and members of the committee p. M. Legislative director at the Consumer Federation of america. I offer this testimony on behalf of cfa as well as Consumers Union and consumer action the National Consumers league the National Consumer sector on behalf of their lowincome clients Public Citizen and the National Association of consumer advocates and u. S. Effort. We all expect that the air food and products we use every day are going to be safe. We dont expect to be ripped off by a bank or a telemarketer. We expect that we can find information on government web sites and the Government Agencies will investigate concerns and enforce existing law. Part of our security as consumers can be directly linked to the work conducted by the employees of many different Government Agencies. During the Government Shutdown however many of the Consumer Protections we depend upon have been significantly curtailed. Things could get worse if the shutdown continues much longer. In this testimony im including what i hope to be the most current Information Available but the situation is fluid and changes rapidly. I will highlight the impact of the shutdown on a few key agencies. First the federal Aviation Administration has furloughed 15,514 of its 46,070 employees. Many support the air Traffic Controllers have been furloughed in virtually the entire Safety Inspection force has been sent home. This is virtually unprecedented. Even during the 199096 shut down most safety inspectors remained on the job. Earlier this week the faa announced plans to bring back 80,000 thousand thousand specters oversight staff and others but that still is only about 15 of the faas furloughed safety personnel. Agnes of which is possible for the safety of millions of people on our roads and highways 333 workers out of a total of 597 have been furloughed. This is not able to alert consumers about safety recalls work on rome a kenyan conduct Investigations Research and tes. Any auto safety defect that emerges during the shutdown will not be investigated properly leaving consumers and their highways at risk. The impact of the shutdown on the consumer Product Safety Commission is significant. For of the cpsc total workforce remains on the job. Thats 23 employees have a 540 fulltime employees. None of the employees currently working our field investigators or port inspectorinspector s leaving our ports vulnerable especially problematic during this preholiday season. The cpsc like other agencies is conducting only business that protects against him at threats to human safety and protects government property. Rulemakings recalls an civil penalty negotiations are suspended unless they rise to that threat. Safer products that safer products that do the consumer incident database is receiving reports that will not be publishing them. Last monday a 2yearold girl in San Diego California was killed when a television tipped over crushing her to death. Last week a 1yearold boy from an pinter dale minnesotas fall apart if a laundry pot and has been hospitalized due to his injuries. Because of the shutdown they are unable to investigate the incidents and unable to educate consumers about how to prevent similar tragedies. Food safety is in jeopardy as well. The fta will not conduct routine food Safety Inspections. Some compliance and enforcement activities will not be monitored. The cdc is at significantly reduced capacity to identify and respond to food borne illness and is unable to support state and local partners in disease surveillance which has hampered cdcs capacity to attract the recent salmonella outbreak that a second closer than you people. While most most most inspectors of meat and poultry continue to work the agency has said a lengthy hiatus would have serious adverse effects. Agencies that seek to ensure fairness in the marketplace are also being compromised. Less than 20 of ftcs employees are exempt from furloughs. No rulemaking will proceed in staffers overseeing that do do not call registry to Consumer Response Center and databases are furloughed. The ftc web site is not functional. A consumer who is the victim of Identity Theft cannot access information about what they need to further protect themselves. Less than 2 of the fcc staff is working. The cftc oversee the commodity market and the bulk of her of his market the vast majority majority of his 700th home place or for leaving the cftc with you people to look for fraud immigration. The shutdown is jeopardizing numerous Consumer Protections and placing consumers have potential risk. Thank you. Thank you very much. One of the things that you make me think of is that uber using specific examples and i think the rest of us have been talking more about the general the overlay of the situation and of course always comes down to the individual science experiments that cant happen. One of the things our committee and before i call on senator whitaker that our committee has done this to compile you all had this in front of you. Its a Committee Report on the Government Shutdown and its 29 pages long. It could be 2900 pages long but it is a closer account or a human account of what is not happening. I ask unanimous consent that this report be made a part of the record. Mr. Chairman . This is a report by majority staff of the committee is that correct . I just havent seen it so now i have no objection. I now call on senator wicker who doesnt look like senator thune that is senator thune for an Opening Statement and well go to questions. Let me say on behalf of senator thune that because of the unprecedented blizzard in south dakota, he needed to get back to his state and when he heard about this hearing he tried to make travel arrangements to get back but has been unable to do so. I am sure he would like to have been here. We wish him a speedy return and which the people of south dakota the best during this disaster. Also as most members now and most of the public is aware republican members of the senate have been leading the white house with president obama and Vice President biden for the last two hours or more. The meeting lasted longer than people expected and i guess thats a good thing because we were talking about this very subject. That is the reason that as Ranking Member for this hearing i am late and i apologize for that but thank you chuck chairman rockefeller for your courtesy which you have always shown to me and members of the side. No one is happy about the current shutdown. Senator bricker i also pointed out with respect to senator thune that 50 of all of the cattle in south dakota are dead and buried or they are under snow and that is a catastrophe combat and economic catastrophe. They dont produce oil. They do cattle agriculture so it even his trying to get back here is a wonderful thing and im proud that you are taking this position. Thank you for saying that and it is a tragedy and a catastrophe to be sure. As i said no one is happy about the current shutdown nor about any of the shutdowns that have occurred over time. During the Clinton Administration shutdowns cost 1. 4 billion and furloughed hundreds of thousands of americans and sharply slowed economic growth. The shutdown is likely to be no different and i think we all hope it ends very soon. The new economic report shows that even a twoweek shutdown would reduce Gross Domestic Product in the Fourth Quarter by 4. 3 . The disagreement arises not overbreadth of the government should be reopened at how we address our countries skyrocketing debt. Achieving reform in a divided government is often difficult requiring tough decisions and requiring leadership of both political parties. The example set by president reagan and House Speaker tip oneill three decades ago is still relevant today. Despite vast political differences the two leaders found Common Ground by putting the passengers of the Country First while still adhering to their longheld principles. In order to end the shutdown both sides must Work Together. Both sides can agree there policies and laws in place today that we would like to see changed. Its my hope that if both sides give a little both sides will be able to walk away from the negotiating table with something of which they can be proud of and we can all and we cannot deprive the first mr. Chairman both sides must be willing to sit down at the table and negotiate. Based on these reports and encouraging signs perhaps we are indeed getting closer to a negotiating process. Regrettably this is a catastrophe of our own creation and the status quo needs to change. For too long we have governed crisis to crisis. Over the last several years the senate has failed to consider appropriation bills under the regular order. Instead relying on multiple continuing resolutions or on the spending bills to keep the government running. A continuing resolution should be a measure of last resort not taken up lightly for the sake of political expediency. It is not a substitute for a comprehensive and open budget process that could achieve longterm deficit reduction and spur economic growth. According to a recent article in forbes in spite of the Government Shutdown 87 of government expenditures are still occurring. In other words after payments for entitlements interest on the National Debt end quote essential personnel and services, only 13 of government expenditures remain subject to this partial Government Shutdown. No matter how much we cut Discretionary Spending it will not be enough to bring a budget deficit or National Debt under control. We must address the main driver of our current financial crisis namely mandatory entitlement spending. Members of this committee will no doubt agree with todays witnesses that this partial Government Shutdown is having a negative impact. Beyond that perhaps we can draw on the experiences of our witnesses and in balancing the budgets of their respective organizations. Lessons we we can heed in getting america on a sustainable fiscal path. Thank you mr. Chair. Thank you senator wicker. Debbie hersman we had a pipeline explosion in West Virginia and i remember you in a phalanx of people with you coming down and spending a number of days to try to figure out the layers and pipelines and things which should have been pipeline 50 years ago that the exploding was absolutely devastating. And your absorbed by it. He spent a lot of time on it. He flew down and im not trying to praise you, im just trying to say what you have to do in order to surmise what the crisis is and how it can be handled. You mentioned tennessee and minnesota but can you give us some things that ive come across your desk that just flat out frustrate you because there is nothing you can do about it and if you had so few people left actually on the job they may not even be the people you need when you go to a pipeline explosion or some other kind of explosion. They may keep the Office Running or something. Could you just talk to us about that crack. I think there is certainly the nearterm issues of the accidents that we are not thinking of but there is also the longerterm issues of all of the accidents. Your pipeline accident is one of those. Those. Nor working very hard to get that completed before the oneyear anniversary as many other members have accidents that we are working hard to get completed. It is choreographed to slide in all of this work and investigators are handling multiple investigations at the same time. They work very hard to get that work done to improve the safety of the traveling public. For the years that we have been around the ntsb has improved the safety of the traveling public but as far as risks are concerned if we dont go we dont know. We dont know what some of those risks are that are not being uncovered if we dont launch those accidents and i will tell you one of the most frustrating things for me is i have a workforce that wants to get back to work. They work at the ntsb because they believe that they do makes a difference and improved Transportation Safety and they are calling wanted to know if they can go. As a leader that is one of the most difficult things to say to your employees who are committed to the jobs that they do to tell them that they cant do their job and that doesnt make any sense. I thank you. I want to go for one question to mr. Leshner. I have got to find you mr. Leshner. I want wont for the moment. Rachel could i go to you again because you were just clearly focused and vcl for bottom feeding and other people dont. You see all of the human tragedy we have spent a lot of time trying to protect children all the way from what they see on television, their privacy and all kinds of things. So children just take children and the consumer Product Safety Commission, toys and things of that sort and bring them alive for the committee. What is not going to happen that is good or what is going to happen that is bad because of the shutdown. Some of the things beyond this committees jurisdiction are having hugely detrimental impacts especiallespeciall y for low income children but in terms of the Product Safety Commission there are 23 people working at the commission and there is so much work that gets done every day that they cant do. Do. There are no inspectors at the ports especially at this time which is before the holiday season. It is so important to have cpsc inspectors who now have renewed authority and resources as a result of the work that this committee to be at the port to whether the products cause hazards whether they contain excessive levels of lead whether they pose a strangulation risk. Those inspectors are unable to be on their jobs to do that work. In terms of recalls only recalls that meet the high bar of an eminent threat to the public or to protect the property of the government are being conducted. We dont know what information we are not finding out. On the safety products. Gov web site consumers are able to report information but its not being updated so there may be incidents that even the cpsc doesnt know about and the public will not find out about those things that could affect the safety of their children because the information is not being updated. I thank you. In order of appearance we now go to senator wicker if you want to ask a question and senator Warner Nelson shot smack begich and cap well. Steve thank you mr. Chairman. I think the testimony has been very compelling concerning the negative aspects of this Government Shutdown. But may say captain colburn this is your livelihood. A family run business. This is the way you put groceries on the table and feed your families. You are calling in your testimony you are asking the secretary of commerce to direct noaa employees to fulfill the task that you have already paid to do. You paid this with management you pay these management costs through the Cost Recovery programs. Is that correct . B. That is correct. How much do you pay . Its a small percentage of our catch but i know over the last seven years i think its running into millions of dollars. It may interest the committee to note that there are three house members there are three members of congress to from the house and went from the senate that agree with your position that the secretary has the authority to direct noaa to resume these activities. By holding my hand a letter signed by senator Lisa Murkowski also by congressman don young and chairman doc hastings of the state of washington. He is chairman of the committee on natural resources. This is a letter that im going to ask to be included in the record at this point mr. Chairman to secretary brisker taking the exact same position that you have taken that she has the authority under existing law to resound these activities to get you back to work. I would simply say that i agree with you and with your written and oral testimony that the secretary has the authority to do this and should do it. Now let me then move on to ms. Blakey. This is really a comment to all of you and i alluded to this in my Opening Statement. It seems that we have the new normal in a way that we do our budget. We havent had a budget for four cycles now. The appropriation committees house and senate have different numbers to work with soapy dont get our appropriation bills done. From our standpoint those on my side of the aisle feel that we dont get amendments and therefore it takes so much longer to reach unanimous consent agreements to bring these appropriation bills to the floor so we dont appropriate money and particular order. When i was first here is a member of the house of representatives the Senate Passed their appropriation bill in the house passed their appropriation bill. Both the faa and ntsb are the two examples im thinking. It was vital to come to terms with proposing a budget, understanding the view of both house and senate, then you came together on a tbhawjt had both predictability and clear guidance. We understood the priority that made sense from the substantiate standpoint of congressional concern and able to act on it. That is a very important thing. It gives clarity in government. I think it gives a clear understanding what the taxpayers view as being the priorities. And that was the way we used to do business. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator warner. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I agree we need to do with our fiscal issues on both sides. I would simply remind our colleagues that the Senate Passed a budget in the spring that has 21 times to go to conference. 21 times to go to conference to have a budget in place. And i have to tell you, i really respect your testimony and your restraint. I dont think you are i feel and a lot of folks around the country feel. I got called by a Major Company in virginia. A gentleman who build over 25 years. 55 employees. 30 of the employees have been laid off as nonessential. 70 essential still arent getting paid the processers of the checks arent in place. Theyll go bankrupt if they dont get their payments. I would ask issue for the record as well the idiot sincerity not majority, not minority. Just short term Interest Rates if the last few day. What its doing to every business because of the irresponsible actions that are taking place. I would say one of the country of the incredible irony of this. I know, the house passed and senate whatever final agreement will pass. That federal workers will get compensateed if we continue this arent going compensate it. Your companies arent going get company sated. This company isnt going to get fully compensated. The motel owner isnt going get compensated. The remarkable thing is, the business frustration of somebody a business guy longer than this job were going cost the taxpayers more money pay the federal employees but the start and stopping of complete lack of business sense its stun. We have seen good signs repeatedly that some may be willing to say may be america shouldnt default next week. Its greeted as progress. What i dont understand is were going enter to the negotiations i think are appropriate, absolutely. Why in the heck would any rash tell me person say coburn or companies why we should keep the government shut down while we negotiate. Anyone that suggests that lets oneoff as we read about a tragedy in the prez whether t around the parks or around our vets or around death benefits, say we have to read about tragedy beforelet reopen that part. We have to wait for some child to die because of a drug wasnt inspected to reopen the fda . Or because somebody got bad food to reopen the usda or god for bid read about the tragedy in tennessee. Something else will happen. That is a responsible way to operate an enterprise like the United States government. I mean, it is beyond the peal of comp hen that anyone would say keep the government shut down because it might give us more leverage. Operate an oneoff basis because we see a tragedy and say that part ought to be reopened. Tell us what part of the government you want to keep shut. Lay out the item. That ought to be what the American People know what is nonessential. Maybe they should be permanently defunded. Dont do it on a oneoff basis. These are the short term implications. Im not going get to a question but, you know, weve heard the term intel inside. I think with a we are doing right now is creating a cancer inside of our enterprise. What happened in the nsf what young scientist would join or want to apply to go the field if you dont have any predictability . If the rest of the world is not waiting on america to get the act together. They havent stopped their research or innovation while we do this. I would say, you know, were going to have to do more with less. Ive been a business guy longer than ive been in this business. But theres a business guy who lead large enterprises. You dont degrade your work force and drive down the morale when the future mean you have to do more with less resource. Thats bad business. I know, this is outside of the per view of the congress. This is Congress Committee enterprise. Its business enterprise. Thats bad business for our country. I would only ask lets oneoff. Keep the government shut down while we negotiated a nauseam. Come tell them to captain coburn and marion blakelys company. Tell them to the 5500 business that will potentially be bankrupt in two weeks. Let remember the shut down is not about deficits now. This shut down it was about fund obamacare. Lets remember how this thing started, and we have seen in living technicolor here today examples all the way from Transportation Safety to consumer safety and go down the liberalized. The captain is losing catch but foreign predators taking the catch as is the case of the loss of catches along the coast of the entire United States. Look at the science projects that are not getting done. I agree with everything that you have said. But when i have talked to your ceos and asked them have they talked to the mens of members of congress who are causing the shut down . They havent. Maria cant Wells Company cant deliver bowings because of the shut down. You represent a most imminent trade trade Association Air yo space and defense. Have you gone and sat down to the members who are voting for the shut down and explain what is happening in their districts . The short answer is yes. I also point out not just myself as a trade association executive, but weve had Small Businesses up here. Weve, in fact, had a delegation that spent time with leadership both house and senate and literally talking about the effects of this very, very recently. I cant account for every one of our ceo appointment up here on a daily basis. I can also testify they are spending a great deal of time making certain that people unthere are both commercial effecting with something we havent touched on as much so far in the Committee Discussion today, but theyre competitive issues here. The fact of the matter is that we will very quickly lose credibility, lose standing, lose market share. This is something that is absolutely critical. So yes, we are up here ironing ironing it out. Im looking forward to a 5 00 discussion at the white house today that the white house is called with us to continue to discuss all of this. So its a vital dialogue. I couldnt agree with you more, senator nelson, it has to be with everyone that has a role to play in this. You do not have to convince the white house. Im glad the president has called you. I would assume one of the things that the president will do is try to enliberalized your support to get your executives of these companies. Its true that the companies have as a result of them in this shut down so many of the people that are being hurt the worse are not the big companies, a lot their employees that are furloughed are certainly being hurt. Its the ancillary Small Companies that live more daytoday paycheck to paycheck, pail roll to payroll that are getting hurt. I want to encourage you. I met with two of your ceos last week. They were not ready to step up and go talk to the leadership in the house of representatives that were allowing the shut down to continue. When i said, well, do you think that default is going have some consequence on your company. They said no, no, no, well get activated with regard to the default. Default it in the half a week. Its been a week and a half weve been in shut down. I would implore you all to activate your people. Now where are the people that are so effected at the johnson smais space center in houston. Where are they going the congressional delegation and talking to them . I could go through the nasa centers. Everything that you said i agree with but you need to put a fire under your exec tickses. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator nelson. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank the testifiers and express our gratitude on behalf of the committee for your Public Service. I know, its difficult to run an enterprise and certainly difficult to be in Public Service in any situation. Under the sequester, we know its been terribly difficult. Its beyond the pale in a lot of ways. Its as difficult as it is for folks to be home, its very, very challenging for you to be there and not able to bring your folks back. We want to thank you on behalf of the committee. My first question for doctor. Im concerned, i think it may be one of the things that mark has been talking about over a number of weeks. And actually years. That is remaining competitive with respect to the next generation of scientists. I like to offer insight that the young promising scientists may be having to go true over the next couple of weeks and months with respect to literally what they do for a living and how it may impact our position with respect to science. Well, senator washer made the point very well that we are already in a position where were losing our very imminence in science; therefore, our ability to attract the best and brightest to join americas Scientific Community is getting harder and harder. So as our competitors in europe, china where theyre investing more and more. The foreign sciences who came here to work and study are either staying where they are or going to over places. Theyre seeing the tremendous stress on the american scientific enterprise. Just the statistic to be horrifying, the average age for a first grant at the National Science foundation now is 37. When i got my ph. D. , i was able to get my first grant at 25. That means that you cant start an independent scientific career in the United States for 12 years longer than i was able to do it. And those kind of statistics are a direct result of the difficulties that people are having and getting grants. So if we want to build for the future. If we want to have a scientific enterprise that is the envy of all others in the world, were going have to address these kinds of problems directly. Thank you very much. And i have a question with respect to the Airline Certification function. Hawaii airlines is waiting open the certification to provide service. It was delayed as a result of the sequester. I would like for do you flesh out how the function was disabled under the scwes and what kind of impact its having not just on hawaii but Rural Communities in general. One of the difficulties, of course, that the faa is struggling with. The fact their first responsibility is the operational safety of the existing fleet. And maintaining that for passengers around the country. So there has had to be some tradeoff between new activities, and what is actually possible to do with the cut back on the sequester and now with the shut down. Now the shut down, i mean, youre talking about out of 1200 certification personnel, only 200 are functioning right now. Obviously that doesnt go very far. What was the backlog under sequester do you know what the backlog before we got shut down . I dont. But its significant. I can tell you that. And the i can certainly look in to and be more helpful on the specific on the hawaii example. I can also tell you theres another aspect of this having to do with the licensing and register of aircraft. You cant transfer an aircraft unless you can register it. The registry is shut down now. There was a 36day backlog before it began. That was with everybody pedaling very hard, working hard. Theres no one even opening the mail. Even month 10,000 aircraft have to be rebel steered or reregistered. You can start doing the math and see where it goes. Its a very concerning situation. Thank you very much. Thank you, senator. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for bringing this to meeting. Thank you it to you being here. You probably get the a sen of a little frustration by all of us here. I know, theres both democrats, republicans sitting sit at the table. Youre probably as frustrated as we are. Why are you here . I know for you, you want to be on solid ground and not waivey water. Its unusual for you to be on solid ground in october. I have a question for some folks here. You know, we cannot recreate history here i hear the word over and over again. We need to get on with negotiations. Question that starting in july on the continuing resolution. As a matter of fact, the democrats had a number in the senate and the emergency republicans in the house had a number when all done and sad we agree with the number. A 70 billion cut to this years next budget. We agreed with it. We didnt get anything we agreed with it. I know, sometimes revision is history around the place and amnesia that sets in to some people. When people say we need negotiate. We have they want another one. Fine pick the issue. We need to open the government up. For the reason the captain laid out in his testimony. We had a meeting before he came over here. Its appalling to me. To sit here and have you sitting here because you should be back here fishing, taking care of your family. Youre here stuck in a disfunkal congress for people to say we cearnlt get appropriations bill. Im missing the picture here like you brought up senator warner. The budget pass the senate and the house. Theyre going to be different numbers. Thats the process. Then you go to Conference Committee which we have tried 21 times to get an agreement to go to conference. 21 times. No one on our side has a problem with that. Im happy to take whatever amendments they throw up and deal with this them. For whatever reason we cant do it. Let not have revisionist history in this body anymore. I get it. For you that are here for the captain, my question is very simple. You talked about your impact. Your impact is broader. On two part. I enjoyed your comments too. You and the captain are very similar. If we fail to Produce Market share go to somewhere else. They adopt wait around. They are actually looking at us to fail around the world. Russia is looking they would love to get our business from japan. They would love it. Its worth hundred of millions of dollars over time. Your impact, captain is not just you, but its multifaceted. Is that fair to say . Absolutely, thats fair to say. I would like to start, though, by mentioning mr. Wickers statement earlier put to thank the house and the senate for recognizing that my fishery is feebased. Apparently maybe im making a difference by showing up here today. I would like to thank congressman young, senator mor murkowski for putting a band aid on the fishery. It doesnt are we going get another band aid for allocations . Are we going get another band aid for the inserver program. At some point, youre going to run out of band aids. At some point youre going need a tourniquet. I said in my statement to begin with, im here on behalf of fishermen. Im here for crabbers. Im here for fishermen. Im here for our markets to be soiltd, for our economy to be good, for people to be able to buy my crab. I dont want russian pirated crab to supplement my crab not only in japan but dispeskly. To me its crazy right now. We are putting the russians to work and the american fishermen out of work. So thank you for the question. Very good amaze summary. We are proud of our product. Because the work you did prior to what your doing here. What youre doing now. We have some of the best safety records anywhere. We understand the business. When it comes to alaska theres no other business that we care about other than airline. Its the highway in the sky. It moves us from place to place. What the captain needs material. He gets it its coming from barge or plane. When you mentioned the satellite issue, theres not a you dont just get to throw up satellite at any time. Theres a process. Thats a thing called the orbit. You dont say hey today were going to buy a satellite and throw it in the air. It doesnt work that way. Is that a fair statement . The commercial satellite industry would echo what youre saying. Timing is everything. The uncertainty creates not just a few Million Dollars but hundreds of millions of dollars as we found with systems, as you know, in the last go around. They didnt fund and had to figure out how to fund it. It was hundreds of millions of dollars of cost. You cant build them overnight. They take a certain amount of time to launch and meet the right orbit and so forth. Ill include some stuff for the record, but the last thing, you know, its very frustrating because it it seems to the American People to alaska, this is not complicated to sit down and get on with the business. I think you would say that privately or as weve all said. We wish you were more outraged. I know, you are. You are doing very well here. I appreciate that. But it seem like that would be a simple thing for us to do. Are we going to have differences . Sure. Absolutely. At the end of the day we need to solve the problem. I can you said, captain, theres only so many band aids in the box. At some point we have to put a tourniquet on. It may not be able to survive after that. Your comment is actually very clear hope think to have more people here. I thank you for being here. Its frustrating having this meeting. I thank you for being here. We need your help and your voice and today you are doing that so thank you. Thank you,. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank senator for the segue to the issue of putting satellites in the orbit. We do a lot of work in new mexico for the rest of the country. But even our private sector entitieses often time work hand and glove with the Public Sector and the department of energy and the department of defense. We literally, at space port america, new mexico had a launch canceled. That is a window that we have now missed. If you take a moment and look at what the shut down means for my state, and i know doctor intimately aware of this because of how much science work we do. We have 32,000 federal workers out of 2 million resident. Those are just the federal workers who are strictly federal workers. We thousand more as contractor. We have thousands more at loss alamos as contractors. We have 2,000 sub contractors alone at los al mous. One retailer said in the paper recently any time the last we catch a cold. Thats true in al becare key. That doesnt begin to touch on the fact we have all the air force bases. Dozen of parks and monuments. Five National Forests that are unstaffed in the middle of hunting subpoena. Millions upon millions of Land Management acres that currently cant process energy leases. Also unstaffed in the middle of hunting season. So mr. Chairman, i would ask unanimous consent to include an article i have called new mexico mid shut down; economist warns of another recession. Make the point i think the doctor brought up that our labs are about to shut down. If they shut down, even if the rest of the country doesnt slip to a recession, every day that those labs are closed we get closer to recession in the state of new mexico. It will be included. I was surprised to hear from the colleague that the shut down is about the debt. Certainly, if we cant get the debt ceiling increased, who knows what is going happen to our Interest Rates. I can guarantee the only outcome of that will be we have more debt and higher deficits. Because of that kind of irresponsible behavior. But as our colleague from florida brought up, last week it was about obamacare. It would be easier to negotiate an outcome if we knew what we were negotiating about. I think we have got to realize how much damage we are doing to ourself. I would just i have one question, it will football are the would be for the doctor. I would ask him to step back in time when he was 25 when he first got the grant. And just give us a sense for somebody who is getting their ph. D. For the first time, who spent years investing at the university. Looking at the rest of the professional career. What kind of a message are we sending to scientists and universities across this country today . About whether or not to go to work at the National Radio observatory. Whether or not to go it at the department of energy labs, National Institute of health or nasa . Science is a continuous incremental process that has to go on in a continuous way over time. For a young person to think their career will be stop, start, stop, start will make it extremely difficult to see real accomplishment over time. That little piece of that, what impact will that have on our science over the next coming years . It happens and to ease ways. There is an interaction and a delay. On the other hand, many of those time series studies that have been done are totally dependent upon continuity. So if you have a break, you might as well not have done the earlier part because its only going to tell you the result is the function being a continuous process. So although a stall looks like a hiatus, it is not really a hiatus. Frequently it means, okay, throw away everything you have done before. Because you have done a series of measurements. Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing. Thank you, senator heine. Senator cantwell will be followed by senator blumenthal. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I wish that our colleagues on the other side would be here today. I know that senator wicker was here and he explained about senator thune. These are important impacts that the shutdown is having on the American People. And their angst that i hear on both sides and i realized that it permeates because why . We are getting real stories that back to us by constituents and the constituents are suffering greatly all because we will not open government. And i am almost overwhelmed, mr. Chairman, where to go with my questioning. Because i have so many questions including aviation, the registry issues you talked about, which means that planes can get delivered, people cant get planes, people in the jobs are going to be delayed. The information that i have about the faa in the fact that the radar system needs to be maintained at the radar system standard and if it is not maintained, it has problems and complications. Our own situation with the weather buoys, the weather buoys that we have in the northwest are critical, vital, information for us and i guess they say, we dont have to worry about it because we are shut down, but it is vital information. But instead of the buoys working to get the information last weekend, we had a forecast between the seattle area and vancouver island, and we have no idea what was going to happen. When you are talking about 60 or 70mile per hour winds and weather forecasts, you can see in this picture for those of us are familiar with the pacific northwest, not understanding weather the storm is going to hit in seattle and what needs to be done for weather the storms will hit in british columbia. That is where we were last week and we did not have the information. Because they were not people on the job. And so i look at this situation and i know that my colleague from mississippi thinks, well, you can just read a few letters and you can say that, you know, do you can call in an agency in the article about getting these fisheries open and people have made decisions based upon the law. The interpretation of the law. We can all disagree with that, the logic that the lawyers have advised and the bottom line is that is what they have said and they shutdown happens. That history, and in your case the crab fishery, is closed. I just happened to notice that you have been here and i sat there so many people on my office team to that love you and love that show. They do not work for me, though. [applause] that is my point, actually. [laughter] yet that is exactly my point. When i was listening to my colleague from mississippi tell me that it was all about an amendment, i started thinking about that picture. This picture of your vessel, tossing around in the ocean. If you can see this closeup, you can see the ice all over the vessel and you can see the difficulty that this vessel has two operate under and you have to come back here just to go and do this job and hear somebody talk about how they didnt get an amendment and that is why the Government Shutdown. It is unbelievable to me that we are sitting here in the u. S. To come and do this instead of being able to do this job that is already dangerous and treacherous to begin with. And i have to show up in washington dc, which i think speaks about who you are as a person because you are for doing the dangerous task and youre coming back here and telling us to get our act together. And i just want to ask you about this issue because i think some people again under false impressions that it wont matter and that at some point in time you can just go catch these fish. Like it wont matter and that if there is piracy between now and the fisheries open, but somehow they will be caught. When you mention this in your testimony, this 500 million being lost since the year 2000, we are talking about an operating postcard and people who were helping you. And now with the difficulty of the shutdown, this impact of piracy and that we are going to rule into business is really going to hurt the fishery if it is not fixed in the next 48 hours, 72 hours at best. Is that not correct . Even if they do have the creative effects because it is a feebased program, getting back on track here. We will still be delayed by at least three or four days on our normal started and that is already a given. That is the weapon. We dont know for sure that youll be able to do that. But i will be honest, i would much rather be up in alaska right now. And everyone knows and they have probably seen that what i do is really dangerous job and at times can be kind of scary. I will be honest im a lot more nervous and scared sitting in this room. [laughter] talking in front of you on this microphone then when i am out there on 30foot seas. But its even more terrifying when i start hearing about weather systems and forecasting and systems during shutdown. A lot of things that impact is on the ocean will impact people lanbased as well. The senator from north dakota, i mean, what were to the blizzard go after that . So ultimately i am concerned about the possibility that is very real that we will lose our market share to russian crab. Our crab is protected at least right now, if the coast guard starts losing more funding, there is going to be nobody other to patrol this. 35 , they have a very complex set of missions. If there are any organizations and federal government have been asked to do many things with minimal resources, it is the coast guard. Now they are being diminishment of 35 . I think it will be challenging for them if we dont get this government open to continue to focus on the piracy. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you senator cantwell. Thank you senator blumenthal. And of course senator thune as well and senator klobuchar. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I would like to join in thanking the chairman for having this hearing, as well as the staff of the committee for doing such a great job in putting together his hearing on short notice on the problem that i think is obviously vital for us to address. You know, i was listening to one of the shows today. Listening to one of the shows as i was buying cup of coffee and i caught it out of the corner of my error. I heard about one of the poles that shows that the American People actually have risen in their opinion, favorable opinion of what the government does, not necessarily of the congress, which i think understandably has diminished in popularity. But a greater appreciation for the United States government does and what people who work in the government do, which is understandable because they are seeing the effects of not having those folks working for them and doing their jobs and all of the stuff that they take for granted, and of course we take for granted that when people go into a fast food restaurant, there will be some oversight investigation of diseases, foodborne diseases they might find there, those foodborne diseases dont go on furlough. They take for granted that someone will investigate and prosecute the con artists and victimize them and of course, they dont put any of their employees for themselves on furlough. Were the unsafe toys or devices or the the other kinds of things that might be in their homes, like a chest of drawers. The gentleman mentioned not. The safety issues are not put on hiatus or furlough. And so i think that there is i think there is something very important happened that may be longer lasting and i hope that it is among the American Public. That is a greater appreciation that these enforcement and other kinds of activities and the American Public, taxpayers pay for them. So they should understand and appreciate what is done for them. And i want to appreciate i want to express my appreciation to captain cockburn for traveling 4000 miles and making us aware of one aspect of these effects. But the other point is that i also have heard on this same show one of the folks saying that you know that congress doesnt understand the effects of real people. Of course, we do. We are hearing it now, but we have also been hearing it day after day and hour after hour from our constituents and we are listening to them and it is a small very fractional fringe group that ideologically is in complete contradiction to the appreciation that the American People have. Because they want to shut down the government and that has been part of their agenda. Fortunately, i think that they have been shown to be wrong. But in their opinion the government is worthless and that it does no good and i want to thank each of you for coming here today and expressing to us very pointedly and persuasively the harm and hardship that has been done to the sectors those sectors of the economy are you represent in the segments of people and them, maybe you could elaborate on the specific examples that you have given about those who were injured as a result of the shutdown . Yes, there are many that i can discuss i dont know about them. There were two incidents that i highlighted having to do with product safety and children. The first was the incident of a 2yearold girl in san diego, california, who after she took a bath, she went to get close out of a chest of drawers and her family heard a loud crash and their home. In a tragic accident occurred we have been seeing more and more of spirituous crushed to death . Spinnaker skull was crushed to death by a large television that was on top of the chest of drawers. And the agency that is responsible for overseeing this safety of those kinds of devices or equipment that her children is of the consumer Product Safety Commission, which is known colloquially as the cpsc . Okay, cpsc. It is one of these alphabet soup of agencies that generally is underappreciated or unappreciated by the American Public. And i just want to say thank you for being here and making that point and i know its in your testimony my time has expired. And thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank you all for being here. Thank you, senator blumenthal. Senator thune has been kind enough to say that senator senator klobuchar shouldve asked maki is my neighbor to the west. Thank you so much. Thank you for holding this hearing and i have worked with nearly all of you, except i havent been on the official vote. Thank you for your work. I just had hearing this morning with congressman brady, we cheer the house sides side of the committee and one of the witnesses who is an economic adviser to advisor to senator mccain and his campaign, testified about how already with the shutdown within about. 5 decrease in domestic product growth. And that he predicts that if it goes on for even just a few more weeks, we will be one and a half precent decrease in growth. I think about that and i think people automatically think about the furlough workers and they are not spending money, things like that. But that is really the icing on the cake. What is the guts of it from what i have seen is all of the businesses that are being affected by this and the slowdown. So i guess that i would just, in this week alone, have had emergency calls from aircraft manufacturers, one in northern minnesota very important employer and they are 60 exports. They cant ship their planes and they are always talking about where they have to go through the Registry Department and i think over 80 of the transportation department, over 80 of the employees are laid off. These are routine permits, not complicated ones. And i have not been able to get their permits, companies are not able to get approvals for cosmetics and other things. And i love the analogy because its what ive been thinking about all week. The business isnt static, but other competitors all over the world are ready to come in and take over the market and people have to start thinking if it is beyond the furlough employees, just at a time when we are picking up 5. 1 unemployment because we have been able to pick up the economy. I guess i would start on this issue. These are planes that they make for people in countries all around the world. As blake is a former administrator for the faa and i know that your part of the office allows companies to make final sales and deliveries of aircraft. Secretary fox has been trying to work on us but because of the rules and the loss, as discussed earlier, he is unable to open that office. Can you discuss this rule that displays with them across the country . Absolutely, i can say that i am pleased to have signed a letter yesterday to secretary fox along with another of other heads of aviation authorities about how vital it is to get the registry back open because there is a growing backlog of aircraft that not only is ready for sale and transfer, but at the same time they have timelimited funding and financing is usually in place. Because its so expensive . They do cost a bit. With that in mind, we dont get longterm ones. So then if you timeout on the financing, you are back at the beginning of things and maybe dont have a deal at all. So there is a tremendous amount at stake on us. And it is something that i would also remind you that the congress after 9 11 required that everyone that owns aircraft every three years please reregister. So you have a lot of people who have to continue to fly and register their airplanes and those were about this as well. So it is a very serious problem and one that needs to be addressed. Thank you, and secretary fox has been great about talking about this, i dont think they remember the various bills that have come through. But we do have to do this in total. They are more aware of the work that the national Transportation Safety board does and there is a bridge collapse, in the middle of the river on a summer day, how many ongoing investigations or reports have been curtailed and delayed and i was just thinking if there had been a shutdown. So please we couldve tried to figure out what happens happened so we could prevent it from happening on other bridges. And us closing down some other bridges as well so we can fix them. I cant even imagine the effect of. We complete about 1500 investigations every year, its safe to say that well over 1000 have been halted in their tracks. Theres very little that we can do to keep those moving. And we really have to establish a very high bar to bring our people back to work. We have only been able to do that on five occasions in the last 10 days for five different events. The rest that we have had to let go of and i think that in many cases we have heard about the delays and i think safety delayed is safety denied and we dont find these issues, and therefore we deny them. Putting some questions on the record, some very important consumer issues that you have worked on, this is the 10th anniversary of the do not call registry, opened by the fcc however, the registry is not currently operating and the programs are not running during the shutdown we are to know that there have been some issues and theres a hearing on this the do not call registry and the improvement as they call us all the time. So what is the status of that . It is still functioning. The ftcs website is actually entirely offline. There is a page that you go to because of this website is closed and there is critical information on that website. If you are the victim of Identity Theft and you want to find out what to do and maybe your state Consumer Protection agency sent you to the ftc to find out what you should do in this circumstance, how do you minimize the damage. There is no Information Available there. Many Different Call Centers that the ftc administers and other hotlines that are critical to obtaining information for consumers that can help them, theres a lot of shutdown. All the time over at the white house last few days, we will produce something, but we all know that the senate bill simply opens the government and pass the senate we can move on from there. So i appreciated and i thank you. Thank you, senator klobuchar. Senator and Ranking Member john thune. Thank you all for being with us today. We are i guess we are in the middle of what really is and what should be an unavoidable partial Government Shutdown that nobody wants but nobody seems willing or able to end it. So lets hope that changes quickly and this includes what has happened in the last day or so. My state like every state in the country has felt some of the effects of this and i think that we cannot ignore both the immediate and longerterm impact of having the Government Shutdown. But we also cant ignore the problems of the precipitated current crisis. One of the reasons we are here today is because many times we too often play the short game and not the long game and we end up at 11th hour grasping to find a solution to try to solve a problem and everyone is weighing the political impact of how this is going to benefit and who is going to lose. And we really ought to be doing the work earlier in the year and thinking on a more longterm basis. We did not do appropriation bills this year. We havent been doing the appropriation bills like we normally shed. It seems to me at least that as we think about the fact that we got a 17 trilliondollar debt, we should get up to where we are doing a debt ceiling crisis to talk about that and to figure out what we can be doing. In order to play long game around here and to do things that are really in the countrys longterm interests. We are always doing what crisis crisis to crisis around the net and unfortunately to govern. It is sometimes the nature of the beast and certainly comment full a staffer and has a number and i think we can do much better than if we did follow the order weight is supposed to be done, we would not find ourselves in the situation. I know there has been a lot of my colleagues here today that criticize the target of bills that have been passed by the house of representatives and i know that this is not ideal. Thats not all that different from the process that we follow when the appropriations process is working. Discrete bills are taken up on the floor. When we consider areas that have been discussed. I think it is worth noting that measures passed by the house would fund the food Safety Mission that the fda cited and in them the ladys testimony, and in a doctors testimony and the faa cited this as well as many other areas outside the scope of this hearing. While all of us want the government to reopen come i would hope that we can acknowledge that their are things that the senate can do today. To mitigate some of the impacts of the shutdown as we have already done and that is something that we found consensus around. Even though its not the ideal way to do things, i think its important to point out that there is a cr that is in the house and there is nothing we can do in. Housesit outspend on it for a but they have sent us a numerous bill that funds there is portions of the government. So i guess my question for all of you is are those bills from the house, with a fund the various functions of government. And the things you have mentioned here today with Important Services that the government provides. Not all jump at once into question. [laughter] go ahead, were saying that the bill sent by the house does house does not own the portions of the governments . Depend on them though. Nih . The nih, if i remember correctly, wasnt the entire agency. Is that correct . The fda . I would argue that this approach does not adequately protect seniors and in order for consumers to be protected in terms of the transparency and fairness in the marketplace, the food and safety, the air they breathe some of the products that they use, the cars that they drive, the government used to be fully funded. And we need to be fully funded. Okay, im the same, with the funds not be funded by legislation that has been sent from the house . I believe parts of it would be. I do not think that is true. I think all of it would be very i think the bills that come over your have been fun at last years level from the functions and Services Provided by many of the agency of for you have all mentioned here today. But our system of food safety is actually it is actually assured by three agencies, the ftc, the cdc, as well as the usda. Many issues it is not Just One Agency that works on it, but there are agencies that Work Together and collectively in the share and build on the work of one another. All right, i will acknowledge that you all want to see wordprocessor and i think we all do. But i think that we have to acknowledge this. We have developed that when we come up here and talk about the funding deficiencies for specific agencies and programs, theyre going to come over here that we fund many of the agencies and programs in the services and i dont think you can deny that. Fema, National Guard and missouri, and our new list. Anyway, obviously, that is not a question that anybody on the panel wants to answer. But i do want to ask what specific question that has to do with the faa registry issue that you responded to earlier. There is there was a letter that was signed by several of our colleagues in a couple on the this committee from both sides of the aisle basically suggested that many of those employees and the last time we went through this in the last time we went through this is accepted employees especially when we have National Security issues. And im wondering if we think about this issue. With a letter that was sent, it points out that the last time this was done differently that it bears heavily National Security, public safety, other important impacts, including Economic Impacts that we have already mentioned today, could you elaborate on some of the challenges in those Economic Impacts related to the Registry Office because . I would be happy too because i think that we are definitely a like mind and the registry needs to be open and i would point out one thing that actually took digging to determine because the issue of it was a close back in 1995 or 1996 whatever it was at this time. But the faa actually had already had the appropriations bill passed and it was not covered during that shutdown. Because there were appropriations that congress enhanced at that point. That being said, the issue that youre raising is a very legitimate one in terms of the importance today. We have just signed a letter to secretary fox asking that he reexamine the classification of the characterization of the registry as those that should be accepted. Because as you look at the curative effect, it might be harder tgu