'This Week' Transcript 3-5-23: Sen. Sherrod Brown, Sen. Dan Sullivan & Marianne Williamson

Interview

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George, it's good to be on the program. Thanks.

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Sure.

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You know, we're going to have hearings this week. And on the rail safety issues, I'm actually glad that Senator Brown and Senator Vance have put forward some good bipartisan legislation.

You know, the key issue from my perspective, not just on trains but certainly on aviation is -- I agree with Senator Brown, it shouldn't take a disaster to have good oversight legislation to make sure that we have a safe rail system, but really importantly that I've focused on, George, is a safe aviation system.

You've probably seen there's been several near misses. We've had three hearings already in the Commerce Committee just in the last six weeks on aviation safety, but we need to be proactive, not reactive with regard to these kinds of public safety transportation issues.

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Yeah.

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Oh, I think it absolutely it is. And, you know, they needed to get a nominee up.

The hearing was a tough hearing for him. You know, he's somebody who served in the Army, you know, honorably, but doesn't have a lot of experience with regard to aviation safety. So we'll see what happens, but we need a qualified head of the FAA.

And again, we need to be on this in terms of safety now. Americans take for granted that their aviation safety, flying in America, is the safest place to do it in the world.

But from my perspective, these are huge warning signs that you're talking about, what we've been talking about. I think it's been six near-misses in the last two months. That's why we've had hearings on this. But we need --

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Well, one of the big things is they need much more aggressive focus on updating their technology and infrastructure. That's come out in the hearings. And I think that's something that we need to make sure -- again, proactively. What we don't want to have happen is some kind of airplane disaster and then Congress is then righting legislation to deal with it after. You know, good governance is about proactively getting in front of these issues before they happen, not waiting, as Senator Brown said.

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Yes.

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Well, I want to hear some of the issues that Senator Brown raised, and in particular some of the issues that related to the laying off of workers. But it's going to be overall -- it's not just going to be him. It's going to be government officials as well on what is happening. As he said, there's a number of train derailments that happened across the country. Several. And we need get to the bottom of why these are happening.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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Well, look, this is part of an unfortunate pattern by this administration with regard to weapons systems for Ukraine. If you look at it, every time there is a new weapons system that's been proposed, they oppose it. Think about it, HIMARS, stingers, tanks, patriots. Congress, in a bipartisan way --

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Well, they've sent them only after being pressured by Congress. It took patriots nine months.

You know, on the F-16s, I hosted several Ukrainian pilots last summer in Washington, D.C. We were pressing for F-16s. I sent a letter to the secretary of defense, to General Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. It looked like it was moving forward well within the bureaucracy of the Pentagon. The president gets off a helicopter a couple of months ago, says no. And then last week the national security adviser says, well, we're not going to do F-16s for now. Well, that's exactly the wrong approach, George. For now. They need these weapon systems now. And this has been a pattern -- an unfortunate pattern by this administration, delaying critical weapons systems until we pressure them. They finally get them there, but it oftentimes takes way too late.

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Well, look, that's a hypothetical, right? I mean, we'll see if that plays out.

I think what's happening, though, within the Republican Party right now, in terms of presidential candidates, is healthy, right? We don't -- we not only have President Trump, but we have a number of other, I think, very qualified candidates who are throwing their hat in the ring. I think you're going to see some others throwing their hat in the ring very soon. And I think having a good, competitive primary with a new generation of Republicans, by the way, is healthy for our party, it's healthy for the country, and I plan on supporting the nominee who wins the Republican nomination.

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Well, look, that's a huge hypothetical right now on the indictment issue. We'll see if that plays out. But right now my plan is to report -- is to support who becomes the nominee.

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Thanks, George.

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