MSNBC "Morning Joe" - Transcript
Interview
MSNBC "Morning Joe" - Transcript
MSNBC "Morning Joe" Interview With Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Subject: FAA Role in February Colgan Air Crash; Supreme Court Vacancy; Overseas Ballots
Interviewers: Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Mike Barnicle
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MR. SCARBOROUGH: Let's bring in right now Democratic senator from New York and the chairman of the Committee on Rules and Administration, Charles -- Senator Chuck Schumer.
Hey, Senator --
SEN. SCHUMER: Good morning.
MR. SCARBOROUGH: We're trying to figure out here how this could have happened and, of course, happen in your state.
You've got pilot -- a pilot who has -- well, my God, she had no idea about de-icing a plane, was ignorant of this, and yet allowed to fly 49 people into Buffalo, New York, in the middle of winter.
How could the FAA be so lax on regulations?
SEN. SCHUMER: Well, the FAA has been basically a disaster for six or seven years.
The person who had been put in, Ms. Blakey, was more or less a political appointee who really didn't know how to run the agency, and it deteriorated markedly. She was told by OMB to cut costs, but she did it in a way that really could have well impaired safety.
And I'd been sort of asking for her resignation for three, four years because of all the mishaps at the FAA. The whole place needs to be straightened up and cleaned out.
Even the NTSB, which is much more involved with safety, made recommendations to the FAA and they just summarily rejected them.
MS. BRZEZINSKI: All right. So is something going to happen now? What's going to be done?
SEN. SCHUMER: Well, the president --
MS. BRZEZINSKI: Because at this point I think there are a lot of people who might be afraid to get on any types of planes like these that are flying, the regional jets.
MR. SCARBOROUGH: The regional planes.
SEN. SCHUMER: No. There are several margins of safety. I fly regularly and my children and my family, so I would not caution that.
I would say, though, with safety you can't be too careful and you have to deal with the unusual situations. And that's where the -- that's the problem here. There is --
The president has nominated a new person for the FAA and, hopefully, that person will, when they come up to the Senate I'm going to meet with them, make sure, first of all, that there's a full investigation of everything that happened here.
The immediate reaction is blame the pilot. But why did that pilot not have the training? Why did the pilot fail tests --
(Cross talk.)
MS. BRZEZINSKI: Well, that's what we're asking.
MR. SCARBOROUGH: Senator, I'm not blaming the pilot.
MS. BRZEZINSKI: We don't want to blame them.
SEN. SCHUMER: No, I know that. I'm saying some of the bureaucrats would want to blame the pilot and say this is --
MR. SCARBOROUGH: But -- oh, exactly.
SEN. SCHUMER: And so no, no, no.
We have to get to the very bottom of this and change the processes, particularly now that the larger airlines are delegating so much flying to the smaller airlines.
MR. SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.
SEN. SCHUMER: When I fly the Delta Shuttle now from New York City to Washington, it's no longer Delta Airlines, and you can notice the difference.
MS. BRZEZINSKI: Barnicle?
MR. BARNICLE: Senator, what you just said, that begs the question are we now in the position, as passengers, where a Colgan Airways or any other subcarrier, basically we trust that subcarrier to tell the FAA that, yeah, their pilots have been cleared; yes, their pilots have the most up-to-date training --
SEN. SCHUMER: The --
MR. BARNICLE: And what about the role of the pilots' association, or pilots' union, in this? Do they --
SEN. SCHUMER: Well, look. The basic job is of the FAA. And the FAA, over seven years, didn't put the resources in, number one. They didn't put them in the right place, number two, and they were too airline-friendly, number three.
It was a disaster in an agency where you can't afford to have a single disaster. And so the whole place has to be straightened up -- even more mundane things.
Although very bothersome, why do we wait on the runways forever? Because in 2001 there was a system that would have allowed many more planes to land and take off safely. Every other country bought it -- Britain, France, Tibet. We didn't buy it because the FAA was just taking marching orders from OMB -- cut, cut, cut, cut, cut.
This is an agency where you can't just cut to the bone and shrug your shoulders.
MR. SCARBOROUGH: Hey, Senator, let's talk about the Supreme Court pick. Do you think because of the layout of the Court right now, only one woman on the Court, that President Obama needs to appoint a female as the next nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court?
SEN. SCHUMER: Well, Joe, I'd say "needs to" is too strong a word. It would be nice, all things being equal. It would certainly be preferable.
When I've appointed judges at the lower level in the federal courts, I've had three standards: excellent: they should be legally excellent, not political hacks. Moderation: I don't like them too far right, you know that. I also don't like them too far left, because then they tend to make law.
And the third is diversity. If we can have a woman, if we can have a Hispanic, those would be all to the good, provided you can meet the first two criteria.
And I think the president probably -- he might not articulate it exactly the way I did. He would do a better job of that; he always does -- but he probably has the same three standards.
MR. SCARBOROUGH: And finally, you're holding a hearing today on an issue that's near and dear to my heart because of the district I represented, and that's overseas vote counting -- making sure that every military man and woman's vote is counted.
You've got a remarkable statistic about the number of votes that don't get counted, every two years.
SEN. SCHUMER: It's amazing. When you're a soldier and you are overseas and you diligently try to vote, one out of four ballots that should have been counted isn't. And that's what our hearing is going to reveal today.
And that's astounding. Our soldiers are risking their lives for us. They're overseas undergoing all the hardships. The go out of their way to vote because they're so responsible.
And then one out of four votes are (sic) counted, just because of mistakes, sloppiness, et cetera. That whole system has got to change and change quickly.
MS. BRZEZINSKI: All right. Senator Chuck Schumer, thanks so much for being on the show this morning. Take care.
SEN. SCHUMER: Nice to see you all.
MR. SCARBOROUGH: Thank you so much, Senator. And keep us posted, if you will, if you don't mind, on the FAA and what you're learning up there.
SEN. SCHUMER: I will.
MR. SCARBOROUGH: Because so many people, obviously, that watch our shows spend an awful lot of time in the air flying.
SEN. SCHUMER: I'm one of them.
MR. SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, I know you are. I know you are.
SEN. SCHUMER: (Chuckles.) Thanks.
MR. SCARBOROUGH: All right. Thanks so much.
END.
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