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Jan. 29, 2026 14:24-16:31 - CSPAN

02:06:51

Public Affairs Events

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jennifer homendy

ntsb 27:57

maria cantwell

sen/d 14:34

mike johnston

32:36

sean duffy

admin 11:44

ted cruz

sen/r 06:32

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Speaker	Time	Text
Cities Standing Together 00:15:40
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		For opening thoughts, share one idea, which is our city, like many, have been addressing the needs of newcomers who've been arriving in Denver.
		We were, over the last several years, one of the largest recipients per capita of newcomers that arrived primarily from Venezuela.
		And I think our city, like many, had to answer the question: what do you do in that context when folks arrive without resources, without support, without infrastructure?
		And I'm reminded: we just last week celebrated Dr. King's birthday, and we have a huge mirade in our city.
		And one of my favorite stories about Dr. King is if you remember the last speech he ever gave, it was the speech in Memphis he gave on April 3rd, the night before he was assassinated.
		He was there actually on the garbage workers strike.
		And it's the famous speech where he says, I may not get there with you, but I've been to the mountaintop.
		The mountaintop speech is very famous.
		But in the middle of this speech, he tells this separate story.
		And he talks about the time that he and Coretta together went and traveled the road to Jericho.
		And he says, when I visited there, I thought about the Good Samaritan story all over again because I never quite understood that story until I traveled that road.
		And when I traveled it, I realized just how dangerous it was, even today.
		You never know if you might get stopped, you might get robbed, your car might go off the edge.
		There are plenty of reasons to be afraid.
		And so he says, this is the reason why, if you remember the story of the Good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite are both walking the road to Jericho and they see a man fallen over in the ground who is injured and needs help.
		And the priest walks by and doesn't help.
		And the levy walks by and doesn't help.
		And Dr. King says, the problem with the priest and the Levite is that they ask themselves the wrong question.
		They ask themselves, if I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?
		What will happen to me?
		And that's a question that many of us are asking a lot right now because there is a question, if I as a city stop to help this man, what could happen to my city?
		Well, yes, you could lose federal funds.
		You could be targeted for prosecution by the Department of Justice.
		You could see ICE agents deployed to the streets of your city.
		All of those are possible if you make the decision to stop and help this man.
		King says the power of the Good Samaritan is that he reverses the question.
		He says, if I don't stop to help this man, what will happen to him?
		And when you ask that question, the answer is always easy.
		When you have 200 folks that show up in front of your city hall at 10 o'clock at night in 10-degree weather in sandals and a t-shirt with a five-year-old, it is not a policy question.
		It's a human question.
		And so I think for us as mayors, we stand in the forefront of answering this question of what will we as cities do to stop to help the folks in need, even in moments when that decision is very unpopular.
		My belief, and I think our belief is that our job still is to protect and to serve every resident of our city, no matter if they came from Caracas or from Cleveland.
		That commitment has helped us deliver a place where both our city is safer than it was two years ago.
		Those folks are in housing and are back to work.
		We've seen decreases in homelessness, decreases in crime, decreases in the cost of housing, all in the moment of welcoming 40,000 people we didn't know were coming.
		And so I think this is a moment for us to believe that it is actually possible to say you can both hold our values and serve our city at the same time.
		That I think is the question that the country is asking right now.
		So I am so grateful for you all being here.
		Thanks for your service to your city.
		Thanks for being a part of this panel.
		And I would love to turn it over to my friend from Brownsville, Mayor Cohen, to take over next.
		Thank you, Mary Johnson, and thank you to everyone here for joining us for this important conversation.
		As mayor for the city of Brownsville, which is a city of about 200,000 residents in the most southern point of Texas, in a region of about 1.5 million in the Rio Grande Valley, I represent a city that lives every day at the intersection of border policy, economic growth, and community trust.
		Brownsville is a hub for international trade, aerospace, manufacturing, higher ed, and innovation, and our future depends on stability, collaboration, and trust of our government institutions.
		As a municipality, we are proud to serve our residents in their interests.
		We equally assist and partner with state and federal agencies like ICE.
		But at the local level, the RPD have a separate but equally important responsibility.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		We have a responsibility to ensure public safety and maintain the trust of our community.
		As a result, we are proud to be ranked the eighth safest city in the United States.
		Over the last month, ICE has dramatically increased enforcement operations in our region, primarily inspecting construction sites, hotels, restaurants, and low-income neighborhoods.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		As a result, these actions have delayed or stopped many construction projects, and there are businesses that cannot find workers for their daily operations.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		This creates a ripple effect through our economy and will ultimately impact our city finances and service levels.
		There are many children that are not going to school due to fear that their loved ones may be targeted.
		These enforcement operations have had a chilling impact through our regional communities.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		More importantly, as mayor, I am concerned that our members may not call the police or fire departments for emergencies out of fear, which fundamentally makes our community less safe.
		It's important to stress that our police officers do not work alongside ICE in executing immigration arrests on a day-to-day basis.
		That is not our role.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		However, as we would work with any federal, state, or local agency, the Brownsville PD does and will respond to requests for aid or assistance when public safety is involved.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		That is what we do and would do for any other call for service.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		Brownsville is a city that prides itself on being an advocate for the well-being, safety, and growth of our community members.
		When needed, the city has partnered with local non-governmental organizations such as our local churches and shelters to offer assistance to anyone in need, including immigrants who travel through our city in search of the American dream.
		As the discussion on immigration persists, we encourage individuals to follow the law, find the resources they need to be able to go through proper legal process to obtain legal citizenship in the U.S., and we encourage Congress and this administration to pass comprehensive immigration reform and expand pathways and work authorizations for those that contribute positively to our communities and our country.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Federal border and immigration policies shape how people move across borders and how cities like Brownsville plan for and protect public safety while allowing local government to efficiently, legally, and compassionately manage situations that arise.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		As these policies evolve, our responsibility as a city remains constant to keep our residents safe while ensuring our economy continues to grow and our community remains united.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		This balance matters.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Trust between residents and local law enforcement is essential, not just for safety, but for economic growth and community stability.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Brownsville's future is built on that trust, and we will continue to uphold it while working professionally with our federal partners.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		Thank you, Mayor Johnson.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Thank you so much, Mayor.
		I want to welcome Jonathan Miller, who is here from the Public Rights Project, who's one of the allies who's been working on litigation around the country to protect and support cities in their effort to be able to provide services and to be able to not lose access to federal resources along the way.
		And so, Jonathan, I'd love to turn it over to you to talk a little about efforts underway, and then we'll have time for some QA if you have questions for Jonathan about what he's working on or what other cities might be facing.
		Go ahead, John.
		Thanks so much, Mayor Johnston, and thank you for the invitation to join Mayor Cowan as well.
		I also want to thank the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Laura Waxman for all your partnership and coordination on this important conversation.
		So, as you heard, my name is Jonathan Miller.
		I'm the Chief Program Officer at Public Rights Project.
		We are a national nonpartisan nonprofit that is committed to helping cities advance the civil rights of their communities.
		We work with cities across the country, representing them in litigation, providing technical assistance, confidential legal advice, training to your lawyers on case development advocacy, and convening to build best practices and collective strategies.
		We've had the privilege of working closely with the teams in Denver and Portland, and so grateful for the opportunity to work with many of you in this room.
		And if your city doesn't already work with us, please feel free to reach out after the panel.
		Happy to chat more about it.
		So, moving to the topic at hand, I think it's just really crucial to engage deeply in this discussion.
		Our team has been spending a lot of time over the last several weeks working with our colleagues in the Twin Cities and around the country in response to Operation Metro surge.
		What we are seeing is what we've known for a long time.
		Immigration is central to this administration's agenda and its identity.
		It's been the source of pressure and challenges to cities when it comes to funding, when it comes to your policies, when it comes to your interactions with your community and public safety.
		It's also been a place where we've seen cities innovate.
		We've seen cities demonstrate leadership when it comes to their policies of engaging their community, showing what community rights can be, and how to use a sort of whole-of-government approach to combating illegal government.
		One area that's a particular focus has been efforts to coerce cities into complying with the policy demands of the federal government.
		And that has meant that for us, we're involved in litigation that is trying to save $22 billion in federal funding because the federal government is trying to force cities to change their policies and to participate how the federal government wants in immigration enforcement.
		But cities are fighting back.
unidentified		Many cities have refused to comply.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		They have challenged and litigated these unconstitutional threats.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		They've fought to preserve this funding, which has been crucial for health care, transportation, housing, and more.
unidentified		And what we're seeing is that when cities stand together and they leave their communities, they can prevail.
		They can win.
		They can push back.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		They can be effective.
		We know there's a lot of pressure.
		We know it's not easy.
		But more and more we are seeing cities band together with our partnership to fight for their values and to fight for their communities.
		So let me go into a few key developments.
		So on the non-cooperation policies, this has been a particular focus of emphasis for the administration.
		There have been executive orders, there have been memos from DOJ and DHS about attacking so-called sanctuary or welcoming policies.
		They've actually never been defined.
		I think that in general, what we're talking about are state and local policies that prohibit police involvement in immigration enforcement or that don't honor ICE detainers.
		These are the requests from ICE that a local jail or state prison hold somebody after their release date so that ICE can come pick them up.
		And so I think those are sort of the two main focuses when you look at sort of all the enforcement actions that DOJ has brought and the so-called sort of sanctuary list that they put together.
		In terms of what we've seen from action, there was a publication of a list by DHS, but it was later pulled down, had a lot of errors in it, included, I think, some Second Amendment sanctuary jurisdictions, among other things.
		There's also an injunction right now that covers more than 50 jurisdictions across the country to protect across the board funding cuts for those jurisdictions because of their welcoming ordinances, because of their sanctuary policies.
unidentified		We've also seen numerous enforcement actions against cities and states for their ordinances, for their laws on this issue.
		They have all been unsuccessful.
		All of them.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		They are cookie-cutter cases and they all have lost.
		What we're also seeing increasingly is the use of federal funding as a mechanism to coerce local governments to participate in immigration enforcement.
		So as I mentioned, DOT, HHS funding, DHS funding, many programs that are crucial to your ability to support your communities, to help your communities thrive, there are efforts to tie them to immigration enforcement.
unidentified		And we've been a part of a case that's called King County versus Turner that includes 75 jurisdictions.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		And as I said, billions of federal dollars have been preserved with those conditions wiped out of them as a result of the court intervention.
		We're also closely following a potential threat or potential freeze of federal funding to 14 states in DC relating to sanctuary policies.
		That, in spite of the fact that there's an injunction against that type of across-the-board threat, obviously, with the activities in Minneapolis have brought to the fore the enforcement surges and the ways in which DHS has been going to cities around the country to increase its enforcement activities and to terrorize communities.
		And we've seen challenges by cities and states against those deployments, as well as challenges to the tactics of those deployments.
		And both have had some successes.
		Cities and states have been involved in trying to stave off to stop those deployments.
		We've seen that with the National Guard.
		Portland was involved in the case to push off the National Guard in Oregon.
		We also saw the Illinois-Chicago case go all the way up to the Supreme Court, and there was a victory for local and state governments to push back the ability of the federal government to unnecessarily deploy the National Guard against local governments and their communities.
		We're also now seeing state and local governments get in the game of pushing back against these surges.
		There's a case in Illinois that's sort of in its very early stages, and then the Minnesota versus Nome case, which includes Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Cities Stave Off Deployments 00:04:56
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		And I just want to lift up for you, we've got that highlighted on the slide here.
		We organize an amicus brief that many of the mayors here joined, and there will definitely be opportunity for other cities to join when that case proceeds further into the court.
		So if you're interested in that, please do reach out afterwards.
		Advocacy groups have been involved in pushing back against the tactics of DHS.
		This has involved racial profiling, harassment of observers, stopping of protests.
		What we've seen is district courts issuing narrow, tailored injunctions based on factual findings and information that's developed in those cases that have been, I think, strong and sound, but appellate courts that have been less receptive, including the Supreme Court.
		And so that's often limited the effect of some of these injunctions.
		I want to just also move quickly to sort of efforts unilaterally by this administration to change immigration policy.
		I'll talk about birthright citizenship in a minute, but I think the administration has taken numerous actions to significantly impact groups that have lawful presidents and their ability to adjust their status.
		It's ended several programs, including temporary protected status for many communities.
		And this is having devastating impacts on local economies with TPS being eliminated, people lose their work authorization, businesses lose their workforce, and that has a particular impact.
		Speaking with one mayor last night, it has a particular impact on the healthcare industry.
		But it's not just in the immigration space.
		For example, DOT amended an issue, issued a rule that was trying to take away the licenses for commercial drivers solely because they lacked certain status.
		And that was going to affect public transit in many cities because that license is required to drive a bus or engage in sort of other activities relating to public transit.
		So we're seeing an across-the-board effort to change immigration policy at the executive level.
		And I think birthright citizenship, which is an example I just want to lift up quickly, is probably the sort of best known.
		That's a day one executive order to change the definition of birthright citizenship, which the 14th Amendment and the Supreme Court have long understood to be for anybody who is in the United States when they are born, irrespective of the lawful presence of their parents.
		But the Trump administration is trying through executive order to change that meaning.
		That case has gone up to the Supreme Court now twice.
		It didn't decide the issue last term.
		The CASA case was a case in which a nationwide injunction was cut down.
		But it's hearing the case again after a nationwide class action was certified.
		And that's another opportunity for your voices to be heard to join an amicus brief that we will prepare for the court about why this is so important to honor the rule of law and to protect your immigrant communities.
		Okay, and I know I need to wrap up.
		I just want to make one more point.
		The immigration policy changes connect to so many other issues, including elections.
		There have been executive orders relating to demonstrated proof of citizenship.
		There have been lawsuits against local governments, state governments seeking voter roles.
		And we saw last week A.G. Bondi's letter demanding the voter rolls as a condition to end Operation Metro search.
		So it's really crucial to connect those dots.
		Thus far, courts have enjoined the executive order provision about proof of citizenship, and the cases seeking the voter rolls have been unsuccessful to date.
		But I do think that this is an important connection for you all to continue to see because using immigration as a wedge on democracy, on racial justice, on public safety will continue to be efforts to undermine the ability of local governments to deliver for their communities.
		Thank you for the time.
		You can clap for that.
		Thank you so much, Jonathan, for doing that.
		We have a number of other mayors we're going to ask to present a little bit of a update on what they're seeing in their cities and what lessons they've learned.
		And so I think what Mayor Cowen are going to do is actually go through all of our other presenters and then we can do open Q ⁇ A to any of the panelists you want to ask to at the end.
		And so we'll go ahead and roll through.
		I'll give it over to Mayor Town to take our next measures.
unidentified		Thanks, Mayor.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		As we shift this conversation to what cities are experiencing on the ground, it's important to recognize that while our context may differ, the challenges we face are shared.
Minnesotan Cities Reshape 00:15:09
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Across the country, cities are navigating how federal immigration actions intersect with local public safety, service delivery, and community trust.
		Local governments are often the first point of contact for residents seeking clarity, reassurance, and support during moments of uncertainty.
		To help ground this discussion in lived experience, I'm pleased to invite Mayor Jiv Hovelin from Edina to share what's happening in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region and how cities and local agencies there are supporting immigrant communities.
unidentified		Mayor Hoveland?
unidentified		Yes.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		Thanks, Mr. Mayor.
unidentified		Well, many of you were probably at the press conference yesterday where Elizabeth College Mayor Burnsville, past chair of the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, reported out generally on immigration enforcement.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		And then one of the reporters asked, are there any cities in Minnesota that are working together?
unidentified		And then I went up to respond on behalf of 13 cities that have formed a coalition.
		A couple of weeks ago when Laura and I were visiting, we were hoping that Mayor Frank would be here.
		He was able to be with us all at noon for those of you that saw him speak at noon.
		But as a backup, the next-door neighbor mayor from Edina is bringing the message from Minnesota for all of you.
		So I've thought about this.
		Language is important.
		I think language is important yesterday at our press conference.
		It is again today.
		And so here are my panel remarks as I talk to my fellow mayors.
		And I tell you that I come to report plainly on what we have seen and felt in our towns and our cities in Minnesota.
		The work of federal enforcement over the past few weeks in the Twin Cities brought them into our neighborhoods, our workplaces, our schools, our churches, and our medical facilities.
		The effects have not been abstract or theoretical.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		They have been very human, immediate, and consequential, and has carried out, reshaped our cities in ways none of us who were elected to lead our communities could ignore.
unidentified		We were told the actions would be precise.
unidentified		They were not.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		We were told their effects would be contained.
unidentified		They were not.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		Fear has not confined itself to a single householder or status.
unidentified		Citizens have withdrawn alongside non-citizens.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		Law-abiding residents learned that invisibility felt safer than participation.
unidentified		Here's what we have observed.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		First, a deep chill of uncertainty settled over many lawful, hardworking residents, citizens and non-citizens alike.
		We saw enforcement as visible, sudden, physical, and it did not stop neatly at the door of those that it sought.
		It spread outward, touching mixed-status families, lawful permanent residents, and even long-standing citizens who shared a name, an accent, a color, or a fear.
unidentified		Attendance fell at schools, putting kids behind in their education.
unidentified		Patients delayed care at medical facilities and risked adverse outcomes.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		And faith and worship became a very, very private matter.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		Trust, we have learned, once shaken, is slow to return.
unidentified		Second, there has been an economic reckoning.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		In Minnesota, our restaurants, food processing plants, construction sites, elder care facilities, and hospitals rely upon immigrant labor.
		When enforcement actions are abrupt, entire workforces can vanish overnight.
		Not only undocumented workers, but legal employees who choose silence or absence over risk.
		Third, we have the paradox of public safety.
unidentified		Local law enforcement, sworn to protect all residents, has found its work harder when communities fear that any interaction with law enforcement may carry federal consequence.
		And finally, there has been a burden placed upon local government.
		Mayors and city council members are left to explain federal actions we do not control, to calm fears we did not create, and to mend relationships strained by forces beyond our municipal boundaries.
		We have been asked in effect to hold the fabric of community together while others pulled hard upon its threads.
		In just a few short weeks, this is what we have learned in Minnesota.
		No city can thrive without the rule of law and no nation can govern without borders.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		But enforcement, as practiced, did not merely remove individuals.
unidentified		It hollowed out civic life, undermined public safety, and left local leaders to pick up to pieces.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		We have also learned democracy cannot prosper when enforcement is divorced from proportionality, clarity, and humanity.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		The strength of our country has never rested solely in the vigor or rigor of its laws, but in the confidence of its people, that those laws are carried out with fairness and wisdom.
unidentified		I talked yesterday a little bit about the character of Minnesotans.
		And these Minnesotans that I am a part of have long understood that order is preserved not by fear, but by legitimacy.
		That rules endure not because they are imposed, but because they are believed to be fair.
		That when authority overreaches, as it has been doing in our state, Minnesotans do not only shout.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		They reason.
unidentified		They document.
unidentified		They challenge and they persist.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		They insist relentlessly that power explain itself.
		They demand that force justify its use.
		They appeal not to impulse, but to principle, and they persevere in seeking to right injustice.
unidentified		In doing so, they have kept faith with the Constitution, not as an abstraction, but as a living discipline that defines moral and legal conduct.
		In these trouble-filled days, the nation should know that Minnesota has not resisted legal immigration enforcement.
		It has resisted excess.
		It does not reject law.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		It rejects lawlessness, clothing, and authority.
unidentified		It does not deny the nation's right to govern its borders, but it insists that such governance be worthy of and deferential to a free people.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		Whether the federal government will now recognize that cities are not collateral terrain, that trust once broken is far harder to restore than it is to shatter, and that enforcement should be carried out with wisdom and respect for human dignity regardless of immigration status, remains a very, very open question.
unidentified		So this then is the message from Minnesota.
unidentified		Immigration enforcement, when conducted without close coordination with local realities and respect, does not merely remove individuals.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		It reshapes communities.
unidentified		It alters behavior, weakens trust, and imposes costs that towns and cities will long carry out after the headlines fade.
		If enforcement continues in other cities as it has in Minnesota and Minneapolis in particular, we will not be debating immigration alone.
		We will be confronting the long-term damage done to the relationship between government and the governed.
		And that is a reckoning no republic should take lightly.
		In time when this chapter in Minnesota history is read, not in the headlines, but in history, I hope it may be said that when the nation faltered between fear and fairness regarding who deserves to live in our country, that Minnesota chose the harder path, not really to oppose what was wrong, but to help build what was right.
		That will be no small service to a very troubled country.
		Thank you.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Thank you Mayor Hovland for your insights.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		Our next perspective comes from the West Coast.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Mayor Keith Wilson leads the city of Portland, Oregon, which has been at the center of national conversations about immigration enforcement, public safety, and community response.
		Today he'll speak about the situation in Portland, Oregon, and how local agencies are supporting immigrant communities in the wake of recent ICE raids.
		Mayor Wilson, thank you for joining us.
unidentified		Thank you, Mayors.
		I appreciate it.
		John.
		The administration has a habit of mentioning Portland, Oregon alongside Denver, Chicago, Minneapolis.
		I'll take the compliment to be included in that company.
		That's what makes events like this so important and our gathering so valuable.
		I've been in close contact with many of you throughout the nation, and your guidance over this short year in office has been invaluable to me, and I look forward to really leaning on you in the years ahead.
		We're the 28th largest city in the nation.
		We're a true mid-sized American city.
		That said, we're punching above our weight class and pushing back against the current administration, and we're winning.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		We've been at such a high level of vigilance, and the problem with that is we're always looking around the corner wondering when this shoe is going to drop.
		When is that enforcement going to come?
		Portland has been winning because we've done the work and we've built the coalition, and I really do owe Mr. Miller a debt of gratitude.
		He's been working with our city attorney, Robert Taylor, and we've been pushing back on the administration through lawsuits, a constant vigilance of making sure that we're dotting our I's and we're crossing our T's, gaining temporary restraining orders, working with the governor, our attorney general, and each step of the way, we've been able to really rely on the law, and the law is what truly is going to allow us to build strength in our unity,
		to build strength in our republic, to continue to move forward.
		Every time we respond to the administration, we don't wait in alone.
unidentified		Our press conferences include political leaders, faith leaders, and community leaders, a lot of them.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		I looked at Mayor Kebler right there from Bend.
		As a new mayor, I saw my predecessor, Mayor Wheeler, go toe-to-toe with President Trump in 2020, 21, and 22.
		He could not compete on the national stage with a man who oftentimes wouldn't be truthful.
		It was a clarion call for me to say that upon entering office, if I were going to be presented with that behavior, I wasn't going to stand alone.
		And I built a coalition with the mayors in Oregon to come stand with me at press conferences, and so I owe you a debt of gratitude, Mayor Beatty from Beaverton, Mayor Stoville from Gresham, and dozens others, because I knew that I didn't have the experience that many of you have to get Portland through this very important moment.
unidentified		And I'm deeply grateful.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Our press conferences are extraordinary because they include religious figures, activists, those on the left and those on the right.
		Every member of the public watching is able to look at our lineup and see at least one person they feel represented by.
		We keep that coalition intact by concentrating our efforts on our values and our politics, pardon me, on our values over the politics.
unidentified		I'll give you a caveat.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		When building this coalition, engage with the builders, not the records.
		If you're here to do the right thing and help people, you have a seat at our table.
		However, if you're using tensions with the federal government to act out, we'll starve you of the attention you so clearly crave.
unidentified		These press conferences have my police chief, who's so well regarded in my community, and the leader of the ACLU.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		In my time as mayor, I never thought I'd see that.
unidentified		But that's what this event has done to us.
unidentified		It's created relationships with people we never thought we'd have bedfellows because this isn't a political issue.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		This is an American issue.
unidentified		We didn't choose this fight, but we can choose where it takes place.
unidentified		My approach has been not to do national cable news because that's the administration's hunting ground.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Anything you say will be run against a B-roll and the worst incidents that have happened in your city, even on the friendly networks.
		Offer to take the interviews, but only if the network sends a correspondent to see the situation for themselves.
		You all saw the true social, that Portland was on fire, that we were crime-ridden, we were being overrun, and a lot of people began to believe that.
		I discounted that and had 50 networks calling me, and I didn't take one of those interviews, but I insisted they came and visited me at the city.
		So CBS came, The Daily Show, a host of others, the New York Times, and I would put them in my car, and I drove them by the ICE facility one block in a city 145 square miles with 650,000 residents.
		And all they could do when they saw the frog or the banana boy was laugh.
unidentified		And that's what you did just with that.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Because that was the farce and the absurdity of what we're dealing with.
unidentified		But it's deadly serious when you think about it.
		Lazy reporters will move on and just do a quick drive-by hit piece.
		Nobody will remember.
		Ask them to engage.
		The ones who come and see for themselves will see and will change the narrative.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		And I hope you have seen that narrative changed.
		Portland is in the midst of a reputational renaissance because the hard work we've done.
		A lot of you have pointed fingers at us two, three, four years ago.
		I invite you to come and visit, and you will see the hard work that we've done that we should be celebrating with the administration, not being highlighted as a failed government.
		Make sure you give the public something to do.
unidentified		Encourage peaceful protests, calm, non-violent protests.
		My city is a tinderkeg.
		It's just ready to go.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		I can feel it with each one of the events.
		Renee Goode's event.
		We had two people shot in our community the day after.
		I was on with Jacob Fry asking him, what advice do you have?
unidentified		Give your individuals, your residents, something to do.
		Come out and protest loud and proud.
		We had a 50,000-person gathering in Portland, and it was the most peaceful event we've ever had.
		I would also say that.
		Also, work with your police.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		They are tired because they had oftentimes been at the crosshair.
		But now our police are our agents of peaceful, calm de-escalation, and their stature has been raised up.
		But they're tired because they're frightened.
		They don't know when they're going to have to get in the middle of an event that they frankly don't want to be a part of.
		Help them have the important conversations and keep people safe.
		Portland has recently had the largest protests and we're very proud about that.
		So bring your team out, bring your crowd out, and encourage that.
unidentified		Hypocrisy is a dead concept.
unidentified		Politically speaking, nobody cares that the administration says one thing and does another, or holds different groups of people to different standards.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Pointing it out makes you look like the least one to notice what everybody else knew all along.
unidentified		Talk about your values and your priorities in your community.
DEI Grants and Community Activism 00:09:57
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Focus on your progress.
unidentified		And then talk about your actions.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		What are you going to do for our citizens, for our residents today?
unidentified		Final thought.
unidentified		Keep your heads above water.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Don't respond to everything.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Don't worry about the daily news cycle.
unidentified		Don't sprint.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		This is going to be a marathon.
unidentified		I truly believe we have three years left.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		And the tone and tenor that we take out of this room right now, I think, will set the course for our cooperation and our ability to really chart a path for our cities that is caring for our residents, which is what they're looking to us for right now.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Thank you.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		Thank you, Mayor Wilson.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		So at this time, I'd like to open up for questions from the mayors around the table.
unidentified		Go ahead.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		I'd like to add a comment, if I may.
		So my name is Dina Ishii.
		I'm Mayor of the City of Berkeley, California.
		I want to say that we joined or were in the process of joining the amicus brief.
		So I just messaged our city attorney.
		We've actually given our city attorney the authority to join any brief that is going to be in benefit of this effort.
		So I want to just let the mayors know that we're with you.
		When we had our protests, we had people dressed as frogs and a nod to Portland.
		We have put out a resolution in support of the mayors of Minnesota.
		And I wanted to share with you all as a Japanese American whose family was incarcerated by the United States government during World War II as U.S. citizens.
		I take this very seriously.
		And I think it's really important right now that we're looking to make sure that we do not repeat history.
unidentified		This is our opportunity to stand up.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		And I really hope that, Mayors, that you will continue to bring this courage that we see here in this room back to your cities so that we make sure that we stop what's going on right now and we protect our people because that is what really matters most right now.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		So I want to say thank you all for your bravery and for the work that you're doing to protect your communities.
unidentified		Yeah, my name is Adrian Mapp, and I am the mayor of the city of Plainview, New Jersey.
		And as you can probably tell from my accent, I am an immigrant.
		My mother came here in the late 1960s as an undocumented individual.
		Because of her sacrifices, I have never been undocumented, but she sacrificed.
		And we are all immigrants.
		And we've been told that this is about getting rid of the worst of the worst.
		And there's no evidence that that is what this is all about.
		We seem to be living in a dystopian society today.
		And I wonder from you, the panelists, what do you see as the end game?
		Because it doesn't appear to me that this is really about immigration enforcement, that there's some other agenda at work here.
		What might that be?
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		I appreciate your story.
		And I believe that what's at stake here is telling a very different version of what we think America is, which is, I think, the actual story is this is a land of immigrants.
		Our state of Colorado is made up of a third of the state that never crossed the border or the border across them.
		Southern Colorado was Mexico until we took it over, and those folks stayed, became citizens, wrote our state constitution, made this state and this country their own.
		And I think what people believe was that this issue could divide us, that by immigrants arising and arriving to our communities, that would pit the cities against each other and they would push to evict those immigrants.
		And what we've seen in Denver is the opposite.
		Is actually that experience has bound us together, where you had folks who came out of their homes at 7 in the morning to flip pancakes for people to places to live.
		You'll see every new immigrant in the city wearing an East High School or a North High School sweatshirt because some kid found a sweatshirt in her closet that she wanted to make sure someone else could have.
		I think this is about saying that actually when you welcome immigrants and you support them, your cities are safer, they're more vibrant, their economy thrives, and the country thrives.
		That's, I think, the story we're fighting to win on, because I think the other one is a much darker version of a smaller, narrower, more exclusive version of America that I think we never signed up for.
		Go ahead.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		So I have questions relating to kind of the fear that cities are having when it comes down to speaking out.
		So certainly sensitive to immigrants within our community that say, you know, be loud and be out there, and then those that are saying not to because of the fear that ICE will come into our community.
		Also, side note, maybe less important, but very huge impact, is the funding that our cities get and the grants and all this other stuff that is pending, where there's a fear that if we speak out, that we'll be, you know, the retribution will be real and will be made an example of.
		So just wondering if there's some conversations surrounding that that you all can speak to.
unidentified		As a side note, like our transit grant that we received, there's language in there that talks about DEI.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		DEI, transit, nothing to do with each other, but if you don't, if you're against it, then your transit grant could be, you know, kind of in trouble.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		And so just wanted to know if anyone is dealing with that and if you can speak to that.
unidentified		Yes.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		I know many of us are.
		Anyone else want to jump in on this?
		I'm happy to say a word and welcome anyone else.
		We face this same challenge.
		Transportation grants you'll lose if you support DEI policies.
		Health grants will use if we support care for LGBTQ individuals.
		Transit grants will lose if we continue to be a welcoming city.
		And at each stage, our belief has been we're not going to be bullied or blackmailed out of our values.
		And so we've stood clearly on those.
		We've sued to fight that that's unconstitutional.
		And I think the more of us that raise our voices collectively, the more powerful that voice is and the less you can be singled out.
		I will say our activist community, I think similar to Portland, they've also been very thoughtful about this, which is we've had protests probably every week of the last year and a half, but every one of them has been peaceful.
		And they know it's in their best interest and ours to send a signal that we are upset, we are resisting, and we are peaceful because it gives them no excuse to say we better send the National Guard into Denver because there's chaos there.
		No, there's dissent, but there is not chaos.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		If I could, Mayor, just I'm Tim Bussy, Mira of Bloomington, Minnesota.
		And in answer to your question, we have seen in Minnesota in our communities beyond Minneapolis, and I think it's important to note that this is happening beyond the city of Minneapolis.
		This is throughout the state of Minnesota and into our suburbs, Including Edina and Burnsville and Bloomington.
		And quite simply, retribution is real.
		And that's in the words of the President of the United States: that retribution was coming to Minneapolis for standing up.
		And we have seen that in a number of different ways.
		Every federal agency or government program in the state of Minnesota has been impacted, from agriculture on down.
		We have seen personal retribution.
		We've heard stories from the police chief of Brooklyn Park who had an off-duty police officer, she's Hispanic in heritage, who was literally forced off the road by four unmarked cars and questioned as she tried to record.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Her phone was slapped out of her hand.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		And it was only when she said, I'm a police officer.
		And if you know off-duty cops, you're never supposed to say, I'm a cop, because that's just, you're not supposed to do that as a way to avoid trouble.
		Only then did they back off.
		Our police, the police chief in Brooklyn Park held a press conference explaining that.
		And within the next couple of days, there were hundreds of ICE agents in the city of Brooklyn Park.
		And the one that especially chilled me, and I heard this from my staff: Ramsey County is the county in which St. Paul is in.
		And Ramsey County, like many counties, has a library system.
		And there was they had spoken out in a certain way in Ramsey County.
		And within days, a librarian in the Ramsey County library system was subpoenaed only because she's, I believe, Vietnamese in heritage.
		Retribution is real.
		So this whole notion of, I agree completely to stand up and so on, but to understand that anything, any reaction, any response by cities at a level of two is going to get punched back at a level of eight.
		And I firmly believe that.
		And if, and I've told my residents this, if I speak out, if I slam the table, if I go after somebody, notwithstanding my story from yesterday, by the way, folks, if I step up in my mayor's role like this, the folks who are going to be impacted are the black and brown people in my community, not me.
Mayors United for Justice 00:14:56
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		I'm not the one who's getting thrown into the back of an unmarked van.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		So it's a balancing act, and it's one that's frankly weighing heavy on me in a lot of ways because I know there is a call for more city for the city to stand up more forcefully, but I also know that we will not be the ones to pay the price.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		Go ahead.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Cyril Jefferson from High Point, North Carolina, Mike and John, appreciate you both leading on this.
unidentified		The Gray Eight new mayor's program both being represented.
		I appreciate you guys.
		In our city, we have like nonprofit organizations who we sometimes collaborate with and they're offering Fourth Amendment trainings and so on and so forth.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Can you all just talk about in some of your scenarios?
unidentified		And if I missed some of this earlier, forgive me, but where you are leaning on collaboration with those non-governmental organizations who may be offering everything from trainings to other resources and supports so that way it's a more collaborative effort across the community.
		You know, that coalition building was intentional.
		I felt rudderless at the beginning of this, like I didn't know what to do and was really able to rely on the mayors.
		But we have a group called the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition.
		And with that coalition of mayors I put together, they asked to come in and present to us.
		And so we really went and welcomed it.
		We did a live stream with 12 mayors in the short region that's right around Portland.
		And we brought that group in to present live stream to our entire community.
		So we had auditoriums with individuals at 12 different cities because we needed to educate what are we doing.
		Now, as the mayor of Portland, my colleague from Indiana, or from Minneapolis, I'm sorry, is right.
		You don't want to provoke, but it doesn't mean you can't communicate and coordinate, collaborate, and care for your community.
		And so what we've done is in the mayor's office, I'm hiring an immigrant liaison officer.
		I want those community members to know that I'm listening, I'm caring, and we have weekly meetings with them.
		So I think my advice is be proactive.
		I know we're all reacting right now.
		Be proactive.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Bring your community in.
unidentified		Fear and chaos is what is allowing this administration to win.
unidentified		The division is allowing them to win.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		The way we really win is we bring information to the community.
unidentified		And we have, like I said, the ACLU and the police are working together.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition doing training, live stream trainings with all the mayors.
unidentified		We're just really communicating well.
		And when the city and the residents see the mayor doing that, I think that's one of the reasons the city hasn't blown up on me is because we've been really communicating and building that relationship with the community members, letting them know we've got your back.
		We're doing the best we can.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		We're trying.
unidentified		And so I would say try and put that plan together.
		I could answer that a little bit too on behalf of the, I think, the nonprofits in the cities and the Twin Cities area.
		There's a long history of collaboration.
		I think many of you heard me mention yesterday that when storms arrive in Minnesota in the wintertime, as they always do, it's not panic that sets in, but what prevails among all Minnesotans is purpose.
		And so that purpose of collaborating together to make sure that neighbors are fed, that kids are getting to school, that we can do all the things that we need to do.
		It's a common Minnesota trait.
		And so for Mayor Bussey, who has in his town next to mine the largest food shelf in the state of Minnesota, all of our cities are trying to make sure that we support the financial needs that they have.
		Nonprofits are helping support them.
		Neighbors are forming up long lines of cars to pick up groceries to take to people that don't dare leave their homes.
		Kids are getting taken to schools and daycare.
		As somebody mentioned, I think even some folks are standing guard at daycare to make sure that families don't get separated.
		So this is what goes on in Minnesota, and all those wonderful nonprofits that we have are collaborating together, whether they have a school affiliation or a more general public affiliation or are built around food security or rental security.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		They're all working together.
unidentified		I would also ask, as I look around this room, each and every one of us have a lot of great faith communities in our cities.
		Mayors are the great conveners, and I convene our faith leaders to come together to identify what the issues are and what we can do together to make sure that our people are taken care of.
		I have two big mosques in my city.
		They show up in these convening.
		I have Christians, Jews, Hindis, and they show up and working together and not being afraid.
		But let me tell you, as Mayor Bussey has said, retribution is real.
		And because of my statements, what Mayor Bussey talked about, ICE agents have doubled up in my city.
		We have a fragile democracy, and it is our responsibility as mayors to ensure that each and every day we fight to make sure that we don't lose this wonderful experiment called American Democracy.
		And each and every one of us took an oath to say that we will support and uphold the Constitution of these United States.
		Please remember that each and every day, that that is our prime directive.
		And there are times there is a balance, as Mayor Bussey spoke to, about what are you going to say and how is it going to hurt your residents and your businesses.
		Too many of our businesses are closed.
		I just had more reports this morning.
		And one of the things that's happening, one of the reports that I received that this morning Mr. Holman made a speech and he's now going after our observers who are paying witness and recording the experience that they are seeing.
		So more retribution and the people of Minnesota are not going to back down.
		We're going to stay strong.
		We're going to protect our democracy.
		We're going to protect the Constitution that we uphold and support.
		So mayors, as I sit here and I look around this table, my heart is heavy for all of us.
		You asked the question, what's the end game?
		It's us, the collective voice of the citizens of this country to stand together and to protect our democracy.
		It may be messy, but it's worth fighting for.
		So I have a question.
		If I could, please.
		Sharon Tucker, Mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
		And today we convened a meeting with my leadership team at 1 to discuss our plans and our options because Fort Wayne is the second largest city of the state of Indiana, but we have the largest Burmese population.
		And for all those who have been watching the news, our department has released the protection for the Myanmar community and members living in Burma.
		So my community is now living on the edge of their seat of fear that ICE will be moving into our community.
		And so there was a question posed to me today that I was unable to answer.
		And I'm hoping that those of you who have experienced ICE in your community could assist us with this.
		And the question was: if a firefighter or a police officer witnesses a member of ICE harming a community individual that needs care, what would be the appropriate way for them to intervene to give that care?
		Should they identify themselves and then ask if they should give care?
		Should they wait till ICE moves on?
		What can we do to make sure that we are keeping our members safe and providing them the vital services of public safety that is our responsibility?
		I'll jump in on this one.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Thank you for the question.
		I think what we've seen from cities across the country is it's really important to give clear direction to public safety about interactions with Homeland Security.
		So I think your question gets to that.
		There are obviously different approaches across the country.
		I think encouraging your public safety to engage directly with your residents to ensure their safety is really crucial.
		Obviously, if somebody from DHS blocks them from getting involved, that's one thing.
		But giving them direction that you want them to provide care and support to a community member as they always would in the public, I think is something that is an appropriate direction to give them and to clarify for them.
		And I think in a moment where there's uncertainty about the community, I think that also creates opportunity, like you've heard from some of these mayors, to engage partners in the community, to support know-your-rights trainings, and other ways to partner with the local community so that immigrants feel connected and supported.
		I'll just say, Mayor, because I asked the same question to our city attorney and our chief of police, and our answer is clearly yes.
		Our officers have a duty to intervene if someone is injured or in need of aid, and if someone is in the way of that intervention, we have the opportunity to remove them.
		And so I think we do believe that is the law in our city.
		If that instance happens, I would encourage you to look into your own.
		But I think our officers would feel like they were derelict in their own duty if they couldn't do that.
		That's what they took the oath for, and they plan to keep it.
unidentified		I have a question.
unidentified		Angelo Castillo, Pembroke Pines, Florida.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		I'm not clear about where the lines get drawn on jurisdictional questions in terms of enforcement, Fourth Amendment questions, 10th Amendment questions, the basic constitutional issues that the mayor was referring to.
unidentified		There seems to be a complete blur, even though we have an era right now where the federal courts are essentially leaning in a strict constructionist sort of way.
unidentified		I just heard a Minneapolis mayor say that he feels he's being invaded.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Those are strong words in a constitutional sense.
unidentified		Where is the law on this?
unidentified		And how is that evolving?
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Because there are Fourth Amendment questions that I see.
		There are 10th Amendment questions there, I see.
		There are local jurisdiction prosecutorial issues.
		How does that all sort of lay out?
unidentified		Where's the toolbox?
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		So let me unpack that real quick.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		On the federalism issue, the 10th Amendment issue that you're raising, the law is very clear that the federal government can't coerce, can't force local governments to engage in immigration enforcement.
unidentified		Well, in my city, that's exactly what they did.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Well, I was forced, I was, well, my city was forced to sign an enforcement agreement.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		287G, right?
unidentified		That's correct.
unidentified		Yeah, under state law.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Under threat of removal from office.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		That's a state law in Florida that's mandating it.
unidentified		That's right.
unidentified		Yeah.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		So that's different than the federal government mandated.
unidentified		Okay.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		But I mean, still, I mean, this is a problem.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		That's a problem.
unidentified		It does theoretically apply to.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		For instance, we have the opposite state law in Colorado that we do not comply with 287Gs, and so we don't do that under our state law.
		So I think that is a state law distinction.
		But we just joined the Minneapolis suit over this very 10th Amendment question, which is it's the commandeering clause.
		You cannot commandeer the role of local law enforcement by federal law enforcement, whether you're either forcing local law enforcement to do your bidding or you're just overwhelming local law enforcement such that you are the de facto law enforcement because your troops outnumber the local police department two or three or five to one.
		We would argue that is commandeering local law enforcement, and that's a violation of the 10th Amendment.
		So that's what Minneapolis is suing under, and we've joined.
unidentified		Those issues are the subject of litigation at Minnesota right now.
		Because anecdotally, I think by affidavit, they're getting testimony from people regarding the issues of racial profiling, entering people's homes through coercion, trying to enter somebody's house with an administrative warrant instead of a judicial warrant.
		All these issues are, and behavioral conduct is in front of the federal court, federal district court in Minnesota right now.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Well, I'm a law and order guy, but no wonder their faces are covered.
		Well said.
		Go ahead.
unidentified		So thank you.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Thank you, Mayor.
		So unfortunately, I think we're out of time for this session.
		I know that there's a lot more to talk about, and I encourage everyone to stay engaged.
		At this time, I'll pass it over to Mayor Johnson for final remarks.
		A 60-second closing.
		I mean, we talked about this, and Jonathan mentioned it.
		You know, the president has announced that as of February 1, which will be Monday, they will cut all federal funds to any city or state that they deem to be supporting or welcoming migrants.
		That means we could all wake up on Monday morning with different cities with different policies and different populations, and all of us at risk at losing access to core federal dollars.
		Imagine if you passed a policy to say you're going to stop picking up trash for folks who didn't vote for you or stop providing police services to folks in certain neighborhoods of the city.
C-SPAN's Democratic Process 00:04:25
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		It would be unconscionable.
		And so I would just say we're going to have the chance, hopefully, to either stand together if that happens or to be able to hope that it doesn't.
		But in the event that we wake up with that eventuality, I think the key is mayors are going to have to hold together in that moment to say, how do we stand up for the basic notion that you're entitled to services as a taxpayer in this country when you pay taxes?
		Because I think that will be what's at stake.
		And I'll just close with the mayor of Berkeley's comments.
		You know, the Justice Center in the center of Denver, which is our state justice center, is named after Ralph Carr, who was the Republican governor of Colorado in the 1940s when the U.S. government started interning Japanese Americans.
		And he resisted and refused and said this is un-American and unconstitutional.
		And I was unpopular and he lost re-election.
		He never won a second term.
		But at the end of 2001, the Denver Post said, who is the single most important citizen of the 20th century in Colorado?
		It was Ralph Carr.
		Because in a moment when those things were unpopular, he stood up for the values that were most enduring.
		I think that's going to be our challenge in this moment.
		and I hope we will stand together when it comes.
		Sorry.
		If you do...
		If you do want to reach out for help, support, contact, let me give you an email address.
		It's lwaxman at usmayors.org.
		Laura is the organizes this committee.
		So if you want to get in touch with a fellow mayor, you need support, you have questions about what collective action we can take, that would be the best contact.
		Thank you all so much for being here.
unidentified		And a live look at the U.S. Capitol as the region continues to dig out from a massive snowstorm.
		The Senate today has been working on trying to avoid a partial government shutdown.
		A vote to advance a six-bill funding package to continue operations past Friday night at midnight failed by a vote of 45 to 55.
		60 votes were needed to move forward.
		At issue is funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes immigration officials and ICE.
		Democrats are insisting that money for the agency be stripped out of the minibus package.
		According to news reports, the White House appears to be open to that idea.
		We'll continue to bring you updates as the government shutdown approaches, and you can keep an eye on our government shutdown clock, showing the amount of time Congress has left to act on the bottom right of your screen across the C-SPAN networks.
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A Year Later: Remembrance and Resolve 00:13:09
unidentified		Today marks one year since a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet collided in mid-air near Reagan National Airport, just outside Washington, D.C., killing all 67 people on both aircraft.
		The National Transportation Safety Board conducting a hearing this week after investigating the crash and determining that, quote, systemic failures in airspace design, safety oversight, and risk management by the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Army contributed to the accident.
		They also recommended changes to helicopter route design, air traffic control procedures, safety management systems, data sharing, and collision avoidance technology.
		Coming up shortly, we'll show the remarks from NTSB Chair Jennifer Hamindy, speaking to reporters about the findings.
		But first, a memorial honoring the victims who were on board the regional jet.
		It includes Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee leaders delivering remarks in remembrance of those who died.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Good evening, and thank you all for being here tonight.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		We gather not for an easy reason, but for a deeply important one.
unidentified		We're here to remember the 67.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		The fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, cousins, friends, family members, and loved ones who were tragically taken from us on the night of January 29th.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Before we begin, I invite you to join me in a moment of silence to honor their lives and their souls.
unidentified		Thank you.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Though they are no longer with us in the way that we wish they could be, I truly believe they are in this room tonight.
		Their presence in the love that surrounds us, in the memories we carry, and in the resolve that has brought us all together.
		My name is Olivia Rinaldi.
		I'm a White House reporter for CBS News, and I was there on the night of the crash.
unidentified		It's a memory I will never forget.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		It was all hands on deck from the first responders, many of whom are in this room tonight, who did not hesitate.
unidentified		They did not waver.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		They charged towards the site into that frigid, icy water, to try to save as many lives as humanly possible.
		They answered a call that no one ever hopes to receive, and they did so with courage, urgency, and selflessness.
		In the face of chaos and heartbreak, they showed us what service truly looks like.
		Inside the airport, families waited near the baggage claim, near the doors, holding on to hope for loved ones that would never come home.
		Those images stay with you, and they certainly have stayed with me.
		I met Laura O'Jean and Amy Hunter several weeks later at a congressional hearing in Washington.
		Their cousin, Peter Livingston, his wife Donna, and their two daughters, Everly and Olydia, were on board American Airlines Flight 5342.
		Amy, Laura, and Rachel came to Washington to do what their families in their grief could not, to seek accountability and to demand answers for why 67 lives were lost that night.
		Over the past few years, excuse me, over the past year, these families, bound together by unimaginable loss, became powerful agents for change.
		While navigating their own grief and reshaping their lives around what can never be replaced, they used precious time off to return to Washington again and again to advocate for reforms to ensure that no other families have to stand where they stand right now.
		We are here tonight to remember the 67 and to honor the lives they lived and the love that they left behind.
		But we are also here to recognize those who, in the years since the crash, have worked tirelessly to ensure that their legacy is one of meaning, action, and change.
		We are here to pay tribute to the unsung heroes who stood beside these families long after the headlines faded.
		And we are here to thank the first responders who ran toward the danger, who gave everything they could, and still carry this night with them.
		In the months that followed the tragedy, it was the strength, courage, and perseverance of these families that shone through, even in the darkest of moments.
		And with that, it is my honor to introduce you to Amy, Laura, and Rachel.
unidentified		Good evening.
unidentified		My name is Laura O'Jean, and tonight I stand here alongside two of my cousins, Amy Hunter and Rachel Ferris.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Some of you may know us as the Livingston Cousins.
		For those who do not, as Olivia just said, our cousin Peter, his wife Donna, and their two daughters, Everly and Olivia, were on flight 5342.
		Like so many families here tonight, our lives were forever changed in an instant one year ago.
		In the days and weeks that followed our tragedy, as we tried to make sense of the unimaginable, our families came together.
		Families who had never met before found themselves connected by loss, by love, and by the shared work of figuring out how to move forward.
		Tonight, as we honor the 67, we remember the lives that were lost, not as a number, but as people.
		People who spent their free time working with dog rescues, quilting, traveling, and hunting with friends.
		Supportive parents and coaches doing everything they could for their young athletes chasing their figuring dreams.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Some were just beginning to build their families, their careers.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Some shared their voices, spreading faith and positivity over the radio.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Others were business professionals, leaders, educators, and innovators, building companies, mentoring others, and contributing to their communities.
		Trailblazers carving new paths.
		Incredibly smart, generous people with so much to offer the world and deeply loved by so many.
		As we have traversed this past year, many of us have leaned on different sources of strength.
		For some, that has been faith, trusting that God is present even in the moments we don't understand.
unidentified		For others, it has been community, service, or the people standing beside us.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Each of us has found the strength to keep going, and that shared support has helped us accept a new reality, a reality we never asked for, and we move forward together.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Getting through this year has been a collective effort, and none of it would have been possible without the support of our families and friends who have given us the strength to keep moving forward.
unidentified		Amy.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Tonight, on behalf of the families, we want to publicly acknowledge and thank each of you, the first responders and agencies who rushed towards tragedy to try and help our loved ones.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		You arrived in the midst of chaos, danger, and uncertainty, doing everything possible to rescue, to recover, to care.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		And when the initial response ended, you kept coming back, searching, working, and ensuring that every one of our loved ones was ultimately returned home to us.
		That commitment means more to our families than words can express.
		Even in the darkness, moments like a firefighter standing guard over a fallen soldier reminds us of humanity at its best.
		We also want to acknowledge something that is often left unsaid.
		No one is ever truly prepared to respond to a catastrophe like this.
		We know the weight of what you saw, what you experienced, and what you carried with you does not simply fade when the scene is cleared.
		And yet you're willing to bear that trauma in service of others.
		For that, we are deeply, deeply grateful.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		There is a quote from Mr. Rogers that many of us have held on to in difficult times.
		He said, when I was a boy, I would see scary things on the news.
		My mother would say to me, look for the helpers.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		You will always find people who are helping.
		On January 29th, we found the helpers.
		For the past 364 days, we've been finding the helpers.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Tonight is about remembrance and gratitude.
		It is also about love and what love asks of us after loss.
		When something like this happens, there's a natural urge for all of us to want the pain to end in the moment.
		to hope what happened was unthinkable, unrepeatable, or somehow behind us.
		But for the families here tonight and for many of the helpers who rush towards danger, love doesn't allow us to stop there.
		Honouring the 67 means more than remembering who they were.
		It means allowing their lives and our love for them to shape what we choose to do going forward.
		Over the past year, many families here have learned far more than we have ever expected to about aviation safety, oversight, and risk.
		Not because we wanted to, but because love compelled us to.
		And what we've learned has made one thing clear.
		Preventing future tragedies takes sustained attention, shared accountability, and the courage to act early and consistently before lives are lost.
		Advocacy for us is not about anger or blame.
		It is an act of care.
		Care for future passengers.
		Care for the professionals who work every day to keep people safe.
		Care for families we will never meet.
		We cannot change what happened.
		But love does not end with remembrance.
		It moves us to protect others.
		That is how love carries forward, not only in memory, but in action.
		Not only in grief, but in resolve.
		And to everyone here tonight, we invite you to join us in remembering the lives of those we love, in offering gratitude to those who've helped, and in carrying this work forward together.
unidentified		Thank you.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		It is now my honor to introduce Doug Lane, someone whose strength I am truly in awe of.
unidentified		For those of you who don't know Doug, he lost his wife Christine and his son Spencer on the night of January 29th.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		They were on their way home from the U.S. Figure Skating National Development Camp.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Doug has shown some incredible compassion and resilience, so please give him a warm welcome.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Hello, my name is Doug Lane.
		I lost my wife Christine and my 16-year-old son Spencer on flight 5342.
		In the days following the collision, many of us who lost loved ones made our way to a hotel right down the road from here in Bethesda, Maryland.
Part Of Something Special 00:05:42
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		It was there that we met some of the unsung heroes that we honoured earlier, including the extraordinary team, the NTSB, as well as the amazing people at the DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
		And what we quickly realized was that we were part of something special.
		It was where, in addition to meeting those people, we all met, many of us met each other for the first time.
		And through that, what we realized is that while we were powerless in that moment to help our loved ones, we were not powerless to help each other.
		So that's what we did.
		And we've been doing that ever since.
		We stay connected through an online messaging platform daily.
		We meet for weekly calls, video calls.
		Some of those calls are just focused on connecting and supporting one another.
		Others are focused on organizing, learning, and advocating for change.
		Our family group is now 118 people strong, and together we've accomplished some truly remarkable things over the past year.
		This very event was entirely conceived, funded, planned, and executed by members of our family group.
		An extraordinary testament to what the power and power of collective purpose and love can do.
		We've also made meaningful progress towards our mission of making the skies safer for all in honor of those we lost.
		The people you'll hear from next have been among our most valued partners on that journey.
		Chairman Ted Cruz and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell of the Senate Commerce Committee worked across party lines to develop the ROTAR Act, an ambitious bipartisan set of safety reforms that will finally turn long-overdue NTSB recommendations into law.
		The ROTAR Act passed the U.S. Senate unanimously in December and now awaits action by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
		Please call your congressmen and urge them to take action immediately.
		One congressman that you don't need to call is Congressman Don Bayer, who has been one of our strongest voices in the House of Representatives, and he'll be joined by Aaliyah Gaskins, Mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, to share something special they've been working on together.
		And as we saw on full display yesterday, Jennifer Hamindy, chair of the NTSB, has inspired all of us through her leadership, tenacity, and unwavering commitment to keeping families safe as they move through life.
		And finally, our first speaker, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, confronted the tragedy of Flight 5342 on his very first day of the job.
		Since then, he has offered our families candor, respect, and a true seat at the table as we've worked together to ensure that something like this never happens again.
		Please join me in welcoming Secretary Duffy to the stage.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		Well, I first want to say I am humbled to be with all of you tonight.
		A year ago, none of us knew each other.
		Families didn't know each other.
		We didn't know the first responders.
		You didn't know the policymakers.
		A country hadn't come together around the horrible tragedy that would take place a day later.
		And tonight, we mourn the loss of your loved ones, your neighbors, your friends.
		But we also come together to celebrate them as well.
		And I know the families, it's got to be hard to go through the videos and the pictures of the ones you lost.
		But I've got to tell you, you did an amazing job.
		The video was absolutely remarkable.
		Thank you for sharing those private moments with all of us.
		It's a video that shows life, hope, dreams.
		It shows the future of the people that we lost.
		It makes it that much more painful as we come together on this night to celebrate their lives that are no longer with us.
		I was only a day on the job, and I've learned a lot, and I know you all learned a lot as well.
		We've learned a lot in the last year.
		I spent those first hours with the acting administrator of the FAA, Chris Rushlow, who's here tonight and did a fantastic job that night leading the FAA with Lee McKenna as well.
		Both of them were steadfast partners.
		But as the tragedy unfolded and we took a look at what kind of systems we had and what went wrong, I want to thank all of you because you had a number of choices.
Choices That Shaped Safety 00:03:05
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		What were you going to do?
		Obviously, you were angry.
		You couldn't comprehend how could this happen?
		Who could let this happen?
		Why didn't someone do something?
		And you had choices.
		And you made a choice to pay it forward, to pay it forward in a way that some other family wouldn't have to go through what your family went through.
		And you channeled it into positive energy to make a difference.
		And I want to thank you for that because you have made a difference.
		And I want to talk about a couple of the things that have happened in the last year.
		And so with the NTSB, who's here tonight, and Chair Jennifer Homody, on the day after, we came together and made a decision with the FAA that we were going to ban fixed-wing cross traffic in DCA, the cause of this crash.
		We were going to stop it no more.
		I'm going to tell you, there was some pressure to bring this back.
		We're like, no, it's not coming back.
		But then we said, if this could happen in D.C., could this happen somewhere else?
		Is someone else at risk?
		And so we used AI technology to look at what kind of reports have come in to identify other dangerous airspaces that we need to address.
		And we found several, and we all worked together and addressed those issues that we use modern day tools to find, but modern day tools that should have been used on the months and years before this tragedy took place.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		My colleague and I, Senator Cruz, are dedicated to the passage of the ROTAR Act.
		And we don't just mean in the United States Senate.
		mean we want it on the president's desk and we want it on the president's desk as soon as possible and as somebody who knows what this fight is all about i can just tell you that the paper today said something incredibly important
		The NTSB has been saying things for a long time and nobody's been listening, but Jennifer Homody got it over the goal line and she basically made it clear we need to change the FAA and it too needs to be a more accountable organization to the safety and lives of our loved ones.
		So thank you, Jennifer, for doing your job.
		And we too have to continue to evangelize, to continue to tell our fellow Americans that this unbelievable loss that we've suffered.
		And Christina, thank you for Mikey's photo.
A Promise in Texting Hearts 00:07:29
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Thank you for constantly sharing and sending me little messages by text.
		I'm thinking this woman lost her son and she's texting me.
		She's texting me to tell me these things.
		And when I see the beauty of all those families, the joy, the love, the celebration of life, and to think that that has been stolen from all of us,
		all I know is that just as you've transformed yourself into a powerful organization to speak about the need for aviation safety, you are going to help everybody in the United States understand this problem and get it over the gold line so that our future will be safer.
		But trust me, trust me, I'm never going to forget your loved ones.
		God bless all of you.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		Good evening.
		Governor Spanberger, Mr. Secretary, Senators.
		Tonight we gather with broken hearts to mourn the 67 beautiful people whose journeys ended far too soon.
		Parents and children, partners and friends, colleagues and neighbors, they're carry dreams, responsibilities, laughter, love, and their absence leaves a silence that we can never fully fill.
		You know, life isn't just loss, but life is a lot of loss.
		I read once that tragedy has no meaning, that we can't just stare at it long enough to figure out, to understand it.
		Rather, it's to us, the living, to give this unspeakable abomination meaning, to come together in loving to deepen our faith, in believing more deeply, to love more abundantly.
		In moments of profound loss, we're tested.
		We honor ourselves, figuring out how to honor those we've lost and how to carry forward their memory with dignity and with care.
		Our community has always been a place defined by compassion, resilience, by the belief that we show up for one another, especially in times like these.
		There will be much more to do in the months to come, including passing the Rotor Act in the House, both to honor the lives lost and do everything we can to make sure that this never happens again.
		And we will stand with the families and the loved ones in every step of the way.
		Tonight, we want to share a step in taking the honor of the lives lost and provide a space for remembrance and reflection.
		Let me give you the Mayor of the City of Alexandria, Aaliyah Gaskin.
unidentified		Good evening, everyone.
		I want to thank you first and foremost for having me tonight, not only to mourn with you, but to join with you in the fight for a more accountable future.
		As mayor of the city of Alexandria, I can tell you that for many Alexandrians, the tragic events of January 29th, 2025 were deeply personal.
		Personal because DCA is right in our backyard, and so it was many of our first responders from our police department and our fire department that were first on the scene.
		But personal more so because so many Alexandrians lost their teammates, their classmates, their friends, and neighbors.
		And so I know there are no words that can take away the pain of that day or the pain that you are carrying each and every day.
		But I can tell you that Alexandria is responding in the only way we know how, with love and with a commitment to honor your loved ones.
		And so we will be creating a memorial in River Great Park on the banks of the Potomac River.
		This site where the river begins to meet and move slowly forward will be a place of remembrance and reflection.
		We're grateful for Congressman Bayer as well as all of the families that have worked with us.
		This memorial will include a bench.
		It will also include a plaque with each of the 67 names that were lost on that horrific day.
		Every name will be acknowledged, every life will be remembered, and every story will be told.
		And so it is our hope that in love, this place will also be a promise, a promise that when you come, you will see new trees to represent your family members.
		You will feel a sense of peace, and you will know that your loved ones and each of you will forever be in our hearts.
		And that in your grief, in your times of reflection, and in your fight for more accountability, Alexandria will always be with you.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Thank you.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		Thank you so much, Chair of the National International Education Agency.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		I thought I was the closer.
		I think it's Senator Cruz.
		Thank you.
		Thank you for inviting us at the NTSB to take part in such a special night.
		The invitation for tonight said this evening was designed as a moment of unity, a time for us all to come together, a moment of remembrance, a chance to honor those we lost, those who will forever remain in our hearts, in my heart.
		A moment of gratitude, certainly for the first responders, the unsung heroes, law enforcement, fire officials, dive teams, the DC Office of Medical Examiner, federal, state, and local agencies, and of course, our Transportation Disaster Assistance team who support families in crisis after tragedy.
		But also a moment of gratitude for all of you.
		I've said this many times, but it's worth repeating.
		You're an inspiration to all of us.
		You have, and I said this yesterday, you have, in the wake of absolute devastation, shown remarkable selflessness, courageously advocating for important reforms to improve aviation safety.
Commit To Safety 00:15:04
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		But the invitation also talked about a moment of resolve, which is what I want to talk about tonight.
		Last night we completed our year-long investigation, issuing 74 findings and 50 recommendations aimed at preventing similar suffering for other families.
		That was just the first step.
		Now the important work, the hard work, begins.
		That means relentlessly, vigorously pursuing safety change.
		That means doing everything, absolutely everything in our power collectively to make sure the lessons learned from this devastating tragedy turn into lives saved.
		Our recommendations are voluntary.
		Real safety change occurs only when they're acted on.
		Otherwise, they're simply words on a page.
		I mentioned yesterday our investigation of Colgan Air Flight 3407.
		50 people died.
		I mentioned our investigation of American Airlines Flight 587.
		260 people aboard the plane died, five on the ground.
		One was 17 years ago, the other was 2001.
		Between those two investigations, we issued 40 safety recommendations, every single one of them aimed at preventing tragedy from reoccurring.
		Today, 13 of them remain in an unacceptable status, meaning zero action.
		Almost half.
		Sometimes there's immediate progress.
		Sometimes it takes years.
		Other times it takes decades.
		All that is to say, enduring change can take time.
		Making the system-wide changes we need doesn't come easy.
		We may have a very long, uphill battle before us.
		And yet I'm hopeful.
		That may surprise some of you, but it's true.
		Because as I look around, I see who's in the fight with the NTSB.
		You.
		I see governors.
		I see fellow members of the NTSB.
		I see secretary.
		I see senators, a deputy administrator.
		I, Liam, Chief Counsel.
		A few years ago, I read an article that stuck with me and has stuck with me many times when I talk about road safety.
		This was from a road safety advocate, and she wrote, if ending car crash deaths is our actual goal and not just a catchphrase, we will treat collisions as both an outrage and a tragedy.
		And more important, an opportunity to talk about how to build a world where there are no accidents.
		She goes on to say we can do so much more than mourn and shrug and cast blame after people die.
		Instead, we can radically expand the radius of our compassion and urgently pursue life-saving strategies outside our comfort zone.
		Because if we don't, zero will forever remain out of our reach.
		I'd say the same for aviation.
		We at the NTSB believe zero is the only acceptable number of lives lost in transportation and all throughout transportation.
		Zero.
		Some people say it's not attainable.
		I say that's not true.
		Because if we don't have zero as our goal, that means we are accepting that some people should die.
		So how do we get there?
		By urgently pursuing life-saving strategies outside of our comfort zone.
		Strategies like the ones we recommended based on our investigation.
		But those of us in the aviation community need, must be unafraid to acknowledge that these systemic failures that led to this tragedy are ours to fix, even if they predate us.
		Unafraid to take accountability, unafraid to be 100% honest in acknowledging what went wrong and 100% committed to fixing it.
		Unafraid to ensure that no more families endure such tremendous loss.
		Unafraid to fight for their sons and daughters, their spouses and partners, their parents, their friends, their colleagues and classmates, their coaches and teammates, their union brothers and sisters.
		And I say that because some of your loved ones were union brothers and sisters.
		I come from the labor movement.
		I was a Teamster, and we have a saying, I know you know it: mourn the dead and fight like hell for the living.
		Mourn the dead and fight like hell for the living.
		To me, that means accepting zero is the only goal.
		It means implementing all of the NTSB's aviation safety recommendations, not just those we issued this week.
		Earlier, I said I was hopeful, and I am.
		Because again, as I look around, I see in everyone's faces the recognition that safety is a shared responsibility.
		We must do this together.
		It's going to take all of us.
		You cannot and should not, should never, ever do this alone.
		Powerful safety champions are with you, champions like Secretary Duffy, champions like Senator Cruz, champions like Senator Cantwell, and so many more.
		I am with you.
	The NTSB is with you.
	That is our agency's mission.
	That is my mission.
	And I commit to you that the NTSB will never, ever give up.
	We will never give up until every single one of our safety recommendations are fully implemented.
	Until there's no longer a need for our recommendations, until there's no longer a need for the NTSB, until we have a safe transportation system for all, until there are zero grieving families.
	Today, we remember your loved ones.
	But today, we demand action.
	Today and every day to come, we commit, we commit to fighting like hell for safety in their memory.
unidentified		Thank you. Good evening.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		Tonight is a solemn evening.
		One year ago tomorrow, tragedy struck just a few miles from here over the Potomac River.
		67 souls were tragically lost in a single instant.
		Every one of those lives lost mattered.
		Every person lost is missed terribly.
		Unfortunately, for so many in this audience tonight, it is a loss that you carry with you every single day.
		Yet amid unimaginable grief over the past year, we've also witnessed extraordinary strength.
		We've seen resilience, courage, and determination.
		Instead of turning inward, you chose to stand up, to speak out, and to insist that we do everything humanly possible to ensure that no other family would endure the pain that you have faced.
		Over the past year, I've had the privilege of meeting with many of you personally, caring about your loved ones, your stories, your frustrations, and your hopes.
		And it has helped shape the work we have done and only strengthened my resolve.
		I remember meeting with Tim and Sherry Lilly the week of the crash and many of the family members of others lost several times since.
		After the crash, it became clear that serious gaps had allowed this accident to happen.
		Gaps in oversight, in coordination, and regulation that allowed an area of intolerable risk to persist.
		I know this isn't a political event and that policy is not the focus, but I want to convey a very real message.
		In Congress, we have made serious progress in advancing the Rotor Act, bipartisan aviation safety legislation.
		We're very close to having it become law.
		Thanks to the effort and leadership of many of the families gathered here tonight, the Senate has passed the Rotor Act unanimously, every Republican, every Democrat coming together to speak as one.
		And I'm hopeful that our House colleagues will step forward and pass it as well.
		The reforms being debated would not have happened without the tenacious advocacy from family members here tonight.
		For that, I want to say thank you.
		Thank you for investing your time and energy and grief into action.
		I am committed to seeing this work through, to honoring the lives lost by ensuring that meaningful aviation safety reforms become law.
		While we cannot change the past, we can work together to create a safer future.
		One that honors your loved ones, not just for how they were lost, but for the enduring impact that their lives made.
		Thank you, and may God bless each and every one of you.
unidentified		As we come to the close of tonight's program, I want to thank each and every one of you for being here, for showing up, for bearing witness, and for honoring the lives of the 67.
unidentified		This night has been about community and what happens when we don't let tragedy be the final word.
maria cantwell ▲ ● ▼		We have heard from the families who have turned their unimaginable grief into purpose, from the first responders who ran towards that danger without hesitation, from advocates who continue to push for answers, accountability, and change so that no other families have to stand where they stand right now.
		While nothing can undo what happened on the night of January 29th, the legacy of the 67 is still being written every day in the courage of their loved ones, in the reforms that are being pursued, and in the collective resolve to do better.
		As you leave here tonight, I hope you carry their memory with you.
		Carry it in the way that you look out for one another, in a way I know the families do.
		In the way you honor service, in the way you choose compassion, even when it is hard.
		May we continue to remember the 67, not only for how they died, but for how they lived and the change their lives continue to inspire.
		Thank you all for being here tonight.
		Thank you for remembering, and thank you for ensuring they are never forgotten.
Improving Safety Culture 00:16:01
unidentified		Ready?
unidentified		Yeah, one minute.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Okay, great.
unidentified		Ready?
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		All right, good afternoon.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		I am.
unidentified		What?
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Am I good?
		Everybody's satisfied?
		Okay.
		I'm Jennifer Hammondy.
		I am chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, and thank you for being here today.
		We have spent half a day now focused on finalizing our investigation report from the mid-air collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
		This has been a 12-month endeavor through some pretty difficult times, including the longest government shutdown in history.
		But our team is an expert staff, and it really has been an all-hands-on-deck effort.
		There has been a lot of testing of equipment and simulations that we've gone through over months.
		And now we're pleased that we're at the point where we can release our findings, our probable cause, and our safety recommendations, which we'll get into this afternoon.
		I will tell you, though not public yet, the draft report is well over 500 pages.
		I can't remember the last NTSB report that was that extensive, but also, in addition to that, our evidence is quite extensive, exceeding 19,000 pages in our public docket.
		So, with that, we still have an afternoon where we're going to get into some additional issues and then get into the findings, probable cause, and safety recommendations.
		But I'll take a few questions.
		Chris, you were the first to raise your hand.
		I will ask if you can state your name and your affiliation.
		If you could keep it to one question, largely because I need another coffee.
		But also, you know, if we need to do more than rounds, one round, that's okay.
		Go ahead.
unidentified		Chris Fankley from CBS News.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		There's very clear frustration from the board, it sounds like, when it comes to the FAA's role in all of this, should the FAA have known there was a problem?
unidentified		Should something have been done?
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		The question is: should the FAA have known there was a problem, and should something have been done?
		Absolutely.
		The data was there.
		The data was in their own systems.
		It was the NTSB working with them to determine that there were 15,214 close proximity events, 85 of which were serious over a number of years.
		That's just the data.
		Why collect data if you're not going to analyze it?
		Then they were supposed to conduct annual reviews of helicopter routes to consider: are they still safe?
		Is there utility to keeping them?
		Should they change?
		We couldn't find any evidence of annual reviews, nor could FAA tell us who did them.
		That is astounding to me.
		You know, just it's one, I believe, failure after another.
		But over, we can talk about the pilots, we can talk about air traffic controllers, we can talk about traffic.
		What we need to really talk about is a tower and tower personnel who were repeatedly saying, we have a safety problem here.
		We have a hotspot at the end of runway 33, and we need to do something about it.
		We have helicopter routes where we have unsafe practices right now.
		We need to do something.
		How many times does tower personnel, who by the way, put their own helicopter working group together and kept submitting one recommendation after another, we need help, we need help, we need help, apparently falling on deaf ears.
		So I will also get the, oh, she sounds angry.
		We should be angry because for years no one listened.
		This was preventable.
		This was 100% preventable.
		Frankly, having a helicopter route crossing runway 33 with only 75 feet of, that means 75 feet of vertical separation.
		What that means is 75 feet, at best, separating a helicopter and civilian aircraft.
		Nowhere in the airspace is that okay.
		Nowhere.
		This shouldn't have existed.
		Tom, you were the second person.
unidentified		I apologize.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Madam Chair, Tom Costello with NBC News, are you concerned that there may be other hotspots right now that the FAA is not paying attention to?
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Question is: Are there other hotspots?
		And am I concerned that the FAA is not paying attention to those other hotspots?
		The answer to that is yes.
		The FAA did an evaluation of the National Airspace, I believe, as a result of Senator Cruz and Senator Cantwell asking for that evaluation.
		I'm not sure that I'm not comfortable with it.
		I keep hearing about other areas in the airspace where they're concerned.
		Burbank is one where commercial airlines have called me to say the next mid-air is going to be at Burbank.
		And nobody at FAA is paying attention to us.
		So whether it is involving helicopters or not, people are raising red flags.
		And why aren't people listening?
		The FAA has to ensure safety.
		That is their job.
unidentified		Yes.
		So I know we have yet to see the text of the recommendations that will come for you this afternoon.
		I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about how you plan to sort of address some of the cultural issues that the board has displayed here.
		I know that we've talked about specific things with respect to equipage or whatnot, but how do you address some of these big cultural issues that prevented, say, controllers' recommendations from being elevated or from Army pilots really understanding some of the risks in the airspace they were funding?
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		The question is, how do you change culture essentially?
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		And are you just referring to FAA or also Army?
unidentified		Everyone, yeah.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		I mean, culture is the hardest to change in any organization.
		I can tell you this much.
		I knew there was a safety culture problem when we had a hearing on the door plug.
		We had a hearing and I asked a question, do you have a good safety culture?
		I asked Boeing, they said we could do better.
		I asked Spirit, we could do better.
		I asked FA, they said, our safety culture is great.
		My response was the individual organization that says they have a great safety culture is the problem.
		Because me, I'm the NTSB chair.
		We are the safety organization.
		But safety culture, having a good safety culture is not a destiny.
		It is a continual journey.
		It is a continual improvement process.
		So if you look at my own agency, frankly, I always think there's room for improvement.
		Always.
		But changing culture is so hard.
		So I have to say, I am to work with FAA.
		I want to work with the leadership at FAA.
		I know the board wants to work with the leadership in partnership to figure out what we can do to help improve safety culture.
		We have heard from so many individuals who won't even put their name on anything, don't want to be interviewed formally because they are afraid of retaliation.
		That's terrible.
		Because what happens then, people won't speak up when there's a safety issue.
		I know that this is on Administrator Bedford's top of his mind and the Secretary.
		We've talked about it.
		But we've got to figure out a way to improve safety culture.
unidentified		So is the FAA falling down on safety?
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		That is two questions you've got.
		I will come back to that after I call on these two, Pete and then Josh.
		Josh, I knew it was Josh, I just need to make sure.
		Yeah, I just was making, yeah, okay, Pete.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Chairman, speaking on TNN, there's a lot today about ADS-B.
unidentified		Would ADS-B have played a factor in preventing this crash and can it prevent future crashes like this?
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Absolutely.
		ADS-B in, ADS-B would have helped prevent this crash.
		We did simulations in Flight 5342.
		The crew in this accident, in this accident, from TCAS got a traffic traffic alert at 19 seconds before collision.
		You know what a pilot is doing when you get a traffic traffic alert?
		You're looking around going, well, where is it?
		Not visible in this situation.
		They would have, with ADS-B in, gotten an alert at 59 seconds before the collision and been able to take measures to avert it.
		For the helicopter crew, 48 seconds.
		They didn't even know.
		It is clear from the CVR they didn't even know it was on the left.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Should more airlines equip with ADS-B?
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Should more airlines equip with ADS-B?
		Absolutely, all of them.
		And we're not just talking airlines.
		ADS-B in, there's already ADS-B out.
		ADS-B in, which is receiving information about aircraft that's in the airspace, should be on Part 121 Commercial Airlines.
		You got passengers.
		You want to see what's there.
		It should be on Part 135 operations and it should be on 91 General Aviation.
		It should be throughout the airspace as required.
		Everywhere there's ADS-B out, there should be ADS-B in.
unidentified		So, what's your message as a special interest to push back against this?
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Sorry.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Well, that's three, and I really limited.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Really, I think it's an important question because, like, it seems that there are a lot of people who don't want this for one reason or another.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Then I'd say the question is: there are a lot of people who don't want this for one run reason or another.
		I'd say, are you for safety?
		You want lives lost, then don't do it.
		But if you want lives saved, implement it.
		We've been after this for years since 1968, frankly.
		And going back, I've got Josh, then I'll go back to your second question.
unidentified		Josh.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Oh, no, we can't.
		I wasn't real.
		I wasn't real good at.
		Just give me a peanut butter sandwich.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Josh Heineker, MS. Graph 4 is over.
		I think the conflict with helicopters and commercial air traffic at DCA is hopefully a thing of the past two days, obviously.
		But your investigation has revealed tremendous issues with DCA as it is.
unidentified		The structure of the airport that's been in place since the 40s has drastically outloaded its chaos daily to this day.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Does this give you any second thought?
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		It's your home airport about the safety at DCA and what it's going to take to make it a safer place.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Well, I certainly think about how we can make it safer.
		That's why we're here.
		It is my home airport and it's where I fly out of and choose to fly out of my whole family.
		You know, aviation is safe in general, but these are complex systems where there are safety gaps.
		And when you have certain conditions, certain systemic vulnerabilities that allow for error, you have to address those conditions.
		I will, though, take a little bit of issue on, well, this isn't an issue at DCA.
		If you look at the National Airspace evaluation that FAA did of all the other places for helicopter routes, they did not evaluate the other helicopter routes at DCA.
		They only looked at four, and we're going to have something to say about that coming up.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Have you looked at other routes around it?
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		That is not for us to do.
		FAA needs to do that.
		Geez, I don't even know.
		Well, you had your hand up before.
		Then I go to Dave and then go over here.
unidentified		Sure, one person.
		Ben Dennis is with DC News Now, do you have any evidence that one person or several people were purposefully negligent leading up to this crash?
		And if not, and if it was a period of systemic issues, how can the FAA actually be held responsible?
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		On negligence, I mean, if we felt there was any sort of negligence, there would be probably some criminal component to that, and we'd have to refer that to the authorities.
		So I don't have it.
		We don't have any evidence of just plain out negligence.
		With accountability, I mean, that's why we issue recommendations, and we're going to push hard to pursue implementation of those recommendations.
		It isn't that we ensure a safe airspace until our recommendations are implemented.
		Right now, we have 300 recommendations that have not been implemented on aviation safety, which were issued after people died.
		And those need to be implemented to save lives.
		Dave.
mike johnston ▲ ● ▼		Real quick, you mentioned in one of the presentations that the FAA rejected a recommendation to move or get rid of Route 4 of this 2013-year miss.
		You also referenced the failure to eat alcohol testing, these incidents, you know, a litany of other issues.
		What is the, and you've dealt with the FAA a number of times you referenced Pauline Schrottenberg and Mike Whittaker's letter saying we're not going to do the ADSB recommendations.
		What do you think the cultural problem is at the FAA?
		Just the agency basic knows better or doesn't what is all the time you spent on the FAA, what's the problem?
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		The question is, what is the cultural problem at the FAA?
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		What is the problem with them taking these recommendations seriously?
Cultural Crisis At FAA 00:01:12
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		I can't answer that.
		I wish I could.
		I don't know.
		But they definitely need some serious reform.
		Yes?
unidentified		I'm Paul Manchario with the Pliny Coast Transportation Team.
		I wanted to ask about the Rotor Act as it relates to ADSU technologies.
		It passed by unanimous consent out of the Senate last month, but it hasn't moved forward in the House at all.
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Have you talked to House leaders about the bill since then?
		So on the Rotor Act, I've been very focused on this investigation.
		It's a lot to read, 19,000 pages.
		I read it all over again right before we do a final report.
		It's a lot to prepare for a board meeting.
		So I've been very focused on this right now, but appreciate the leadership, certainly, of the Senate in getting that out.
		And I do intend certainly to talk to others on the House and Senate.
unidentified		Is the FAA falling down on safety comments?
jennifer homendy ▲ ● ▼		Is the FAA falling down on safety?
		I would say that they did fall down on safety.
		I believe that this Secretary, Secretary Duffy, and Administrator Bedford are committed to safety.

Chapters

00:00:00 Cities Standing Together
00:15:41 Cities Stave Off Deployments
00:20:37 Minnesotan Cities Reshape
00:35:47 DEI Grants and Community Activism
00:45:44 Mayors United for Justice
01:00:41 C-SPAN's Democratic Process
01:05:06 A Year Later: Remembrance and Resolve
01:18:16 Part Of Something Special
01:23:58 Choices That Shaped Safety
01:27:04 A Promise in Texting Hearts
01:34:33 Commit To Safety
01:49:37 Improving Safety Culture
02:05:39 Cultural Crisis At FAA