Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe ahead of the Committee’s rail safety hearing.  

“What we are seeing is an increase in the accident rate. We’re seeing longer trains. And we’re seeing less investments on the inspections side. So if we want to have the best safety system, whether that’s in aviation or rail, then you have to have the most modernized safety equipment that’s going to help you implement that,” said Sen. Cantwell in her interview.

“The Commerce Committee prides itself in working in a bipartisan basis. That’s how we got CHIPS and Science and that’s how we’re going to get other things done. But the Brown-Vance bill shows you that these are investments that we should have made years ago,” Sen. Cantwell continued. “We’re going to see that there’s no politics in safety.”

“I think what we need to look at today is the response to these accidents. What we’re seeing is our communities can be quite vulnerable,” Sen. Cantwell said. “So what we want is we want the firefighting safety team to have the right equipment on the ground. We want the community to have the right response plan.”

WATCH Chair Sen. Cantwell Talk Rail Safety