America's Small Business Tax Relief Act of 2015--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I thank the chairman and ranking member of the Commerce Committee for all their hard work on this FAA reauthorization bill. The Commerce Committee has done very hard work on it. I am especially pleased the committee included a provision that directly affects my home State and the city in which I live, Phoenix, AZ.

Since September of 2014, residents in Arizona around the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport have had their daily lives impacted by changes to flight paths. These changes were made without formal notification to the airport or community engagement before the changes were implemented.

These flight changes in Phoenix were made as part of the Federal Aviation Administration's ongoing implementation of NextGen. I support the aims of NextGen to improve the safety and efficiency of air travel and modernize our Nation's air space. We will all benefit from the improvements that come from NextGen, and this provision is not intended to undermine those efforts or diminish the efficiencies that have already been achieved through NextGen.

However, the experience my constituents have gone through in Arizona demonstrates that improvements need to be made to the process surrounding the implementation of NextGen. The airport and affected community must be part of the process before these changes are made.

It is important that those on the ground--the individuals who have their daily lives impacted the most by this process--have an opportunity to be heard. Input from local stakeholders is necessary to ensure that community planning and noise mitigation efforts that have been underway for decades are now taken into full account.

The language in this bill would require the FAA to review certain past decisions and take steps to mitigate impacts when flight path changes have a significant impact on affected communities, and that is certainly the case in my home city of Phoenix, AZ.

Importantly, this provision would also require the FAA to notify and consult with those communities before making significant changes to flight paths moving forward, as has happened, which has caused so much difficulty and so many ill effects on the citizens of Phoenix, AZ-- indeed, the entire valley.

The FAA has acknowledged the need to improve community outreach and is undertaking efforts to update their community outreach manual, but more needs to be done to guarantee this outreach takes place.

The Senate had previously agreed unanimously to this language as an amendment to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. However, that bill did not advance in the Senate. Also, the FAA reauthorization bill that passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee earlier this year also included similar language at the request of myself and my colleague Senator Flake.

This legislation is necessary to create a long-awaited, much needed opportunity for residents around Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport negatively impacted by flight noise to have their voices heard by the FAA. It is important that the process surrounding changes to flight paths include the local officials, airport representatives, and residents--most of all, residents--who know the issues best, both around Sky Harbor and in communities across the country.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

I also thank my colleague Senator Flake for working hard on this reauthorization and this provision that is in this bill. He and I both have been contacted by literally thousands of our fellow citizens and the people we represent in Phoenix, AZ, concerning the noise problems around Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. It didn't have to happen this way. I hope the FAA will go back and meet with the people and hear the complaints, hear their problems, and fix them.

I thank my colleague Senator Flake for his hard work on this issue. Again, I appreciate the Commerce Committee and its chairman and ranking member for including this language in this legislation that is so important to our community.

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