Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HUIZENGA. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of my amendment to better secure our advanced air mobility future.

The Advanced Air Mobility Infrastructure Pilot Program that is currently in law provides grants to airport sponsors, transit agencies, or other government subdivisions to develop comprehensive plans to advanced air mobility infrastructure.

Under current law, the Secretary of Transportation is required to prioritize awarding grants to eligible recipients that collaborate, with a few criteria. Here are those criteria: that they are a commercial advanced air mobility entity, that they are an institution of higher education, that they are a research institute, or that they are some other relevant stakeholder in this process.

Mr. Chair, my amendment is very simple. It adds the Department of Defense and the National Guard to this list of eligible recipients. There are many qualified airports throughout the Nation that already have a DOD or National Guard presence that are ready to innovate and help develop drone and related infrastructure.

This amendment is a small way to help ensure DOD and the National Guard have a voice in this important future-looking endeavor, especially given that our men and women in uniform likely have expertise in this area. Not only will they help develop this technology with their expertise, but they will literally be on the front lines of utilizing this technology.

Mr. Chair, I am glad that the underlying legislation takes steps to extend this pilot program, and I urge my colleagues to support my amendment to add the Department of Defense and the National Guard to those lists of entities that are eligible.

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Mr. HUIZENGA. Will the gentleman yield for a question?

Mr. Chairman, I was trying to get the gentleman's attention to see if he would yield for a question about his opposition.

So would the gentleman care to answer a question?

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Mr. HUIZENGA. It is currently my time. I guess my question to the gentleman is--this is very short--it says--literally it is a sentence-- ``in paragraph 4(b) by inserting `the Department of Defense and the National Guard' before `or'''--I don't see anything in there in my amendment that will bias the Secretary of Transportation to only utilize fields that have a DOD or National Guard presence. In fact, the opposite could be argued, that those fields, because they have a DOD or a National Guard presence, would somehow be excluded from the gentleman's pilot program.

So, Mr. Chairman, I am happy to yield to him very briefly if he cares to answer what his opposition is.

He doesn't care to address that, which indicates to me that he is either unsure or doesn't know or that I might be right in that.

Anyway, I still do believe that if we are having a pilot program then it ought to be open to more of our fields and not fewer of those fields.

Mr. Chair, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. HUIZENGA. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

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Mr. HUIZENGA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Puerto Rico (Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon).

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Mr. HUIZENGA. Mr. Chairman, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Puerto Rico.

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Mr. HUIZENGA. Mr. Chairman, in closing, I, again, appeal to my colleagues. I believe this is a commonsense amendment to a pilot program.

I can assure the gentleman that, yes, if my amendment is adopted on this then I will also be voting against an amendment that would end the underlying pilot program. I think he will have many others of us doing the exact same thing. So the gentleman can help himself, Mr. Chair, if he would be willing to accept my amendment, but that is up to those in opposition.

Mr. Chair, I appeal for approval of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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