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Floor Speech
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Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, over the next 2 weeks, more than 7.5 million Americans will fly to see loved ones and to celebrate the holidays--a record number.
This is no easy feat. A seamless travel experience depends on airlines, on air traffic controllers, on airport managers, on TSA screeners all working together for the aviation system to run efficiently during times of extreme strain like the holiday season.
At the center of this effort is the Federal Aviation Administration, but there is one problem: The FAA's authorities are set to expire at the end of the year.
Without the FAA extension, air travel and air cargo for those counting on quick shipping during Christmas and New Year's will be severely impacted. At the moment, we face a potential challenge of not extending the FAA's authorities because of the objections of a Senate Democrat.
This is irresponsible and, frankly, bad for the safety Agency's ability to operate effectively. For the past year, Senator Cantwell, the chairman of the Commerce Committee, and myself have worked to pass a long-term FAA authorization. The authorization we drafted on a bipartisan basis addresses airport infrastructure, workforce challenges, ATC staffing, protections for passengers, the safety framework, manufacturing. I could go on.
It is an important bill that makes progress toward solving some of the challenges facing aviation, but we need to make sure we get it right. We now find ourselves having to pass a second short-term FAA authorization in less than 6 months, without even having gotten the bill through committee.
This situation was entirely avoidable, but special interests, in particular the pilots' unions like ALPA, have decided that if they can't get their way, then the American people should pay the price.
There have been several times throughout this process where we thought we had a deal, but, inevitably, some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, often spurred on by the union, have tanked these agreements.
Each month, it seems, there is a new issue we are told cannot be in the FAA bill because the unelected special interests are opposed to it. First, it was a modest reform to update pilot training. Then it was raising the retirement age for pilots. Imagine telling a perfectly healthy 66-year-old pilot who wants to fly, no, you can't fly anymore because your union has decided that younger pilots--with a lifetime of union dues still to pay--are more important than you are.
What next will unelected, unaccountable, special interests tell Senate Democrats that we are not allowed to have in the FAA bill?
Let me be clear. Short-term extensions are not good for the FAA. This extension until March should be the last extension. I am not satisfied with kicking the can down the road. I don't presume to speak on behalf of my partner in this effort, Senator Cantwell, but I am certain that she doesn't want to continue kicking the can down the road either.
I would prefer that we pass a serious, multiyear authorization, such as the bill Senator Cantwell and I agreed to in June, but, unfortunately, in the months since that stalled markup, we have not made substantial progress, and we still have numerous outstanding provisions.
I am very concerned that given the time we have, the limited progress we have made, and the constant moving goalposts in bill negotiations, that we are getting to the point that we will be forced to extend the FAA's authority until 2025.
I don't want to do that. I don't think Chair Cantwell wants to do that either. We need to get this bill done, and I am still committed to trying to do so if it is a bill that is actually bipartisan and not a special interest wish list that ignores very real problems like the pilot shortage.
In a moment, I will ask unanimous consent for the Senate to pass the FAA extension, which will last until March 8. The House earlier this week voted 376 to 15 to pass this legislation. The Senate cannot leave for the holidays without passing an extension.
Without an extension, here is what would happen: No. 1, all airport construction projects using FAA grants would immediately stop. No. 2, the FAA would lose the ability to make new expenditures from the aviation trust fund, causing many employees in airports, facilities and equipment, and R&D offices to be immediately furloughed. No. 3, special authorizations for drone operations would expire. No. 4, airlines would have no authority to collect ticket taxes that fund the aviation trust fund.
In 2011, the last time the FAA's authorization lapsed, more than 4,000 FAA employees were furloughed, and the FAA lost more than $400 million. The 2-week lapse halted billions of dollars' worth of construction projects and impacted more than 70,000 construction jobs.
Leaving town without giving the FAA the certainty to operate would be a mistake. I remain committed to working with Senator Cantwell to negotiate a truly bipartisan FAA bill that the Agency, the industry, and the flying public deserve.
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Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, at this point, I yield to the Senator from North Carolina.
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Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 6503, which was received from the House; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
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Mr. CRUZ. Madam President, early in his remarks, the Senator from Colorado said the last time he and I were on this floor debating was when I had shut down the government and he was stepping forward to save those who had been shut down. Now, that would be entirely accurate if my name were Chuck Schumer; but since it is not, what the Senator from Colorado said is blatantly, objectively false.
The last time he and I were doing this, the date was January 24, 2019. We were in the midst of the Schumer shutdown. Chuck Schumer and the Democrats had forced a shutdown. The Government was shut down, and there was a particularly unfair aspect of that shutdown, which is that Congress had voted to fund the military--the Army, the Navy, the Marines, and the Air Force--but the Coast Guards had been left out because the Coast Guards are not in DOD, they had been left out. On January 24, 2019, Senator Sullivan and I came down to this floor to seek equity for the Coast Guard, to simply say: Pay our Coast Guardsmen the same as our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines--and the Senator from Colorado stood up and objected. So understand, what he just said is exactly opposite of what happened.
Our Coast Guardsmen went weeks in 2019 without being paid during that shutdown because the Senator from Colorado objected to their getting a paycheck. And during his remarks on that day, he jumped up and down and screamed at me and insulted me to great fanfare. And I think he was proud of his performance, because he then put it in his launch email for his Presidential campaign that ``I screamed at Cruz.''
Now, I suppose I should feel mildly offended that that was not a persuasive argument in the Democratic primary and he got maybe a percent.
That was the last contest: shutting down the Coast Guard where the Senator from Colorado was responsible for tens of thousands of Coast Guardsmen not getting their paychecks.
Understand where we are today. Today, the question is, does the FAA stay open or not? And once again, the Senator from Colorado is the shutdown Senator. You know, remarkably missing from that discourse was acknowledgment that responsibility for the war in Ukraine falls very directly on the Biden White House, on Senate Democrats, and on the Senator from Colorado in particular who played a direct role in causing the war in Ukraine.
Now, how is that?
Putin did not wake up yesterday wanting to invade Ukraine. He has wanted to invade Ukraine for years. He did so in the year 2014. He invaded Crimea in the southern portion of Ukraine. But he stopped. He did not go into the full country.
Why? Because Russia's major source of revenue is selling oil and gas, and the natural gas pipelines run right through the middle of Ukraine. He could not risk damaging or destroying those pipelines.
So in 2015, Vladimir Putin began what is known as Nord Stream II, an undersea pipeline from Russia to Germany, the entire purpose of which was to circumvent Ukraine so once it was built and operational, he could invade Ukraine.
In 2019, I authored sanctions legislation to shut down the Nord Stream II pipeline. That sanctions legislation got overwhelming bipartisan support, including from the Senator from Colorado. It passed, and Putin shut down building the Nord Stream II pipeline literally the day President Trump signed my sanctions legislation into law.
In December of 2020, I again authored bipartisan legislation putting more sanctions on Nord Stream II. Once again, the Senator from Colorado and every Democrat supported it. It passed and was signed into law.
Joe Biden became President January 20, 2021. Four days later, on January 24, Putin resumed deep sea construction of the Nord Stream II pipeline. Four days later. Why? Because Biden had telegraphed weakness. He had told Putin: I am going to go soft on the Nord Stream II pipeline.
And what he telegraphed was accurate, because several months later, Biden formally waived sanctions on Nord Stream II. He gave a multibillion dollar gift to Putin and allowed him to complete the pipeline.
Now, in January of 2022, I forced another vote on the Senate floor--a vote to reimpose sanctions on the Nord Stream II pipeline. The Senator from Colorado just invoked President Zelenskyy. Oddly enough, he didn't seem to care what President Zelenskyy thought in January of 2022, because President Zelenskyy in January of 2022 begged the U.S. Senate: Please pass Cruz's sanctions legislation. It is the last best hope to stop Russia from invading Ukraine. The Government of Poland put out a formal statement saying: Please pass Cruz's sanctions. If you do not, Putin will invade Ukraine.
On the day of the vote, Joe Biden came to Capitol Hill. He came to meet with the Senate Democrats. It was the first time in his presidency he had done that. And he asked them as a personal favor: Will you stand with the Biden White House? Will you stand with Russia? Will you stand with Putin--will you vote to give billions of dollars to Putin? And, I am sorry to say, 44 Democrats flipped their votes.
On the day of the vote I stood here on the floor and said: If you vote no, we will see Russian tanks in the streets of Kyiv. But 44 Democrats flipped their votes and decided partisan loyalty to the White House mattered more than Ukraine, mattered more than stopping Russia, and just 4 weeks later, the Russian tanks rolled in. And the Senator from Colorado was one of those 44 votes who voted for Russia and Putin on the eve of the war. And if you don't believe me, go look at what Zelenskyy said in January of 2022: If you vote no, Russia will invade.
Now, I don't doubt that the Senator from Colorado today has genuine and good faith concern for the people of Ukraine. That is admirable. But understand what he is doing here. He is not doing anything related to Ukraine. He is holding the American flying public hostage. He is saying--because he is mad about what is happening on Ukraine funding-- he wants to shut the FAA down. He wants to shut jobs down in the Denver airport.
And I would just urge the Senator from Colorado to listen to a very, very wise Senator from this body. And I will read a quote:
Politics. Holding up FAA extension. Costing Colorado jobs. Hashtag ``FAA shutdown.''
Now the author of that tweet, that would be Senator Michael Bennet. He sent that on August 4, 2011--the last time we had an FAA shutdown. And I would say that Senator Bennet, I suspect, might not recognize the Senator today, but I would urge listening to the 2011 Senator who understood shutting the FAA down is bad for Colorado; it is bad for the country. And so I would urge the Senator from Colorado, if you are unhappy about Ukraine funding, don't hold the flying public hostage.
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