H.R. 3935

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I am very pleased that the Senate has tonight passed this vital legislation. The House of Representatives should next week take it up and quickly pass it and send it to the President's desk for signature.

This legislation is a strong, bipartisan, bicameral bill that includes hundreds of priorities for Senators and Representatives, both Republican and Democrat. This bill gives the FAA the safety tools it needs at a critical time to help bring new aerospace technologies to market.

I want to take a moment to recognize the staff who has spent countless hours hammering out this legislation. This was no easy task. As I stated earlier, this bipartisan product was the result of many, many months of hard work, late nights. There were many times it appeared this bill was not going to make it over the finish line, and the hard work of the staff is a big part of the reason we are where we are tonight.

I want to thank my staff for their tireless efforts to get this bill passed into law. Many thanks to Simone Perez, who is next to me and who has not slept in about 6 months. I will note that she broke her foot stepping on a dump truck of her young son, but I personally said she got the foot boot from kicking hindquarters.

Since the Presiding Officer is also a pastor, I will make sure to speak in a way that would be appropriate in front of a pastor.

I want to thank Duncan Rankin, Andrew Miller, Matt Swint, Hannah Hagen, Ryan Cannon, Melissa Braid, Christian McMullen, Amanda Thompson, Liam McKenna, Nicole Christus, Brad Grantz, Omri Ceren, and Aaron Reitz.

I am also thankful to Chairwoman Cantwell and her staff. The chair has worked tirelessly as well. Her staff has worked tirelessly. We have worked hand in hand navigating issues--some contentious, some passionate, some that seemed would take the entire bill down--and then we went back and worked out a compromise. They have been terrific partners with us, and I look forward to our committee continuing to produce strong, bipartisan products in the near future, in the weeks and months ahead.

I would be remiss if I also didn't thank Senators Moran and Duckworth, who serve as the leaders on the Aviation Safety, Operations, and Innovation Subcommittee. I appreciate both Senator Moran and Senator Duckworth and their staff for working collaboratively with us on this bill.

Finally, I would like to thank Senate legislative counsel-- specifically, John Goetcheus, Ruth Ernst, and C.J. Murphy, who worked long hours and late nights to make this bill happen.

And now, Mr. President, I look forward to going to Ronald Reagan National Airport, getting on an airplane, and flying home to Texas.

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