FAA Reauthorization

Floor Speech

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Madam President, first, I wish to thank Senator Rockefeller for his leadership on the FAA issue. It is so important in rural areas. It is so important to attract and retain a workforce. It is so important to the local economies in large cities like Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus and in smaller communities too. As Senator Rockefeller said, our aviation system is absolutely critical for economic development.

People in big cities might make fun of small airports that they do not have all the hustle and bustle. But we do know medium-sized and smaller airports matter a great deal.

With the refusal of the House to take up a clean extension of FAA, nearly 4,000 employees across the country have been furloughed and dozens of construction projects have come to a halt. In this economy, some radicals in the House of Representatives have decided--because they have a political mission and ideology that does not quite fit with the majority of Americans--they are going to again hold hostage something that simply needs to be done; that is, what is called reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration.

As Senator Rockefeller said, these furloughed employees may be forced to look elsewhere for jobs to meet their mortgage payments or pay for groceries--these are very skilled technicians and engineers. And what does this mean to these construction projects? FAA helps to pay, all over the country, for modernization of airports--rebuilding air traffic control towers, improving runways, and making countless safety improvements.

We have all heard stories--I do not recall that I have ever seen it, but we have heard stories of the Beijing or Shanghai airports or some of these airports--I have not seen them in the last many years--about the new technologies and the modern features of those airports. As a country we cannot afford to fall behind. We have to keep up.

Not passing a clean extension of the FAA bill is exactly the wrong thing to do. The unemployment rate in the construction industry is nearly double the national average. Yet we are idling cranes and we are idling bulldozers all because of a political mission, an ideology that some Members of the House--some radical Members of the House--have decided to inflict on us.

A clean extension of FAA has been done 20 times. All of a sudden it is not. I hope the House gets serious. I hope they appoint conferees and come to the table and work this out. I appreciate very much Senator Rockefeller's leadership. He is making a difference on these important issues, and our House colleagues need to follow.

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