Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012

Floor Speech

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Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support H.R. 3801, the Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012. This bill, as you have heard, will help prevent drug smuggling across our borders, and it does it, really, in three ways:

It amends the current law to give our prosecutors the authority to charge smugglers who fly ultralight aircraft the same way as they charge smugglers who fly conventional aircraft.

Second, the bill adds both an ``attempt'' and a ``conspiracy'' provision to the aviation smuggling law. That means our prosecutors will be able to seek higher penalties when it makes sense.

And finally, the bill directs the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security to collaborate in identifying equipment and technology that could be used by our Customs officials to detect these ultralight aircraft.

This is a commonsense piece of legislation that addresses a real problem and does so in a way that deserves broad bipartisan support. A very similar bill passed the House in the last Congress by a vote of 412-3. So this is a broad bipartisan bill. I expect this bill to pass with the same kind of bipartisan support today.

What's unique about it is that it comes on the day when Gabby Giffords is going to resign from the Congress, the woman who brought this bill to the floor. And I want to congratulate her, not only on this important piece of legislation, but for the impressive record she developed over the 5 years that she was representing the Eighth District of Arizona.

We all know Gabby's spirit well enough to know she will be back to serve the public as soon as she possibly can. She has an office down the hall from mine, and I occasionally walked with her from the office over here in the times when we came over to vote, and I got to know her on a human basis. She is truly a wonderful woman, and we will miss her. She had a bright future before her here, and it's sad to us that she's leaving, but it's important for her to take care of herself.

I'm a physician. I'm a psychiatrist, and I have seen cases like hers in the past and know that the possibilities for rehabilitation are very good. But it takes time, and running political campaigns and doing the kinds of things that you have to do in this business doesn't give you much time to take care of yourself. So we want Gabby to go home and take care of herself and return to her highest level of ability, because she has much to offer the people of the State of Arizona and her husband and the country.

So it's with a great deal of sadness that we say good-bye to her, but on the other hand, we're very happy for her. We very much urge everyone to vote for this bill.

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