Trent Lott: “I again say to Senator Lautenberg, I have enjoyed working with him on transportation issues--from aviation to highways…”

“I again say to Senator Lautenberg, I have enjoyed working with him on transportation issues--from aviation to highways to highway safety and certainly the rail area and most particularly with regard to Amtrak and the national rail passenger system. Earlier today, I referred to a ``Parade'' article that will be printed on November 4, 2007. This is a great article. I am going to be quoting some very interesting items that are included in this article because they are so applicable to our debate: Americans spent about 3.7 billion hours stuck in traffic last year, burning gasoline whose price had soared by 60 percent. And probably going up. At the airports, security lines snake endlessly, runways are choked, and delays are common. One recent study found that between January and August 2007, one in four flights arrived late; 159 flights were kept on the tarmac for more than 3 hours in August. I heard a story one time about a friend of mine, a Congressman from Missouri, who went to the airport and wanted to check three bags. He told the attendant: I would like this bag to go to St. Louis, this bag to Kansas City, and this bag to Chicago. They said: You can't do that. Why would you want to do that anyway? He said: Well, that is what happened to my luggage last week. There are certain indignities that go along with this. I don't want to attack airlines. We need to do more in aviation. We need a modern aviation control system.”