Political Quotes

“when the shocking events of September 11 hit us, we all realized that major changes had occurred. The devastation and the death that was visited by the terrorists were truly shocking. But there was collateral damage as well in many areas. We are seeing small businesses that have been put out of business. We have worked hard to try to help them. But, obviously, one of the most severely affected areas of our economy--really, the lifeline of our Nation's transportation system-- the airline industry, was severely hurt by this action. Not only did we shut down flights for a period of days, which cost the airlines literally billions of dollars, their insurance rates skyrocketed and put them at risk. And when you put the airline industry at risk, you put all of us at risk because ours is a very mobile country that depends upon a healthy, competitive airline industry. I came to the floor on September 13 to urge my colleagues to take immediate action. Well, people in both Houses shared that view, and we did act. We adopted critical legislation to ensure that our airlines could continue to operate even as their insurance rates skyrocketed. This was a successful approach. Then we embarked on another approach. We said we would set up a $10 billion loan guarantee program to provide assistance to airlines that were doing well, that were 'taking off,' so to speak, but whose cash shortfall was exacerbated by the shutdown and the slow return of airline passengers.”