Political Quotes

“I wish to speak on this bill and to add my voice to those who have pointed out how critical it is that the U.S. Government support our airline industry. I share some concerns, such as those expressed by the Senator from Kentucky. There are other concerns that others have expressed that also have merit. I will note in a moment why I am very concerned about a provision of the bill. I would not have written it the way it is written, but I think fundamentally the U.S. Government must support our airlines at this critical time. Everyone knows what happened on September 11. Everybody knows that as a result the U.S. Government shut down the airlines--no more air travel until we deemed it was safe. That shutdown resulted in huge losses to our airlines, not just for the days those airlines were down, but we have seen a continuation of a reluctance of people to fly, a diminution in the revenues of these airlines, fewer flights, people laid off and, frankly, the possibility of a spiraling down of this industry to the point that it could affect many other facets of our economy and drive our GNP down to an unacceptable level.”