Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am going to speak in more detail later, following up on comments that my colleague from Arizona, Senator McCain, has made. He has rightly pointed out that the Governor of the State of Arizona and our legislative leaders discussed in press conference in Arizona the impact of this legislation in Arizona. They are very worried. They have urged our congressional delegation to oppose the legislation. I will make some comments about that. But I do want to address this question of the so-called perimeter rule, which is relevant to the FAA bill that is before us, and an amendment that has been filed by Senator Ensign that will be modified and refiled sometime today, either by Senator Ensign or by Senator Hutchison. It is an amendment which I support. I am going to discuss the perimeter rule and the way that the amendment would change it, briefly, today, and then after it is filed we will have a little bit more to say about it. The Ensign amendment would have the effect of modifying an archaic regulation that has had the effect of limiting competition and travel options for those who fly in and out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Many years ago, Congress restricted the departure or arrival of nonstop flights from airports that are more than 1,250 miles from Reagan National Airport. It is called DCA, in the terminology--1,250 miles. That established a perimeter beyond which planes could not fly into or out of Reagan National Airport.…”