Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am trying to get a vote on an amendment that Senator Klobuchar and I have submitted. To explain it, I want to show you this graphic. These are two airplanes that are exactly the same size, they are flying across the same sky, and they are flying over the same homes. But there is a difference--a difference that I am trying to fix. This one is a passenger plane. Due to an FAA regulation that Senator Snowe and I were able to get in place through a vote in this Chamber several years ago, the pilots in the passenger plane can fly only up to 9 hours a day. After that, they have to rest because pilot fatigue is a very dangerous situation facing not only our pilots but their crews and everyone that is in their vicinity. What happened when Senator Snowe and I wrote our legislation? We assumed that the regulation that would be forthcoming from the FAA would cover both passenger and cargo planes because, again, these planes share the same skies, go over the same airspace, and go over the same homes. It is a straightforward point, and fatigue is fatigue. They are not less fatigued because they are carrying cargo rather than passengers. These pilots can fly up to 16 hours a day. We know from the pilots themselves--many pilots organizations have endorsed this--that this is a very dangerous disparity, and it needs to be fixed. I am asking the majority for an up-or-down vote on this amendment. It is real simple.…”