Barbara Boxer: “I thank Senator Stevens for helping me on this amendment, and I thank Senator Cochran as well. Senator Schumer and I…”

“I thank Senator Stevens for helping me on this amendment, and I thank Senator Cochran as well. Senator Schumer and I have been very concerned about the threat of shoulder-fired missiles to American commercial aircraft. What we have found out is that there are a number of planes--about 900 planes--that are also used in the civil reserve air fleet, meaning that many times our military will ask a commercial company, such as United Airlines or USAir, to make planes available for our armed services personnel. We simply say in this amendment that when countermeasures are placed on commercial aircraft, the first priority will be those planes. To conclude, all we are saying in this amendment is when we do start to make sure that our commercial aircraft are protected from shoulder-fired missiles and we place those defenses on those commercial aircraft, the first priority will be the civil air reserve fleet because, again, that entails protecting our men and women in uniform. I again thank everyone.”