Barbara Boxer: “The Senator hasn't interrupted my argument; he has made it stronger and better. Also, we know that military transport…”

“The Senator hasn't interrupted my argument; he has made it stronger and better. Also, we know that military transport and refueling aircraft--and you have mentioned this--such as the C-17, C-130, KC-135, and the KC-10 are some of the models that employ these countermeasure systems that we believe can be and must be used for commercial aircraft. Just going to the Senator's point about the military, they are conducting thousands of hours of training on countermeasures. So to underscore what my friend has stated, we know these systems work. We also know there is a threat. I think if you look at this amendment and all the parts of it, No. 1, it is a modest step because we are not adding new funding; we are simply taking out--there is more than a billion dollars in that particular section--it is $1.135 billion--and we are saying $30 million of that should go to support the research and development and getting these prototypes ready, so we know they can be put on aircraft. Chairman Mica and I have spent time talking about this, as well as Senator Schumer. We have come to understand that as we do this research and development, and the price comes down, when the airlines in the future order new commercial aircraft--and they are spending up to $150 million a copy--to spend an extra million dollars on that is not going to be very much. So we think this is a very responsible amendment.”