On the recordFebruary 15, 2011
Madam President, I can say it in 1 minute. Why do we not want to savage the FAA budget, cutting millions and millions, to go back to the 2008 level? Simply this: It is the safety of the flying public. The airways are getting more crowded. The delays on the ground, in the airports, are getting longer. That is the whole idea of creating a new system of air traffic control--in order to handle more traffic safely by having instruments in the cockpit that operate off our constellation of satellites that can keep the separation between airliners, can fly more efficient direct routes, and it all be coordinated instead of through radar from the ground. That is the whole purpose of the updating of the FAA air traffic control, called the Next Generation of air traffic control. If this amendment is adopted, all of that is savaged. That is not where America should be going. I yield the floor. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Arizona.
