Cord Byrd: “Senator Stevens and I have an amendment to strike section 1004 of the bill. This section serves to cap the amount of…”

“Senator Stevens and I have an amendment to strike section 1004 of the bill. This section serves to cap the amount of loan guarantees that would be available to the Nation's airlines for the duration of the current fiscal year. The section also caps the total amount of loan guarantees available through the life of the program. These loan guarantees were first authorized in Public Law 107-42, the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act, which was enacted to bail out the airlines just 11 days after the tragedies of September 11. The committee included the provision capping the volume of available loan guarantees for the sole reason of reducing the overall cost of the bill as determined by the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO estimates that section 1004 of the bill serves to lower the total cost of the bill in fiscal year 2002 by $393 million. A similar provision was included in the House version of the supplemental. There has been a lot of concern voiced by various Senators, to me and to Senator Stevens and especially Senator Hollings, the chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce. And the concern has been that the effect of this provision would especially be heavy on US Airways and other airlines. But that particular airline is hopeful it might receive a Federal loan guarantee in the current fiscal year.”