Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Petri, our ranking member on the Aviation Subcommittee, for yielding me this time. I am pleased also to recognize the fine work of the current chair of the Aviation Subcommittee, Mr. Costello and our chair of the full committee, Mr. Oberstar. I am here today, Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, and folks, you haven't tuned in here to the comedy hour. In fact, it is almost sort of a sad time. It almost seems like a bit of a sad comedy that we are back here for the 15th time extending FAA authorization, authorization for all of the policy, Federal programs that deal with aviation, the 15th time, and this is the 13th extension. Mr. Petri is the ranking member of aviation, Mr. Costello the current chair. When I came to Congress, Mr. Oberstar was the chair of the Aviation Subcommittee and I was in the minority but a member of the committee. From 2001 to 2008, I was the chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee. In fact, in 2003, I wrote the current FAA authorization that has been extended some 13 times with the passage of this today. I know I did a great job and a thorough job, but I never intended it to last on and on. And it wasn't intended to last on and on. At that time we did a 4-year bill. We set the policies, the projects. We set all of the safety criteria for aviation in the country. But what particularly burns me right now is we have a commuter aviation safety piece of legislation that we intend to incorporate in this extension.…”