John Mica: “First, I'd like to insert in the Record a list of the staff who worked on H.R. 658. Mr. Speaker, as I close today on…”

“First, I'd like to insert in the Record a list of the staff who worked on H.R. 658. Mr. Speaker, as I close today on this historic legislation, again, I can't thank enough folks like Mr. Costello, who will be leaving us; Mr. Rahall, our ranking member; the leader of the committee, Mr. Petri; and others who have been here helping and working on this. I think Mr. Costello and Mr. Young summed it up: this is the work of many people. It is not exactly what any one of us individually would offer. The important thing is this provides some certainty in an uncertain time. This process is very difficult; the Founding Fathers wanted it that way. But the American people want us to get the job done. Now, just to be factual, the other side, again, had 4 years in which they controlled this body, the United States Senate, and 2 years in which they had significant majorities and the Presidency; and they could not get it done. They did 17 extensions. Let me praise Mr. DeFazio; I didn't see him here. He and I helped lead the effort to pass, in 2003, a 4-year bill that expired in 2007. That means for the past 5 years we have not had a revised and updated policy for our aviation system and for the FAA. And that hurts the system, it hurts the American people, it hurts looking for safety improvements in the process, and it hurts people looking for expanded opportunities to be employed.…”