Political Quotes

“First, I thank the appropriations chair, Ms. DeLauro, and Ranking Member Granger for their leadership in bringing these appropriations bills to the floor. I rise before you today, Mr. Speaker, to speak on behalf of my bipartisan amendment co-led by Representatives Ferguson, Davis, Fitzpatrick, and Bergman. For the last 10 years, some foreign airlines have sought to undermine international standards, the rights of U.S. workers, and to erode the competitiveness of our U.S. domestic airlines. These foreign airlines are unfairly using atypical business practices to register their airline away from its home country in more convenient locations to find countries with more permissive legal, regulatory, labor, and safety standards which creates a serious disadvantage for our U.S. workers and carriers, as well as undermines the safety standards the U.S. has worked so hard to cultivate. Commercial aviation contributes over 5 percent to the U.S. GDP and supports hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs. My bipartisan amendment seeks to prevent flags of convenience airlines from undercutting U.S. jobs by ensuring that no Federal funds can be used to approve a new foreign air carrier permit unless certain conditions are met, including evaluating if it is in the best public interest. This commonsense amendment, Mr.…”