Political Quotes

“my congressional district encompasses O'Hare International Airport and many of the residential communities that surround O'Hare, communities, I might add, that will lose hundreds, if not thousands, of homes and businesses to airport development should this expansion plan be approved. Please do not be deceived because this bill is on the Suspension Calendar. As the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson) said, it is highly controversial, involves constitutional issues, antitrust issues, environmental issues and, most seriously, the issue of bulldozing an entire community of low-income homes, largely peopled by the Hispanic population. Northern Illinois does need additional airport capacity; everyone agrees to that. O'Hare is at capacity. So the real question is whether we build a new airport that is safe and can expand with time, or whether we refurbish the old airport. The proponents of this bill that the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski) are advancing want to double the amount of flights going into the busiest airport in the world each year to accommodate 1,600,000 operations a year. Opponents like the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson) and myself say, build a new airport. Build one far away from urban areas that will not do violence to the environment and one that can expand as the future of our air traffic grows.”