Political Quotes

“Mr. Hastings is exactly right. The FAA has done a very poor job of communicating with Members of Congress and stakeholders on its plans to consolidate and relocate facilities, but halting the process at this stage is not the answer. Instead, what we need is an open, continuous, and defined process, and that is exactly what we have in the reauthorization bill that the Transportation Committee passed just a few weeks ago. It allows affected stakeholders to work together with the FAA to develop criteria and make recommendations that will be submitted to the Congress and published in the Federal Register for proper review and oversight. Any objections or changes made to the recommendations must again be submitted to the Congress. Congress does not relinquish its role, but, instead, can provide thorough review, oversight, and input. Let me say that preventing consolidation and relocation is not the answer. We just held a hearing this morning, the Aviation Subcommittee, in which we discussed the FAA's aging traffic control facilities. Many of these facilities are 40 years old or older, and they are exceeding their useful life expectancy in not meeting current operational requirements.”