Political Quotes

“Briefly, the Roskam amendment does the following: It recognizes that my constituency, and I think a lot of others, want the benefits of living near a large international airport but not as much of the burden. Here is the backstory about what is going on. My constituency is right next door to O'Hare Airport, which, as an international airport, brings incredible convenience to my flying constituents and also incredible commerce and opportunity. That is a good thing. The problem is the burdens of the noise of the airport rest disproportionately with some communities. These are communities that have found themselves with different flight patterns in different situations where, all of a sudden, a flight pattern from years ago is now something that they are seeing overhead. One constituent of mine in Wayne, Illinois, complained that the noise sometimes is 30 seconds apart for hours on end. Another complained that their house actually shakes because of the planes that are flying so close. Mr. Chairman, you can imagine how difficult this would be to live in this type of situation. Realizing that we want the benefits of an international airport and also as quiet a situation as possible, I have worked with my Republican and Democratic colleagues to find common ground.…”