Jerry Moran: “we are now 9 days into the government shutdown, and the disruption of the shutdown is being felt by many Americans.…”

“we are now 9 days into the government shutdown, and the disruption of the shutdown is being felt by many Americans. Particularly, what I want to talk about is the many Americans who are traveling or working in the aviation industry. Government shutdowns are detrimental to some of our most basic functions of government, and our already-fragile air traffic control system is facing strain from this occurrence. We are reminded how fragile our air system is by the facts of what occurred on January 29, when a flight from Kansas to Washington, DC, did not land safely at Washington Reagan, and it claimed the lives of 67 people. Over the time that I have been in Congress, we have had a number of shutdowns and, in many instances, even Kansans told me: Shut her down. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to me. I have never found the value in a government shutdown. That accident that I just mentioned forced Congress and our Nation to reckon with an issue that has plagued us for decades: Why have we not effectively modernized our airspace system? Since that crash, steps have been taken to train more controllers and enhance the aviation system, including a $12.5 billion investment in modernizing our airspace. But those efforts become much more difficult while Congress fails to keep the government operating and the shutdown is in place.”