Todd Tiahrt: “our Nation faces a crisis; and today we are acting with appropriate speed in dealing with that crisis. But in doing so…”

“our Nation faces a crisis; and today we are acting with appropriate speed in dealing with that crisis. But in doing so, we want to be sure that we are dealing with the entire air transportation infrastructure. A major objective of this bill should be to mitigate job loss within the air transportation industry and, therefore, preserve the infrastructure of this crucial element of our economy. Many sectors of the air transportation industry would be subject to economic dislocation and potential bankruptcy if they were exposed to unlimited liability for the terrorist-related aircraft crashes of September 11. This is not a problem for just the traditional air carriers. This is a problem for the entire industry. For this reason, we provided for an expanded definition of air carriers in section 402 of the bill. That would also apply to section 408. I wish to make it clear that it is my understanding that this expanded definition encompasses air transportation elements such as aircraft manufacturers and aircraft components and parts manufacturers.”