Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, aviation has been in my blood for my entire life, and it continues to be something that I love very much. In the middle of my family farm in Tarkio, Missouri, is the Gould Peterson Municipal Airport, which is named after my uncle. Growing up, when my brother and I weren't doing chores on the farm, we would do anything we could at the airport just to mooch a ride. That love of aviation and being a professional pilot has never left me. When I came to Congress in 2001, I joined the Transportation Committee to work on these issues, and it has been extremely rewarding. Being a pilot has provided me with an invaluable insight into these issues. Throughout the years, I have worked on several pieces of legislation that addressed safety gaps following unimaginable tragedies. Every aviation accident typically has multiple contributing factors. Too often, I have seen Congress act prematurely and in a way that fails to address multilayered causes of accidents in a comprehensive and consensus-driven manner, in some instances to the detriment of fostering sound safety policy that prevents unintended consequences. That is why I have long believed that the best way to honor victims of aviation accidents is for Congress to wait until the NTSB completes its investigation so that Congress first has all the facts.”