Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio), who is the ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, this would be the fourth FAA extension in 2 years. It didn't have to be this way. We had a bill come out of the committee in the last Congress and this Congress that was bipartisan except for one provision; that is the privatization of the Air Traffic Organization. Now, there is a citizen group out there called Citizens for On Time Flights--actually, Airlines for America funds this--who are saying that we have to fly these old zigzag routes with 1950s' radar, and if only we, the airlines--the same airlines, by the way, that have had their dispatch and reservation systems go down 39 times in the last 2 years. The national air traffic system hasn't gone down in the last 2 years. But, anyway, they could do better, they say--or Citizens for On Time Flights say. But, unfortunately, it is based on lies. We have deployed a system where we could fly planes closer together. It is operational, actually, but the airlines haven't purchased the equipment to use it, and they are not going to purchase that equipment until 2020 or after. So they are saying the FAA is dragging its feet; the FAA is over budget; the FAA is this, the FAA is that. No. Actually, it is the airlines that haven't purchased the equipment to use that system.…”