Haley Stevens: “We had Victoria Cummock, a survivor of a victim of the Pan Am crash. She has done a great deal to alert families who…”

“We had Victoria Cummock, a survivor of a victim of the Pan Am crash. She has done a great deal to alert families who have been similarly affected of the need for Federal legislation to deal with family assistance to those that are affected by these crashes, the survivors of the victims of the crashes. One of the things they asked us to do was to pass House bill 3923. And as I said at the hearing, I don't intend to get too personal about this, but I personally know something about victims of air crashes. I know that it is necessary for us to wake up and make sure that the Federal law does assure assistance to families of passengers involved in aircraft accidents. This bill does that. The aviation bill does that. The bill that is in the conference report that is being held up now over one provision in the bill. It requires the Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board to designate and publicize the name and phone number of a director of family support services to designate an independent nonprofit organization, such as the Red Cross, to assist in the taking of responsibility for coordinating the emotional care and support for those families.”