James Oberstar: “I join the gentleman from Pennsylvania in urging swift passage of H.R. 99, and I want to compliment him for making this…”

“I join the gentleman from Pennsylvania in urging swift passage of H.R. 99, and I want to compliment him for making this the top issue of the committee's agenda in this Congress. He rightly saw at the conclusion of the 105th Congress that, as we dealt so masterfully under his gifted and vigorous leadership with the surface transportation needs of this country, that our next focus had to be the Nation's airways and airports. This simple 6-month extension is, in a sense, a down payment on the committee's commitment at the end of the last session and the beginning of this to address vigorously and in a broad, visionary concept the Nation's aviation requirements. I compliment the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski) for the leadership and vigor they have put forth in bringing this bill to the floor and on the preparation that has gone into the subsequent legislation that we will consider. While the number 99 is rather fortuitous, just quite by accident the bill carries the number H.R. 99, it is symbolic, and it is, I think, a wonderful gesture that the very first aviation bill we bring to the floor carries the name of the oldest organization of women aviators, the 99s, formed in the late 1920s.”