James Oberstar: “First, I have made it clear from the outset that the process in which we find ourselves on the House floor is due to the…”

“First, I have made it clear from the outset that the process in which we find ourselves on the House floor is due to the means by which the Senate brought their bill through the Senate and sent it over to us, and one aspect of that is that the aviation bill reported by the Senate includes a tax provision, which the Senate cannot initiate. Under the Constitution, it must be initiated by the House. So in order to keep faith with the Constitution, the Senate amended an already-passed House tax bill to which they added their aviation bill. The tax provision has now been vacated, and we send back to the Senate an aviation bill on which there will be a conference. We have insisted on it. Our leadership has concurred and said there will be a conference; they agreed with the Senate leadership, and there will be a conference. And these issues that have been discussed of the provisions of the House bill have twice passed the House already, will be matters to be discussed with our colleagues in the Senate in the conference in an open conference session, period.”