James Oberstar: “Mr. Speaker, today marks a watershed day that I have long looked forward to since, in fact, 1987 when I introduced the…”

“Mr. Speaker, today marks a watershed day that I have long looked forward to since, in fact, 1987 when I introduced the first independent FAA bill, then with bipartisan support as we have today. But this is the first time in all the years that I have introduced and reintroduced that bill that it has made its way to the floor. For that, I salute our chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Shuster], for his splendid cooperation, his willingness to move this legislation along as a high priority item for our committee. For that I salute our chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation, the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Duncan], who has taken on the burdensome task of learning all the intricacies of aviation, learning the importance of this agency and its role in modern aviation not only in the U.S. but worldwide and who has become a champion of aviation in the brief tenure that he has had as our chairman, and to our ranking Democratic member, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Lipinski], who, though a longtime member of the Subcommittee on Aviation, has just recently assumed the role of the leader on our side for the Subcommittee on Aviation and who likewise has devoted himself and plunged in with great enthusiasm into this subject matter, and I am very grateful to the gentleman for the job he has done and for the workload and responsibility that he has shouldered.”