Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in support of my bipartisan legislation that improves the safety of air travel. NOTAMs provide current, up-to-the-minute data to pilots on any aspect of their flight. Unfortunately, NOTAMs are often buried in lengthy reports, conflating important safety information with more common alerts. These inefficiencies have created some life-threatening situations over the years. On January 11, 2023, all U.S. domestic flights were grounded for the first time since 9/11. The NOTAM system crashed. Old and antiquated, it comes as no real surprise that the system easily went down. Unfortunately, leadership at the Department of Transportation has left me uninspired. Instead of focusing resources on safety improvements and upgrades, Secretary Buttigieg has spent his time retitling programs and systems. I will tell you that no pilot cares what the system is called, just that it works and provides her with the information she needs to get her crew and her passengers to safety. Mr. Speaker, I have been advocating for NOTAM upgrades for 4 years. My legislation, which creates a task force at the FAA with important input from safety experts, industry professionals, and unions to address both the efficiency and resiliency of the NOTAM system, has passed out of the House in both the 116th and the 117th Congresses.…”