Trent Lott: “If we took out the 69 contract towers, there are a lot of places in America which wouldn't have a tower. In fact, that…”

“If we took out the 69 contract towers, there are a lot of places in America which wouldn't have a tower. In fact, that is bipartisan. The idea of contract towers, I can tell you, came from a Democrat, a well-known one in a previous administration. I thought it made sense. I don't understand. If we cannot have 100 percent purity, we don't want this bill. We don't want $60 billion. Aviation is about more than just the guy in the air traffic control tower. It is about security on the ground. I plead with my colleagues to think this through. We are not pulling back and saying we are going to privatize. In fact, there is a letter from the Secretary of Transportation, Norm Mineta--not your basic every-day, run-of-the-mill Republican, a Democrat--the Secretary of Transportation, says we are not going to privatize air traffic controllers. We are fighting ghosts here. If we don't watch it, we will be creating ghosts. We will talk more about this when this conference report comes up. But I plead with my colleagues. I talked about this with my colleagues. I tried to make sure it was bipartisan. It passed the Senate overwhelmingly.”