Political Quotes

“Mr. President, first of all, I am pleased with the work the chairman and ranking member of the Commerce Committee have done. I am chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee and have worked closely with them to produce a piece of legislation that I think is bipartisan, is a very important and urgent piece of legislation that will strengthen this country's system of air travel. I want to talk some about that today. A couple of things this legislation will do. I am not going to repeat everything my colleagues have said, but it will advance aviation safety, which I think is very important. It will accelerate the modernization of the air traffic control system. It is going to support jobs by investing in aviation infrastructure; that is, airports and runways and the kinds of functions that accommodate our air travel system. It will ensure that our rural communities in States such as North Dakota, my home State, have continued access to the Nation's aviation system. So I am very pleased with this bill. Since the last FAA reauthorization bill expired in 2007, the Congress has passed 11 separate extensions of this law. There was a suggestion that we pass another 1-year extension, which I opposed. We do not need to extend this; what we need to do is pass new authorizing legislation that addresses the fundamental issues that we need to address with respect to air travel in this country.…”