Byron Dorgan: “I have come to the floor to talk about a piece of legislation that perhaps is not on the front pages of the newspapers…”

“I have come to the floor to talk about a piece of legislation that perhaps is not on the front pages of the newspapers today but is very important in this Congress and to the American people. It is very important that we pass this legislation. We have been waiting and waiting, and we continue to wait. It is called the reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration bill. We have been working on this for a long time. This is not just reauthorization for some bureaucracy; this is about safety for the American public who is flying today. Let me put up a chart that shows where the airplanes are in the skies today. I think I have a chart on that which describes the number of flights in this country. The air is literally packed with airplanes flying all across this country. The question is, How are they controlled? Ground-based radar systems are keeping track of all of these flights. This FAA reauthorization bill has a lot to do with safety. The reason it is so important--I am going to talk about the safety piece first, and then I will talk about why it has been blocked and how we finally get some action on this and why I finally have had a bellyful of trying to persuade people that we ought to pass legislation that I think is critically important to save lives in this country.”