Political Quotes

“Madam President, before the Senator leaves the floor, let me say that the families of the victims of the Colgan crash--the tragedy that occurred just about a year ago now--have been unrelenting in coming to the Congress, appearing at every single hearing, meeting with Members of Congress, saying: We want these changes. I just wanted to say I know the families know but New Yorkers should know the work Senator Gillibrand has done, and Senator Schumer as well, to try to include in this legislation, the FAA Reauthorization Act, some very needed changes, safety changes, that resulted from what we learned in investigating that accident. Senator Gillibrand talked about the fact that 2 people entered the cockpit of a commercial plane that evening, and then a number of people--45 people--entered from another door and filled that commercial airplane and set off at night, in bad weather, with icing conditions. The two people in the cockpit--the person flying in the left seat, the captain, had not slept in a bed for 2 nights, and the copilot had not slept in a bed the night before. As Senator Gillibrand indicated, she had deadheaded from Seattle, WA, which is where she lived, to go to work, to a workstation in La Guardia. This is a young copilot who was paid between $20,000 and $23,000 a year in salary deadheading across the country to get to her duty station, not feeling particularly well, sitting in the crew lounge, where there is no bed.…”