Political Quotes

“Madam President, in 2 minutes or so, let me talk briefly about the FAA reauthorization bill, which we have passed out of the Commerce Committee and out of the full Senate--it passed 93 to 0 here in the Senate. Senator Rockefeller and I, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and others, are working very hard to try to negotiate an opportunity to get a report that we can bring back to both the House and the Senate to get this done. The reason this is urgent and so important is the modernization of our air traffic control system is long overdue and there is so much that is needed in this FAA reauthorization bill. It deals with safety issues. As chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee, I held a number of hearings on the Colgan crash in New York--the tragic crash that took the life of so many. So I wanted to make a point, because I know people are wondering what is happening on that legislation. We had a meeting yesterday for over an hour. We are going to have another meeting this week. We had a meeting the week prior to the break last week. We are working very hard to try to find a way to bridge the gap. I think we are very close to being able to get something we can bring back to both the House and Senate. My hope is that early in this work period we can get this done. I talked to Senator Rockefeller late last night by phone after our meeting in the afternoon. So Senator Kyl and many others have been involved--Senator Warner. This is a very big piece of legislation.…”