Frank Lautenberg: “I have listened, and if I were not experienced I would be shocked at what is being said. Get over Alaska. What do you…”

“I have listened, and if I were not experienced I would be shocked at what is being said. Get over Alaska. What do you care about Alaska? I care about my family. I even care about the other guy's family. Why was FAA started in the first place? June 30, 1956: TWA Flight 2 collided with United Flight 17 killing 128 people. The record shows that one probable cause of the accident was insufficiency of the en route traffic control advisory. They can trivialize it on the other side all they want--smile and smirk. But the fact is that Don Young was the smartest of them all. And why didn't we hear from the Republican side when the vote was taking place in June? We had 11 Republicans vote with us. I did not hear the cry that: We are not going to be able to fund this. We are going to be able to fund it. Senator Rockefeller and I proposed a compromise in S. 1618, which was an FAA temporary extension act. Let us get it all out there. But no, the other side persists in getting this thing through by one hook or another. The fact is that by any sense of one's decency, don't throw FAA into the same pot out of which we dug the baggage screeners. It is ridiculous to have this kind of a debate. Sure, we can prove Air Force One can land anyplace. We know the President lands it all over in fundraising, for goodness' sake. We see that airplane going out there.…”