Frank Lautenberg: “Unfortunately, certain Senate conferees to the FAA bill decided to remove all barriers to privatizing our national air…”

“Unfortunately, certain Senate conferees to the FAA bill decided to remove all barriers to privatizing our national air traffic control system. But both the Senate and the House voted to put these barriers in the bill as a response to President Bush's actions, including the issuance of an Executive order, to move towards privatizing air traffic control. And the President feels so strongly about privatizing that he has forced conference leaders not to take any actions in the bill. And this is not agreeable to those of us concerned about the safety impacts of the President's plan. To my dismay, this ideological crusade by the White House has held up passage of the legislation for over 3 months, and I am disappointed that some of my colleagues are willing to sacrifice safety for this zeal to privatize.”