Political Quotes

“the Congress, through legislation, has demanded that airport baggage screeners must be public employees. That was a conscious decision made by this Congress, and it was signed by the President. As a government, we should be equally clear that air traffic controllers should also be public employees accountable to the people they serve. Acting responsibly, the House and Senate both passed provisions in their respective FAA bills that would retain the inherent ``governmental function'' of the FAA air traffic control towers and employees. But instead of affirming that the safety of air travelers is the responsibility of the U.S. Government, members of the conference committee, at the urging of this administration, passed a conference report that allowed for immediate privatization of 69 air traffic control towers, some of them among the busiest in the country. This was a failure of policy and a failure of process. Recognizing the committee's mistake, the House of Representatives has now moved to recommit the bill to conference. Hopefully, the conference committee will follow the mandate of the Senate and House and restrain from trying to privatize air traffic controllers. This is something that boggles the mind of the people of Nevada and I am sure the people of Tennessee and around the country.”