Arlen Specter: “I am encouraged to see the Senate and the House moving so promptly on this legislation to keep the airlines functioning.…”

“I am encouraged to see the Senate and the House moving so promptly on this legislation to keep the airlines functioning. The terrorist attack is really an attack against the United States as a whole, and when we have losses directly attributable to that attack, it seems fair to me that the entire Nation should sustain those damages. What we are doing today with the cash grant and especially the loan guarantee will keep the airlines operating, which is very important for the lifeblood of our country and very important for an economic recovery. US Airways, illustratively, needs the loan guarantees in order to get financing to keep operating. US Airways is only one of many carriers across the country, but it illustrates the problem and it illustrates the issue especially pertinent to my State of Pennsylvania, which has some 17,000 US Airways employees dependent upon their jobs. This is a very, very important matter for Pennsylvania, and a very important matter for America. This legislation also establishes a very appropriate procedure for compensating the victims on a program administered by the Attorney General's office without going through the long litigation process. However, it is only a first step.”