Political Quotes

“I rise today to speak about an amendment which Senator Toomey and I are working on, amendment No. 3458. I will have some remarks about this amendment, as will my colleague from Pennsylvania, Senator Toomey. We know that since 9/11, we have made a good deal of progress on airline security, but we know there are still a number of commonsense steps we can take to bolster security at our airports and on our airplanes. We also know that since 9/11, there have been 15 hijacking attempts around the world, and we know that terrorists still aim to repeat those actions and improve on their deadly tactics. It is also a concern that Federal programs designed to increase aviation security, such as the Federal Flight Deck Officer Program--the acronym being FFDO--to train and arm pilots, continue to experience drastic cuts and reduced budgets. After 9/11, Congress mandated the installation of reinforced cockpit doors, and the FAA regulations stated that the reinforced cockpit doors should remain locked while closed. However, pilots and flight attendants must open the door frequently for a variety of reasons, all of them reasons we understand, whether it is to use the restroom, get a meal, or rest times for pilots on international flights when they are not in the cockpit. So we know they have to open that door on a regular basis.…”