Political Quotes

“first I want to acknowledge my esteemed colleagues Congresswoman Schwartz and Patrick Murphy, and I very much respect what they're trying to do for the citizens of their districts. However, I have stood in this Chamber and watched Representatives Costello, Oberstar, Andrews, and many others try to bring about transparency to the Federal FAA and to resolve the chaos that is presently in our air traffic management systems. We have had an FAA that has covered over the safety violations at Northwest and Southwest Airlines, letting 117 planes fly with safety violations. NASA has said there are twice as many near midair collisions than that FAA is reporting, with an 11 percent increase on near runway collisions last year over the previous year. I bring that up because I have also watched in my district, which is near both of my esteemed colleagues. And the FAA has now, after a period of time studying one option, has said that they will now no longer have aircraft take off from Philadelphia International Airport and stay over Delaware River, but they will now turn over my citizens, whom I care just as deeply about, at 500 feet. The statistical studies that have been provided to the FAA that they have ignored means that the children under those aircraft will lose 1 year of education between pre-K and high school and they will be at the highest risk of the number one killer disease in America, cardiovascular disease.”