Jeff Duncan: “I consider this to be very, very important legislation. In previous Congresses, we held a couple of hearings about this…”

“I consider this to be very, very important legislation. In previous Congresses, we held a couple of hearings about this problem, and we heard testimony that the average time of completion of a runway project in this country was approximately 10 years. In fact, we heard one witness tell us that the main runway at the Atlanta airport took 14 years from conception to completion, but only 33 days, those were 24-hour workdays, so we could say 99 working days of actual construction. That is ridiculous, Mr. Speaker. We also heard testimony that these delays are primarily due to environmental rules and regulations and red tape, and it was driving the cost of these projects up so they were costing three or four times what they should. Those costs had to be passed on to the flying public. What this has done over the years, it has driven up the cost of air travel.”