Political Quotes

“I rise today to express my appreciation to my colleagues for the passage of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2016. By passing this legislation, which I offered with the Commerce Committee's ranking member, Senator Nelson, and our Aviation Subcommittee leaders, Senator Ayotte and Senator Cantwell, the Senate is seeking to end a string of short extensions with a comprehensive reform proposal now on its way to the House of Representatives. Bipartisan efforts at both the Commerce Committee and on the Senate floor made an already strong bill even better. Only weeks ago, horrific attacks by ISIS created new concern for air travelers. Recognizing the need to enhance security, Senators from both sides of the aisle offered amendments to strengthen safety and security protections for passengers in this aviation bill. To guard against the threat of airport insiders helping terrorists, we added provisions that I authored along with Senator Nelson to improve the scrutiny of individuals applying to work in secure airport areas. For the first time, we put requirements in place so applicants needing access to secure areas of airports can be denied security credential if they have been convicted of embezzlement, racketeering, robbery, sabotage, immigration law violations, or assault with a deadly weapon. While very few criminals are terrorists, it is not at all uncommon for terrorists to get their start as criminals.…”