Political Quotes

“Mr. President I rise today to discuss the security, safety, and other air travel benefits included in the bipartisan aviation reform agreement that was negotiated with the House of Representatives. Last week, Senator Bill Nelson, the ranking member on the Senate Commerce Committee, and I reached accord on a way forward with House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster and Ranking Member Peter DeFazio. Our agreement presents an opportunity for the Senate to break the pattern of short-term extensions for the Federal Aviation Administration that have not included any meaningful reform. The aviation bill the Senate passed by a vote of 95 to 3 in April was a larger and, granted, more comprehensive bill than the agreement that came out of our negotiations with the House. It contained provisions added by Members in the Commerce Committee and on the Senate floor that we remain committed to enacting. Nevertheless, we knew that certain safety and security reforms just couldn't wait until next year for the process to restart. When we looked at the ISIS attacks in airports in Brussels and Istanbul, as well as the downing of a Russian jetliner leaving Egypt, we knew there were meaningful reforms that could help efforts to prevent these kinds of attacks here in America, and so we acted.…”