Kay Bailey Hutchison: “on March 7, 1959, history was made when the first aviator charted over a million miles in a jet. Although it seems…”

“on March 7, 1959, history was made when the first aviator charted over a million miles in a jet. Although it seems commonplace today, at the time, traveling a million miles was indeed, an aviation milestone. Well, today, more than forty years later, we are considering another aviation milestone of sorts: a reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration which will be of significant benefit to our nation's communities, our air infrastructure and the flying public. I represent a state that has an enormous amount of aviation. Texas is home to one of the Nation's busiest airports, DFW, but we also have 27 other primary airports, 21 designated reliever airports and more than 1600 other small airports that Texans depend upon to get from one place to another. Therefore, I recognize the importance of aviation to my state, the critical role my state plays in the national aviation system and the important of Airport Improvement Program funding in maintaining it. This bill provides a framework and the necessary tools to responsibly and substantially fund our nation's air infrastructure as we have never done before. For the first time we will guarantee that all receipts and interest in the Air Trust Fund--totaling more than $33 billion--will be spent over the next three years for only aviation purposes.…”