Kay Bailey Hutchison: “we will be voting in an hour and a half, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank so many of the people who…”

“we will be voting in an hour and a half, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank so many of the people who brought this bill together, which we hope will come to a good conclusion in about an hour and a half. Obviously, I have talked about Chairman Rockefeller. This has been a long process, clearly--23 extensions and it has been since 2007 that we had the last authorization. I think the fact we are now going to have a 4-year authorization is one of the more important elements. Now our airports are going to be able to start their building projects. They are going to be able to increase their runway space or do repairs or whatever the priorities are that are decided by the FAA are the most important priorities for our Nation because the funding source from the highway trust fund will now be known for 4 years. I think that is a very important step in the right direction. I wish to thank the House managers of this bill as well, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Mica and Ranking Member Rahall and the respective Aviation Subcommittee chairs in the House, Representatives Petri and Costello. Their work and input on their bill was certainly critical, and the ability to come to conference and hammer it out was critical as well.…”