Kay Bailey Hutchison: “our aviation industry lost thousands of jobs right after September 11, but it could have been hundreds of thousands if…”

“our aviation industry lost thousands of jobs right after September 11, but it could have been hundreds of thousands if we had not come in and stabilized that industry. Because of repercussions in other parts of the tourism industry--in the hotel industry, the rental car industry--so many other parts of our economy that are dependent on tourism would also have fallen. So we did the right thing. It is essential that Congress keep its commitment. The deadline is June 28. And there can be applications. US Airways is said to be looking at perhaps making an application. America West already has a loan. There may be other airlines. They need to know that when Congress passes a law, they have the right to believe that law is going to be carried out and deadlines will be met. If we revoked that deadline and said, if you have not come in now, we are going to take the money away, I think it would be a tragedy. So I think this is definitely the right approach. It is also essential that the traveling public and the banking community know that the airline industry is going to be secured. Today, most airports are reporting about 90 percent of the traffic they had at this time last year. That is phenomenal after what happened on September 11: the cataclysmic event and the impact on our economy.”