Political Quotes

“Mr. President, for the third time in as many years, I am forced to express in this Chamber my strong opposition to a congressional proposal to meddle with Virginia airports. I will have to oppose the FAA conference report, most of which I strongly support and I believe is long overdue because it breaks a promise to the people of Northern Virginia--a promise that Congress would permit us to manage and develop our own airports. While I will again vote against this bill to protest congressional interference in the operation of Virginia's airports, I would like to make clear that I fully support FAA reauthorization and release of the airport improvement funds. In fact, as someone who has long believed that we need to substantially increase our investments in transportation, I commend the conferees for crafting a conference report which does just that. Under this bill, annual funding for many airports in Virginia will nearly double, providing for critical safety improvement and expanding airport capacity. Nonetheless, I will have to vote against the bill. By forcing additional flights on Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, this measure breaks the 1986 agreement among the Congress with Virginia and the local governments to leave National Airport alone and to get Congress out of the business of managing airports.”