Maria Cantwell: “I came down to the floor this evening to reiterate the comments of my friend from Missouri, Senator Carnahan, and the…”

“I came down to the floor this evening to reiterate the comments of my friend from Missouri, Senator Carnahan, and the comments that the Senator from Massachusetts, Mr. Kennedy, made in expressing the frustration about the lack of progress on the aviation security bill and the need to immediately consider worker assistance in this amendment. We have spent a week now simply on the motion to proceed to consideration of one of the most important bills that we need to pass this year. Every day that we wait, critical measures to enhance the American public's confidence in the aviation system are not enacted-- and, thus, economic activity dependent on this sector is not generated. We have no time to waste. The issues that divide us are not terribly far apart. Like my colleague from Missouri, I don't want to slow this bill down. I had wanted to see both the security provisions and the worker assistance dealt with during the consideration of the airline assistance package that we passed several weeks ago. But people told us to wait, and do it after we pass that package. So I think it's time that we all step back and reflect on the importance of these measures. I call on my colleagues to reconsider these differences that remain and get down to actual consideration of this bill, and the Carnahan amendment. I would like to thank Senators Hollings and McCain for putting together an aviation security measure that will give this country the confidence to fly again.”