On the recordFebruary 15, 2011
I certainly do want access to the West, and I certainly want to make sure the Nation's Capital is accessible to all parts of the country, but we also want to make sure there is a fair process, that a decision to open access to National Airport is run through the Department of Transportation in an FAA process, that we do not handpick here on the Senate floor any of the people who would be winners in this process but that we make the decision on how much access is available. I would say to my colleagues that the whole issue here about airports is that anytime you have a limited footprint, you have had discussion about how to give access to that through a process of the FAA. So I would say to my colleague, let's keep dialoguing and working on this issue. But a process and an amendment that includes conversion; that is to say, that a predominant carrier out of National Airport can continue to hold that dominance in the marketplace, I think is the wrong approach.
