Political Quotes

“I don't know that I could add much to Chairman Graves' comments. He clearly is a leader--if not the leader--on aviation in this Congress. He has more expertise on the vagaries of the general aviation airplane market, and I stand behind his comments. Mr. Chair, I will address a comment made earlier by the proponent of the amendment, and that was the implication that this bill seems to be only about this issue when we should be dealing with air traffic controller staffing, pilot staffing, or manufacturing. I have said that this bill is not about issue A, issue B, or issue C. This bill is a whole alphabet of issues that we have to deal with with the FAA. In fact, this bill does address air traffic controller staffing by requiring the FAA to staff up to the maximum number, according to the staffing model that the FAA has. It makes investments in the aviation workforce with aviation workforce development programs to increase the amount of talent in the pipeline for pilots, maintenance workers, and manufacturing workers in aviation. It makes critical changes and improvements to accessibility for people who are wheelchair-bound or need to use mobility aids when they travel. To imply this bill is only about one issue, and this particular issue, is not an accurate description at all of this legislation nor of the work of the full Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to bring this bill to the floor to get the FAA reauthorized. Mr.…”