Political Quotes

“Madam President, reserving the right to object, first of all, I know this bill is very important to the Senator who is offering it. I understand that, and I respect the Senator. He is a good Senator. But my objection is not based so much on what he said, it is based on the whole concept of public safety. This is about public safety. We should not have to worry that potentially unqualified pilots are in the air. We have so many tens of thousands of airplanes in the air every hour of every day. This bill would create a process which would be new which could result in the Federal Government being unable to pursue enforcement action because of the limited resources. It is a fact of life these days. FAA has to cut way back. We are having to address other mandated priorities which are perhaps more important than this one. That could very well mean that the FAA and the NTSB, the National Transportation Safety Board, which are ultimately responsible for making decisions about whether pilots have violated aviation regulations, could be barred from taking actions to prevent unsafe pilots from continuing to fly. That is heavy water. That could have serious safety consequences. According to the FAA, in some cases which would typically warrant revocation of a pilot's license, some unqualified pilots would be able to avoid losing their certificates by avoiding FAA prosecution of the matter before the NTSB. This bill, in closing, would stand the FAA's enforcement structure on its head.…”