Jay Rockefeller: “I note that the time is just before 5 o'clock. My distinguished Republican colleague, Senator Hutchison, is not on the…”

“I note that the time is just before 5 o'clock. My distinguished Republican colleague, Senator Hutchison, is not on the floor at the moment, but I do not know of nor have I heard of any other Members wanting to speak. I don't know that we need to do much except go ahead and vote. I don't have the power to command that. I see a whole lot of people up here who do, but I would just say if there is anybody at the last moment who wants to speak, that is fine. We have set up the vote for 5:30. I think there are a lot of our colleagues who aren't going to get here until 5:30 because they are on airplanes that land at 5:00. So we have to take that into consideration. So I stand here to say that I think this is a very good bill, and I think, as has been mentioned often, it is a 4-year product with hard work and with an unbelievable consultation with all of the stakeholders, which includes all of the Members of the Senate and their staffs and all of the people out in the world of aviation. We have spent endless hours with them, and rightly so and happily so. I think there is general support in the aviation community for this bill. I could read a list of all of the people who do support it, the associations that support it, but it would take me a long time. I hope very much my colleagues will vote for this bill. As I indicated, nobody got all they wanted, but that is the nature of compromise.…”