Jay Rockefeller: “This Federal aviation bill is enormous in scope, but we are doing it in little pieces and with little amendments, so…”

“This Federal aviation bill is enormous in scope, but we are doing it in little pieces and with little amendments, so sometimes it is hard. It has seven different titles in it. One of them has to do with community air service to rural, underserved areas, which is very important in my State and in the Presiding Officer's State--really all of our States. Even California and New York have many very rural areas where they need air service. I spent 10 years chairing the Aviation Subcommittee, and I enjoyed it enormously. I now chair the full committee, which I enjoy enormously. But one focus throughout has been trying to protect small and rural communities and give them air service. They travel. If the local airport promotes itself, as a product must--it is not just a place people go to; they have to announce themselves to the public and say: We can take you here, we can take you there, while others of us try to get flights in. It is tremendously important, so they are worth fighting for, and we do that. Large and urban States sometimes question that, but if they look in their hearts, they have a lot of the same requirements themselves. It is really about equality, and it is about the economy, and it is about fairness.”