[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 24 (Tuesday, March 8, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                 URGING A VOTE ON GENERAL AVIATION BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
February 11, 1994, the gentleman from Kansas [Mr. Glickman] is 
recognized during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GLICKMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to alert my colleagues to a 
bill I have been working on for many years, a bill which deals with 
liability problems affecting small airplane manufacturers. I know that 
many of my colleagues are familiar with this legislation, not only 
because I have sponsored it in every Congress for the last 8 years, but 
because the current bill now has 280 sponsors, or nearly two-thirds of 
this House.
  The bill creates a 15-year statute of repose for general aviation, 
which means that after 15 years after the date of manufacture, you 
could no longer sue the manufacturer of the airplane for problems that 
occur with respect to that airplane.
  Similar legislation has twice been reported out of the Committee on 
Public Works and Transportation. Companion legislation has been 
reported out of the Senate Commerce Committee, but frankly, to date the 
House Committee on the Judiciary has not taken action on this 
legislation.
  I am still working with the chairman, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. 
Brooks] on this matter. But let me tell the Members this is an 
extremely frustrating matter to watch this bill languish while 
thousands of jobs have been lost in my district and across the country.
  In the general aviation industry alone, 100,000 jobs have been lost 
since 1983. I would tell my colleagues that the chairman of Cessna 
Aircraft has related to me and related publicly that if this bill 
becomes law, almost immediately the assembly lines for single-engine 
airplanes would open again in Wichita and other places in this country, 
meaning thousands of new jobs would be created.
  In my judgment, an extremely well-organized and well-financed 
coalition of trial lawyers have stopped this bill from being considered 
on the House floor. On many occasions I have supported the interests of 
trial lawyers, who are often on the side of consumers in their battles, 
but in this case they are wrong, and the consumers of airplanes, the 
buyers of airplanes, the pilots of small airplanes, are all in favor of 
this particular piece of legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I cannot sit by and watch this happen when passage of 
this bill would mean the immediate creation of new jobs in my district 
and around the country, jobs for Beech, for Cessna, for Piper, for all 
sorts of companies that manufacture small airplanes. Thousands of 
people would be put back to work without costing the Federal Government 
a single penny.
  The impact of liability costs on the industry is best illustrated by 
the fact that in 1978, and listen to these statistics, in 1978, 18,000 
small planes were delivered in this country, single-engine airplanes, 
small twins. In 1993, 500 airplanes were delivered. Imagine, 1978, 
18,000 planes made; in 1993, 500 small airplanes made.
  Cessna Aircraft has not produced a piston engine airplane since 1986. 
Piper is in bankruptcy, and Beech is no longer producing light training 
aircraft.
  Mr. Speaker, if I cannot work this problem out and bring the bill to 
the House floor for a vote, I will have no option but to take the 
opportunity to use the procedures the House passed last year to work 
this matter in a discharge petition. Why? Because it has been reported 
out of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation twice. I cannot 
seem to get it considered by the Committee on the Judiciary, and the 
legislation means thousands of jobs in my district, around the country.
  More importantly, the future of aviation is at stake, because if we 
are not training pilots on small airplanes, if we are not building the 
infrastructure on a single-engine airplane so people will learn to fly 
and move up the ladder in terms of size of airplanes and move into 
commercial aviation, the ability of America to dominate the field of 
aviation is directly threatened.
  Mr. Speaker, I encourage the leadership of the House to help me, to 
help the aerospace workers of America, and I might add that the 
International Association of Machinists is strongly in favor of this 
legislation, and to help pilots across the country who want to fly 
United States-built airplanes, not French-built, not Brazilian-built, 
not other countries, but American-built airplanes.
  Help me bring this bill to the floor. It does not cost the Federal 
Government one dime. It creates thousands of jobs. It is good for 
aviation, and nearly two-thirds of the House support this bill. Mr. 
Speaker, that is all I ask, that we bring this bill to the floor for a 
vote and then let the merits of the bill speak for themselves.

                          ____________________