[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 136 (Friday, September 27, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11527-S11528]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUEST--CONFERENCE REPORT TO ACCOMPANY H.R. 3539

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous-consent that the Senate turn 
to the consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 3539, 
the FAA reauthorization bill, and the reading of the conference report 
be waived.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. FORD. Reserving the right to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The acting leader.
  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I know there will be an objection after I 
make my statement, and I regret that. We have worked long and hard to 
bring this FAA reauthorization bill to the floor. I have worked years 
on it, along with the occupant of the Chair. We have security in there. 
We have funding for airports. We have the money to cover letters of 
intent. All of this is extremely important. And one item in this bill 
is going to bring it down.
  I wish it was not in there. I wish we did not have it, but it is 
there. And I hope that those that object to that portion of it would 
just give us an up-and-down vote. The House did that. And why we could 
not have an up-and-down vote--based on the content of the bill, if you 
are opposed to all of this, all the funding for the airports, all the 
security, and opposed to all the money going to your airports, opposed 
to essential air service, all these things, then you have to vote no on 
the whole bill for this one item.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I could just make a comment before there 
is objection, if there is in fact going to be objection, to be heard 
further in support of my unanimous-consent request. I want to thank the 
Senator from Kentucky for his good work on this legislation. It has 
been a long time coming. He and Senator McCain and Senator Stevens and 
others have worked very hard.
  You have an outstanding bill here. In less than 72 hours the Federal 
Government's authority to provide critical funding to airports across 
the country and our national air transportation system will expire 
unless we pass this FAA reauthorization bill. I am talking about over 
$9 billion annually for the national needs, such as air traffic 
control, repair, maintenance and modernization of our air traffic 
control equipment, repair and construction of runways, taxiways, and 
other vital aviation infrastructure, the purchase of critical 
firefighting equipment at our Nation's airports. And the list goes on. 
I mean, this is also very much a question of safety.
  Mr. FORD. No question about it.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the recent tragic aircraft accidents, and 
continuing reports of power outages and equipment failures in our air 
traffic control centers, have raised questions about the safety of our 
Nation's air transportation system and the effectiveness of the Federal 
Government in safeguarding the traveling public.
  We must do our part to reassure the traveling public that we have the 
world's safest air transportation system. This comprehensive 
legislation will go a long way in reassuring the public that the system 
is safe, and ensure the FAA will have a stable, predictable, and 
sufficient funding stream for the long term. Again, the FAA bill will:
  Ensure that the FAA and our Nation's airports will be adequately 
funded by reauthorizing key FAA programs, including the Airport 
Improvement Program, for fiscal year 1997;
  Ensure that the FAA has the resources it needs to improve airport and 
airline security in the near term;
  Direct the National Transportation Safety Board to establish a 
program to provide for adequate notification of and advocacy services 
for the families of victims of aircraft accidents;
  Enhance airline and air travelers' safety by requiring airlines to 
share employment and performance records before hiring new pilots;
  Strengthen existing laws prohibiting airport revenue diversion, and 
provide the FAA with the tools they need to enforce Federal law 
prohibiting revenue diversion;
  Most important, provide for thorough reform, including long-term 
funding reform, of the FAA to secure the resources to ensure we 
continue to have the safest, most efficient air transportation system 
in the world.
  To assure air travelers and other users of our air transportation 
system that safety is paramount, the bill:
  Requires the FAA to study and report to Congress on whether certain 
air carrier security responsibilities should be transferred to or 
shared with airports or the federal government;
  Requires the National Transportation Safety Board [NTSB] to take 
action to help families of victims following commercial aircraft 
accidents;
  Requires NTSB and the FAA to work together to develop a system to 
classify aircraft accident and safety data maintained by the NTSB, and 
report to Congress on the effects of publishing such data;
  Ensures that the FAA gives high priority to implement a fully 
enhanced safety performance analysis system, including automated 
surveillance;
  Bolsters weapons and explosive detection technology through research 
and development;
  Improves standards for airport security passenger, baggage, and 
property screeners, including requiring criminal history records 
checks;
  Requires the FAA to facilitate quick deployment of commercially 
available explosive detection equipment;
  Contains a sense of the Senate on the development of effective 
passenger profiling programs;
  Authorizes airports to use project grant money and passenger facility 
charges [PFC] for airport security programs;
  Establishes aviation security liaisons at key Federal agencies;
  Requires the FAA and FBI to carry out joint threat and vulnerability 
assessments every 3 years;
  Requires all air carriers and airports to conduct periodic 
vulnerability assessments of security systems; and
  Facilitates the transfer of pilot employment records between 
employing airlines so that passenger safety is not compromised.
  The bill also expands the prohibition on revenue diversion to cover 
more instances of diversion and establishes

[[Page S11528]]

clear penalties and stronger mechanisms to enforce Federal laws 
prohibiting airport revenues from leaving the airport. ``It is 
fundamental that we reverse the disturbing trend of illegal diversion 
of airport revenues to ensure that airport revenues are used only for 
airport purposes,'' said McCain.
  ``We must do our part to reassure the traveling public that we have 
the world's safest air transportation system,'' concluded McCain. 
``This comprehensive legislation will go a long way in reassuring the 
public that the system is safe, and ensure the FAA will have a stable, 
predictable, and sufficient funding stream to be the long term.''
  Each of these elements of H.R. 3538 is essential to fulfill Congress' 
responsibility to improving our country's air transportation system.
  Clearly, Congress, the White House, DOT, the FAA, and others 
throughout the aviation industry have been under close scrutiny 
regarding the state of the U.S. air transportation system.
  The traveling public has told us they are worried about the safety 
and security of U.S. airports and airlines, and the ability of the 
Government to alleviate these concerns. Recent tragic events suggest 
that this apprehension is justified, and we have been strongly 
encouraged to correct the problems in our air transportation system. 
The FAA bill will go a long way toward making the system safer and 
better in every way.
  The American people demand we get this done, and they deserve no 
less.
  It really alarms me that we have cut it this close. It looks like 
there may be objection. In fact, the recent tragic aircraft accidents 
and the continuing reports of power outages and equipment failures in 
our air traffic control centers have raised all kinds of questions that 
we are trying to address with this bill.
  So I think we need to move it forward. There are so many good parts 
of this bill. It is so essential. It does have so many safety 
ramifications that I hope that we could move it forward in a unanimous 
way.
  Mr. FEINGOLD addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wisconsin.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Reserving the right to object for a moment, let me just 
say that I am intrigued by the conversation and am concerned about the 
airline safety issues, the funding. I am very concerned about those 
issues. I want this bill to pass too.
  So why in the world, yesterday, just yesterday, under the guise of a 
technical correction to the Railway Labor Act, was an unacceptable and 
very controversial special interest provision added to this bill? It 
was not because of airline safety. It was not because of funding for 
the airports. And it was not a technical correction.
  The provision makes a significant change in Federal law to give 
Federal Express an edge in its current attempt to stop some of its 
employees from joining a union. That is what is so all-fired important 
here and had to be put in yesterday in a bill that we are being told 
has to pass because of airline safety. That is the issue. Let us just 
get this out of there. That is what that provision is about. It has 
nothing to do with airline safety.
  Mr. President, because of what really has happened here, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is noted.

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