[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 137 (Saturday, September 28, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S11813]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             AIRLINE SAFETY

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, we are facing a very serious matter 
before the Senate and Congress adjourns. The authority to spend money 
from the Airport and Airways Trust Fund expires on September 30. After 
that date, it will not be possible to spend, literally, millions and 
millions of dollars necessary to continue the modernization of our 
airway system, improvements in airports, in particular, that are 
safety-related, unless this bill is passed.
  The airport at my capital city in Juneau is now red-lined because of 
the failure to have a system to deal with shear winds that develop 
there. We are now working to move into Juneau some portable equipment 
that can deal with wind profiling and predict shear wind. We have had 
over 1,000 people stranded in Juneau in the last week. We were seeking 
to go out of Juneau because of the failure to get clearance for the 
jets that fly from my State to Seattle. Alaska Airlines has practically 
been grounded there at a time when there was no winds at all.
  This bill is being held up because of a provision offered by a member 
of the Democratic Party in this Senate, supported in conference by all 
but two members of that conference, and it is literally being blocked.
  Mr. President, this bill provides for safety equipment at airports 
all over this country. Once we get to September 30, if that bill is not 
passed, they will come to a screeching halt. I want the Senate to know 
I will use every parliamentary maneuver I know to keep us in session 
until that bill passes.
  I want everyone to listen because I am serious. We cannot recess 
without passing the FAA bill, and there is no way that this Senator 
will permit that. One Senator can keep the Senate in session if he 
wants to do that. We will stay in session until it passes.
  I want further to note that there will not be another bill pass here 
by unanimous consent that has a Democratic name on it until the FAA 
bill passes.
  I make strange statements at times, but at this time I know I can 
carry that out. I hope all Members of the other side in this body and 
in the other body are listening, because I don't care who it is--there 
is a conspiracy now against the extension of the airport-airways trust 
fund authorization. Now, in my State, which is one-fifth the size of 
the whole United States, we don't build roads, we fly; 75 percent of 
the communities in my State can be reached only by air. We are in the 
process now of moving in new equipment. The bill contains a sizable 
amount of authorization to carry out that new equipment.
  As this Senate knows, we have had too many recent crashes. I was in 
one crash, Mr. President, in 1978, that was brought about by sheer 
winds. I have tried, in my time in the Senate, to do everything I can 
to get the authorization to get the changes and we now have them 
coming. This bill provides them.
  I cannot tell the Senate in any stronger terms, we are going to stay 
in session--I am sorry to serve notice on the leadership itself--we are 
going to stay in session until that bill passes. If it is December 31, 
we are still going to be here. We cannot operate in my State without 
airways trust fund moneys. They provide the basic security for our 
transportation system.
  I am just appalled that this one little provision that represents 
correcting an error that was made in the ICC bill--when it passed the 
Senate and the House, it was an acknowledged error. One little 
provision that was placed in there by my good friend from South 
Carolina that is in this bill now is apparently an excuse for some of 
the Members on the other side of the aisle to hold up this important 
bill. It is a bill, by the way, that will provide hundreds of millions 
of dollars for the continuation of construction at airports throughout 
this country. Those will all come to a halt. No money is authorized to 
be spent after September 30 unless this bill passes.
  So, Mr. President, I yield back to my friend, so he can bring about 
the closing. But I shall be here every minute the Senate is open now in 
order to assure that that bill will pass. It is a bill that we have 
worked on now for 2 years, and I was part of the conference committee. 
I know what happened in conference. But that is the democratic process. 
The two Senators who are objecting, and who are missing, better get on 
the plane and come back, because I am going to start calling them by 
name Monday if they are not back here and are trying to block this bill 
in absentia. This is the most important bill to my State every time it 
comes up. It is going to pass. That is all there is to it.
  Mr. NICKLES. addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Stevens). The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. NICKLES. My compliments to my colleague from Wyoming. He did 
fulfill a very significant heritage by following his father's footsteps 
in the Senate.
  I also want to mention the comments made by my colleague from Alaska 
dealing with the FAA bill. We need to pass that bill, the Senator is 
right. It is going to be irresponsible if we don't pass the bill. So I 
just pledge to my friend and colleague from Alaska that we will work as 
energetically as we possibly can to try to make sure that happens 
before we adjourn sine die.

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