[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 5 (Tuesday, February 3, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H106-H107]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1300
     NAME CHANGE FOR WASHINGTON NATIONAL AIRPORT SHOULD NOT HAPPEN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Miller of Florida). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow this House will take up 
a bill to strip George Washington's name from Washington National 
Airport and to rename it the Ronald Reagan National Airport.
  I oppose this legislation. My opposition and the opposition of other 
Members to this bill has nothing to do with personal feelings about 
President Reagan and his family. In fact, we wish them the best. The 
debate on this bill should not be about President Reagan or his 
policies.
  I want to repeat this. This debate is not about President Reagan or 
how best to honor his legacy, this debate is about the majority's 
efforts to push through a bill that will have serious consequences with 
little debate and no serious consideration.
  In the 7 years I have been a Member of Congress I have never seen 
greater arrogance than has been exhibited by the majority party in 
their efforts to enact this legislation. This is an arrogant abuse of 
power. Washington National Airport is in my district. I have never been 
consulted about this legislation. I was never asked to appear at a 
hearing, because there was no hearing. And no one from the other side 
has even bothered to ask my constituents what they thought about it. If 
they had, they would find that we do not want this name changed.
  Every Member of this House should think how they would feel if the 
Congress were to vote tomorrow to rename the airport in their district 
without even consulting them. This bill was drafted without consulting 
Senators Warner and Roth, Virginia's representatives in the other body.
  This bill was drafted without consulting the Washington Metropolitan 
Airport Authority, the body that Ronald Reagan created to govern the 
Washington National Airport. It was drafted without consulting the 
Federal Aviation Administration that has to change all the tickets and 
the rerouting and their whole computer network. The airlines operating 
out of National were not consulted or the businesses located around the 
airport in my district. Each of these entities will be significantly 
and adversely impacted by this bill and each deserves a voice in this 
decision.
  Rather than honor Ronald Reagan and his family and his philosophy of 
devolving Federal power to State and local governments, this Congress 
is completely ignoring the expressed wishes of local government when it 
acts in such an imperious, dictatorial manner. Both Arlington County 
and

[[Page H107]]

the City of Alexandria have gone on record as firmly opposing this 
renaming bill.
  The Greater Washington Board of Trade, which is the equivalent of our 
regional Chamber of Commerce, opposes this legislation. These local 
organizations reflect strong public sentiment against H.R. 2526. So 
rather than respect the conservative principles of Ronald Reagan, this 
Congress is diminishing the history of the airport and the President 
for which it was named to glorify another President.
  Our local airport was named Washington National Airport for a very 
good reason. George Washington lived less than 10 miles away from it, 
on the very same route. He lived at the end of the street where 
Washington National Airport is located, Mount Vernon. When it was 
built, President Roosevelt and airport architects wanted the original 
terminal to bear a resemblance to Mount Vernon, which it does.
  Virginia is a State which is proud to have produced so many 
Presidents and Founding Fathers for this Nation. We do not want to have 
the name of our first President taken off the busiest airport in our 
State. Rather than honor President Reagan's belief in limited and 
preferably local government, this Congress is about to enact a bill 
that will saddle the Washington Metropolitan Airport Authority and 
hundreds of local businesses in and around Washington National Airport 
with great and unnecessary expenses.
  The most ironic, and some would say saddest, part of this entire 
debate is that we are trying to overturn one of President Reagan's 
accomplishments. It was, after all, President Ronald Reagan who in 1986 
signed legislation that ceded Federal control over Washington National 
and Dulles Airports to the State and regional authorities. That 1986 
law granted to the Washington Metropolitan Airport Authority control 
over these airports. They were not even consulted.
  This is wrong. It is an outrageous abuse of power. It should not be 
done. Do not do it.
  By signing that legislation, President Reagan assured that the 
federal government would get out of the business of running regional 
airports. He was correct in doing so. He was acting in a manner that 
was consistent with this core philosophy, which was to devolve power to 
the state and local governments.
  Now, twelve years later, my Republican colleagues want to ignore 
completely the spirit and purpose of that law and force this name 
change on unwilling local authorities.
  Lest anyone think that this is just a partisan concern, or that we 
are acting in a petty manner, I ask them to consider not my comments 
but the comments of former Virginia Governor Linwood Holton, who was 
also a former chairman of the Washington Airports Authority.
  In a letter to me last week, the Governor stated his strong 
opposition to H.R. 2526. He expressed the concern that this bill 
defeats the purpose of the 1986 airports law and the underlying lease 
for the airports between the federal government and the airports 
authority. That lease grants to the authority--and not to this 
Congress--the control over all operational issues relating to the 
airport. And that includes its name!
  Governor Holton goes on to articulate the concerns that many of us 
have about the cost of this name change and its impact on the traveling 
public.
  These are not the concerns of some partisan Democrat, but of the 
first Republican elected to statewide office in modern Virginia 
history.
  Mr. Speaker, President Reagan has been and will continue to be 
honored by the American people. His name will be on the Navy's next 
Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. The new international trade center 
downtown will be dedicated in April as the Ronald Reagan Building. And 
there is a courthouse in California named after President Reagan.
  These honors are appropriate and enjoy bipartisan support.
  Let's not subject the President and his family to a divisive debate 
over renaming Washington National Airport. H.R. 2526 is a bill that is 
opposed by our local governments in Virginia. It is opposed by the 
business community. It runs counter to the spirit and purpose of 
existing law. It diminishes Virginia history and the legacy of George 
Washington. And it establishes a bad precendent for this House.
  I urge the Republican leadership to withdraw this ill-advised and 
hastily drawn measure.
  Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the following:
                                     McLean, VA, January 29, 1998.
       Dear Jim: I am writing to you in regards to the pending 
     legislation to change the name of the Washington National 
     Airport to ``Ronald Reagan National Airport.'' I had the 
     honor of working closely with the Congress and Secretary of 
     Transportation Elizabeth Dole in advancing the Metropolitan 
     Washington Airports Act of 1986 to transfer Washington 
     National Airport out of the Federal Government to the 
     Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. This legislation 
     of course was signed into law by President Reagan. The 
     Airports Authority was created by the Commonwealth of 
     Virginia and the District of Columbia. The Federal Government 
     leased Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles 
     International Airport to the Authority for fifty years 
     beginning on June 7, 1987. I was privileged to serve as 
     Chairman of the Authority at that time and I signed that 
     lease on behalf of the Authority.
       The purpose of the transfer, as recited in the lease 
     itself, was to achieve ``local control, management, operation 
     and development'' of the airports. I am very concerned that 
     after ten years of this lease arrangement, the Congress now 
     proposed to take unilateral action to change the name of the 
     airport. This is not at all consistent with either the 
     literal terms or the purpose of that lease agreement. 
     Further, the change to the name as proposed, while honoring a 
     president for whom I have the greatest respect, would be 
     detrimental to the airport and its users and affect the 
     traveling public in ways certainly not intended by the 
     drafters of this legislation.
       The lease grants the Authority complete control, power, and 
     dominion over the airports. The intent of Congress, Virginia 
     and the District of Columbia in this arrangement is clear. 
     Even though the Federal Government continues to own the 
     underlying land, the airport is to be treated as any other 
     airport, not as a federal facility. In the past, there have 
     been changes made to the lease at the request of Congress and 
     the changes have been brought about by a mutually agreed upon 
     amendment to the lease to secure the consent of the Airports 
     Authority. The proposed name change legislation does not 
     acknowledge the need to obtain the consent of the Authority 
     and this is inconsistent with the intended relationship 
     between the Federal Government and the Authority.
       As for the consequences, the removal of ``Washington'' from 
     the airport name removed the location and market identifier 
     that is obviously very important to travelers and shippers at 
     points distant from the Washington area. It is worth noting 
     that well over half of those who travel through National are 
     not residents of the Washington region. The word 
     ``Washington'' provides immediate market and location 
     information. Without it, there will be confusion that does 
     not exist today about where the airport is and what market it 
     serves. The cost of such loss of identity and confusion may 
     not be readily quantified, but I believe that it would be 
     substantial. There also are other costs such as the costs to 
     local businesses who have associated their identifies with 
     Washington National Airport.
       In conclusion, the legislation which transferred Washington 
     National Airport to the Metropolitan Washington Airports 
     Authority granted to the Authority the control and oversight 
     of the airport. Unilateral action by the Congress to take the 
     drastic action of changing the name of the airport is 
     inconsistent with both the spirit and the intent of the 
     transfer.
           Very truly yours,
     Linwood Holton.

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