[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 35 (Wednesday, March 25, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H1515-H1516]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRANSPORTATION UPDATE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fox) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I join with the gentleman from 
Arkansas (Mr. Berry), my good friend, and all of our colleagues in 
wishing all the prayers to the First District of Arkansas and to all 
the families there,

[[Page H1516]]

greatest sympathy and prayers for God to help in every way he can from 
this point forward. The gentleman from Arkansas knows that he has our 
support in that endeavor.
  Mr. Speaker, in other action in the House this week, I wanted to make 
special mention of the cooperation and the assistance in working 
together on an outstanding new transportation bill that would not have 
come without the outstanding leadership of the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. 
Oberstar), ranking member, in crafting a piece of legislation which is 
historic in providing the road improvements, the mass transit 
assistance that is so important to all of our municipalities, cities, 
and towns all across the United States.
  I know from my district that roads need to be improved and mass 
transit systems can be made to be better in many ways. I am especially 
grateful for the approval by the committee of a new system which would 
be the Schuylkill Valley Metro, the first new transit system in many 
years in our State, and one of the first new ones in our region of the 
United States. This Schuylkill Valley Metro will go from Philadelphia 
to Reading, and help people who now find themselves in gridlock on a 
major highway to now have safe, convenient transit once we have 
finished the appropriations process.
  I also wanted to bring to the attention of my colleagues tonight 
another related transportation matter. As the lead person in the House 
on the Results Caucus with regard to the Federal Aviation 
Administration, I am working with my colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle to adopt legislation which will improve their safety, not the 
least of which would be to require the child safety seats on airplanes, 
which will make sure that we keep our children as safe in an airplane 
as we do in our vehicles. Most of all, protection for airplane 
employees, to make sure that the defects that are present can be 
reported more easily so that the changes can be forthcoming, and to 
allow our airline staff on the planes to have defibrillators so that 
those who are on long trips can get all the medical attention they need 
prior to going to a hospital for further care.
  These are three important bills moving through the House, hopefully 
with as much speed as possible. I will continue my efforts, working 
with like-minded colleagues on collision avoidance systems, improved 
air traffic control, and increased use of the Doppler radar to make 
sure that those who fly the planes can avoid wind shear and to make 
sure our skies are as safe as possible so that the transit of our 
constituents can be that which we want it to be, the safest in the 
world.
  Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster), our chairman, the gentleman from Tennessee 
(Mr. Duncan), our subcommittee chairman, and the gentlewoman from 
Missouri (Ms. Danner) because she will be working with us in a 
bipartisan fashion, to do what we can, working with the airlines, 
military, and commercial aircraft and their experts so that we can make 
sure that airplane safety will be as safe as it can be, and to make 
sure that the flying public have the confidence always, as they already 
have, that they will get the best.

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