[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 33 (Wednesday, March 3, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H899-H900]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 661, COMMERCIAL OPERATION OF 
                 SUPERSONIC TRANSPORT CATEGORY AIRCRAFT

  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the 
Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 86 and ask for its 
immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                               H. Res. 86

       Resolved, That at any time after the adoption of this 
     resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule 
     XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the 
     Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of 
     the bill (H.R. 661) to direct the Secretary of Transportation 
     to prohibit the commercial operation of supersonic transport 
     category aircraft that do not comply with stage 3 noise 
     levels if the European Union adopts certain aircraft noise 
     regulations. The first reading of the bill shall be dispensed 
     with. Points of order against consideration of the bill for 
     failure to comply with clause 4(a) of rule XIII are waived. 
     General debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not 
     exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the 
     chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on 
     Transportation and Infrastructure. After general debate the 
     bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute 
     rule. The bill shall be considered as read. During 
     consideration of the bill for amendment, the chairman of the 
     Committee of the Whole may accord priority in recognition on 
     the basis of whether the Member offering an amendment has 
     caused it to be printed in the portion of the Congressional 
     Record designated for that purpose in clause 8 of rule XVIII. 
     Amendments so printed shall be considered as read. The 
     chairman of the Committee of the Whole may: (1) postpone 
     until a time during further consideration in the Committee of 
     the Whole a request for a recorded vote on any amendment; and 
     (2) reduce to five minutes the minimum time for electronic 
     voting on any postponed question that follows another 
     electronic vote without intervening business, provided that 
     the minimum time for electronic voting on the first in any 
     series of questions shall be 15 minutes. At the conclusion of 
     consideration of the bill for amendment the Committee shall 
     rise and report the bill to the House with such amendments as 
     may have been adopted. The previous question shall be 
     considered as ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to 
     final passage without intervening motion except one motion to 
     recommit with or without instructions.

                              {time}  1045

  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, 
I yield the customary 30 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from 
New York (Ms. Slaughter), pending which I yield myself such time as I 
may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded 
is for the purpose of debate only.
  (Mr. HASTINGS of Washington asked and was given permission to revise 
and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 86 is an open rule 
waiving clause 4(a) of rule XIII, that requires a 3-day layover of the 
committee report, against consideration of the bill. I would advise my 
colleagues that the committee's report was, however, filed yesterday on 
March 2.
  The rule provides 1 hour of general debate to be equally divided and 
controlled between the chairman and ranking minority member of the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The rule provides that 
the bill shall be open for amendment at any point.
  Furthermore, the rule authorizes the Chair to accord priority in 
recognition to Members who have preprinted their amendments in the 
Congressional Record. The rule also allows the Chairman of the 
Committee of the Whole to postpone votes during consideration of the 
bill and to reduce votes to 5 minutes on a postponed question if the 
vote follows a 15-minute vote.
  Finally, the rule provides one motion to recommit with or without 
instructions.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 661 will prohibit the operation of supersonic 
aircraft, such as the Concorde, in the United States if the European 
Union adopts a rule prohibiting the operation of U.S. aircraft that 
have been modified to reduce noise emissions or fitted with new 
engines.
  The Europeans claim the EU rule is an environmental issue, but in 
fact it is a trade issue, because the rule would effectively prevent 
U.S. airlines from selling their aircraft to European airlines if those 
aircraft have been modified.
  Ironically, however, the proposed EU regulation would not prevent 
European airlines from selling their own modified aircraft to other 
European airlines. This legislation, then, is intended to send a signal 
that the U.S. will not sit for such blatant discrimination and that 
U.S.-modified aircraft should be treated no differently than similarly 
modified European airplanes.
  Mr. Speaker, CBO estimates that H.R. 661 would have no immediate 
impact on the Federal budget and that the bill contains no 
intergovernmental mandates as defined by the Unfunded Mandates Reform 
Act. The bill would, however, provide a new private-sector mandate on 
British Airways and Air France, the operators of the Concorde, although 
such mandates are not expected to exceed the $100 million threshold.
  Mr. Speaker, none of us relishes retaliatory measures of this type. 
Indeed, we wish they were, in fact, unnecessary. But fair is fair and, 
accordingly, I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 86 and the 
underlying bill, H.R. 661.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume, and I thank the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings) for 
yielding me the customary 30 minutes.
  (Ms. SLAUGHTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
her remarks.)
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this open rule 
providing for the consideration of H.R. 661, Conditionally Prohibiting 
the Operation of Supersonic Aircraft.
  This bipartisan bill is brought to the House by the Democratic leader 
on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the gentleman 
from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Shuster), our Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure chairman. 
They are joined by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski) and the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan).
  Since this has been described as the ``year of aviation'' in 
Congress, this may then be the first in a series of appearances by 
these thoughtful and capable leaders on aviation issues. I thank them 
for their efforts on this legislation and look forward to their good 
work as the session proceeds.
  The rule will allow our highly skilled aviation leaders on both sides 
of the aisle to make the case for the bill, which I will address just 
briefly in discussing the rule.
  In short, the bill would respond to action being considered by the 
European Union which would severely restrict the use of some 1,600 
U.S.-registered aircraft used by cargo, package services and passenger 
airlines.
  The straw man in this case is airline noise, as the EU proposes to 
take action against these U.S.-registered aircraft which have been 
engineered to meet or exceed all applicable noise standards. And I 
repeat, the United States aircraft are in compliance.
  If taken, this action will make it more difficult to sell the United 
States-owned aircraft because they would be barred from operating 
internationally.
  H.R. 661 says that if the EU persists in taking such action, our 
Secretary of Transportation must respond by prohibiting the arrival of 
the supersonic transport, the Concorde, an aircraft which by comparison 
to our ever-more-quiet United States aircraft is a regular roof-
rattler.
  H.R. 661 sends a simple message to our friends ``across the pond'' in 
the European Union that we will respond in kind should they choose to 
take action that prohibits the use of U.S. aircraft which are 
completely in compliance with international standards.
  That being said, I commend my friends from the committee of 
jurisdiction, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and 
urge support of the rule and the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

[[Page H900]]

  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of 
my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.
  The previous question was ordered.
  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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