[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 21, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S1506]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           DCA PERIMETER RULE

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the DCA 
Perimeter Rule and its impact on the West. This is very important to me 
because it affects western States, like Montana.
  I support the recent conference provisions that allow exemptions to 
the current perimeter rule at Ronald Reagan Washington National 
Airport. The Conferees should be commended for working to create a 
process that balances interests of Senators from states inside the 
perimeter and those of us who are from western states that do not have 
convenient access to National Airport.
  Right now passengers from small and medium-sized communities in the 
West are forced to make double and sometime even triple connections to 
fly to National Airport, or any other Washington airport. Let me talk 
for a minute about my home state of Montana. It takes an entire day to 
get from Washington to Montana or visa versa. In order to fly into 
Montana you need to fly in to Salt Lake, or Denver, or one of the other 
western hubs and wait for one of the two or three 60 passenger flights 
that flies into Montana that day.
  This is true for small communities throughout the West, especially in 
the Northwest corner that use hubs like Salt Lake City.
  The conference report has the potential to improve access throughout 
the West. I believe it is important that the Department of 
Transportation ensure that this benefit is not limited to a few large 
cities which already have a variety of options for flying to 
Washington.
  By enforcing this rule we are making access to DC easier for western 
states. The nation's Capital should be accessible without hassle to the 
entire country. I do not like the fact that if someone from my home 
state of Montana wants to come here to talk to their nations 
representative that they need to spend an entire day traveling, and 
waiting in airports for a connection.
  My support for this effort dates back to when this legislation was 
first introduced. I want to ensure that these limited exemptions 
benefit the people of the West. I want to make it very clear that the 
limited number of exemptions should not be awarded to any one airport 
or airline. I hope, and expect that the Department of Transportation 
will ensure that the 12 slots granted by the conference are distributed 
proportionally, so that as many cities in the West, and especially the 
Northwest can benefit.

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