[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 126 (Tuesday, September 25, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H5978]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  MONETARY ASSISTANCE FOR THE AIRLINES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Johnson of Illinois). Under the 
Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2001, the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago, you were in the Chair and I 
had taken to the floor for this session. As we have seen the impacts of 
September 11 continue to unfold, it does, as you and I have remarked, 
seem like a lifetime ago. Yet, in these times of emergency, the 
American public deserves our very best efforts. They deserve to have 
Congress look after the interests of all our citizens, America's 
workers as well as its businesses, in a careful, cost-effective manner.
  In our rush to meet the growing demands created by the devastation in 
New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, Congress would do well to 
follow Mr. Greenspan's cautious advice, that it is more important to be 
right than to be quick.
  Last week, Congress approved $15 billion in Federal support for 
airline carriers. While no one doubts that the aviation industry has 
had enormous impacts on our communities, on American business and on 
our people's daily lives, our rush to provide relief created what I 
feel is a dangerous precedent.
  Within a week of receiving airlines' demands for help, Congress 
passed and the President signed a $15 billion package that appears to 
go well beyond the amount needed to provide the stabilization required 
for this vital part of the economy.
  Pushed aside for later consideration were many of the more difficult 
questions, providing assistance to over 100,000 airline employees laid 
off since the attacks, questioning what role the Federal Government 
should play to ensure greater airport security, or addressing the 
numerous collateral victims across the country directly related to air 
transport who have also been attacked and damaged, even though they 
live far away from ground zero.
  These ripple effects need to be heard and addressed. The question is 
not merely whether the industry got too much money. When huge sums of 
taxpayer dollars are involved, we need to establish clearly what will 
be the value that the public receives in return. Is it going to receive 
an equity interest in return for an extraordinary investment? Or 
perhaps we could have purchased the noisy, polluting, inefficient 
airplanes and retired them from service.
  It seems, Mr. Speaker, that in the upcoming weeks and months, we know 
Congress will be asked to provide assistance to other interests and 
industries and clearly to help bolster our troubled economy. We would 
do well to seize this as an opportunity to be thoughtful in our 
approach and to capitalize on this renewed bipartisan spirit on Capitol 
Hill to craft legislation that addresses the complexity of the problems 
that adds real value and makes sufficient use of tax dollars.
  This is not the time to throw money at problems without a sense of 
the trade-offs, without failing to include all impacted individuals and 
businesses or weakening labor, environmental or fiscal protections.
  Above all, it is not a time to use the sense of crisis to push 
through questionable legislation, whatever the motivation. The American 
public deserves our best at the time of crisis, and we in Congress 
would do well to heed the open letter from taxpayers for common sense 
that calls for these very best efforts for our taxpayers, our citizens 
to make sure that we are equal to the challenge.

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