[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 108 (Thursday, August 1, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7882-S7884]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   RETIREMENT OF ADMINISTRATOR JANE GARVEY FROM THE FEDERAL AVIATION 
                             ADMINISTRATION

 Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, a little more than 5 years 
ago, the Commerce Committee held a hearing to test the mettle of a 
nominee to head the Federal Aviation Administration. The nominee came 
to Washington from her long-time home of Massachusetts to serve in the 
Federal Highway Administration, and her years of experience in various 
modes of transportation--primarily highways and airports--made her a 
strong candidate for the FAA position.
  At the time, Jane Garvey sat before us as the first nominee to be 
appointed to a fixed, 5-year term to head the FAA. For years, the 
position of chief of the FAA had served as a revolving door--with many 
well-qualified people, but few able or willing to stay. The lack of 
continuity left its mark on many projects--the headlines, often from 
Congressional sources or the General Accounting Office, usually read 
``delayed and over budget.'' That changed when Jane Garvey took the 
reins of the FAA on August 4, 1997.
  We knew that the FAA faced a daunting task in rebuilding and 
modernizing our air traffic control system

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and expanding our nation's airports. Over these last 5 years, we have 
watched and learned as Administrator Garvey testified countless times 
before numerous committees about the needs of the agency and her future 
vision of the FAA.
  The FAA Administrator's job is one of the toughest in government. 
When things go right, no one notices; but when things go wrong, 
everyone knows--and that is when the finger-pointing starts. Jane 
Garvey has handled this pressure with tremendous grace and an uncommon 
resolve to improve on the FAA's core commitment to safety.
  Every day, over 35,000 commercial flights travel across our skies--
safely and efficiently. During the last several years, safety-related 
tragedies have been the exception, not the norm. Through Administrator 
Garvey's leadership and the dedicated staff of the FAA, we have come a 
long way to revamping the FAA's mission, its organization, and its 
future.
  Today, there are major airport expansion construction projects across 
the country, as we make room for an expected 1 billion annual 
passengers by 2013. Thousands of new pieces of equipment have been 
tried, tested, and installed to increase the reliability and capacity 
of the air traffic control system.
  Jane Garvey has worked tirelessly with all of us--the various 
segments of the aviation community and the employees of the FAA--to 
improve the performance of the FAA. In fact, Government Executive 
magazine's privately run Federal Performance Project Team gave the FAA 
high scores in its 2002 report card for improving in all five 
management areas that it grades. Since its last report card 3 years 
ago, Government Executive noted Administrator Garvey's vast improvement 
of human resources management at the agency, and her significant 
progress in technology upgrades and creating tools for accountability.
  Administrator Garvey's tenure has been marked by a tremendous 
improvement in labor relations at the FAA. Her commitment to the 49,000 
employees of the FAA is well recognized, and has contributed 
significantly to the productivity and achievement of the agency as a 
whole. She has established a better working relationship with the 
nation's 20,000 air traffic controllers than at any point over the past 
20 years. Indeed, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers 
Association recently identified her as the ``finest administrator in 
the history of the FAA.''
  Since Jane Garvey took over at the FAA in 1997, I have had the 
opportunity to see her in action, and it has been a pleasure to work 
with her on a number of issues of importance to West Virginia and the 
nation. Her ``can-do'' spirit is infectious and has resulted in an 
agency that strives to improve on past performances and does not 
blindly accept shortcomings as inevitable. Through her tireless support 
of many of the important initiatives that we have worked on together, 
she has proven to be not just a good administrator, but a good friend.
  Five years seems like along time in Washington, but perhaps it is too 
short, for we will miss the strength and character of Jane Garvey. Our 
country owes her a great debt of gratitude for profound dedication to 
our aviation system.
  Finally, I would like to submit for the record some excerpts from a 
speech Administrator Garvey recently delivered before the Aero Club of 
Washington. Her remarks offer valuable perspective and direction for 
all of us who work in and care about aviation policy.

       Today, you could say that our nation's economic engines run 
     on jet fuel. The economic impact of aviation is so big it's 
     almost beyond measure. Revenues generated by airports like 
     Chicago, O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Hartsfield Atlanta 
     run in the billions. U.S. aerospace industries have become 
     America's leading exporter in the manufacturing sector. And 
     as we were reminded so painfully after September 11, tourist 
     travel, which depends on the airlines, accounts for one out 
     of seven jobs in America, and is among the top three 
     employers in 29 states.
       In this era of globalization, technologies like cable 
     modems and cell phones make vital connections--still, they're 
     virtual connections. If you really want to reach the rest of 
     the world, you've got to board a plane. Simply put, there is 
     no globalization without aviation. That's why, on any given 
     day, as many as 1.9 million Americans take to the skies on 
     one of 33,000 commercial flights. Internationally, each year, 
     that number is as high as 1.6 billion--more than one-fourth 
     of the people on this planet.
       We chart our progress by numbers like these--billions of 
     passengers, billions in revenue, millions of tons of cargo, 
     minutes (at most!) of delay. But, of course, it's not just 
     numbers that count. It's people. It's the men, women and 
     children who board our planes every day--to attend a 
     daughter's wedding; to leave for college for the first time; 
     to attend an important meeting on the other side of the 
     world; or to visit a new grandchild just a short flight from 
     home.
       As I said in 1997, our first and most important priority 
     was to make the world's safest skies even safer, in the face 
     of dynamic industry growth, expanding demand, and public 
     concerns. And we had to modernize the nation's air space 
     system in a timely and cost effective way. From my first days 
     in office, these have been my goals. Just as important, they 
     have been yours as well. I believed then--and believe even 
     more strongly today, after the experience of these past five 
     years--that the only way to meet these challenges is to face 
     them together, government and industry, pilots and air 
     traffic controllers, labor and management the FAA and 
     Congress.
       Collaboration isn't just a management style; consensus 
     isn't just something to strive for. In aviation, they are 
     essential elements in any real plan for progress. As the 
     pilot Lane Wallace has written: ``In one sense we are all 
     alone, whether in an airplane or on the ground, and we have 
     final responsibility for whatever path we take through life 
     or the sky . . . [But] we understand that while we may fly 
     solo, we are also all connected, and we need each other in 
     order to survive.''
       That's true not only for pilots, but also for controllers, 
     technicians, mechanics, flight attendants--and the FAA 
     Administrator. We've stopped defining ourselves by our 
     competing interests and started applying ourselves to our 
     common goals. Those goals haven't changed: we're focused, as 
     ever, on safety, efficiency, and adding capacity. But the way 
     we pursue our goals has been evolving. We now pursue them as 
     a community. We acknowledge--even embrace--our 
     interdependence. And that, in my view, has made all the 
     difference these past five years.
       It's certainly made a difference in the accident rate. 
     Working together, we reduced the accident rate for U.S. 
     airlines by 29 percent over our baseline last year. We did so 
     by agreeing on an unprecedented strategic plan for safety--
     Safer Skies. We now base our priorities on what the data, not 
     the headlines, say. Through new partnerships like ASAP, the 
     Aviation Safety Action Program, and by sharing data, we can 
     identify early warning signs, intervene in targeted ways, and 
     track the effectiveness of our efforts. I'm proud that we've 
     met every annual target in the accident rate, and I'm 
     confident that by 2007, we'll reach our greater goal: 
     reducing the commercial accident rate by 80 percent.
       Over the past five years, we have met many other 
     imperatives of modernization with the same determination. 
     Since 1997, we've completed more than 7,100 projects, 
     installing new facilities, systems, and equipment across the 
     U.S. and integrating them into the National Airspace System. 
     We've done more than 10,000 upgrades of ATC hardware and 
     software. Today, you can visit every one of our centers in 
     America and won't find a single piece of hardware that's been 
     around longer than I've been in this job (it only feels like 
     a long time).
       With the FAA's commitment to RNP--which takes advantage of 
     the aircraft's capabilities--we're taking crucial steps in 
     our transition from a ground-based to a satellite-based 
     system, and toward safely handling more aircraft in less 
     airspace.
       I think the way we achieved all this is not less remarkable 
     that what we've achieved. You know, it seems sort of obvious 
     that when you're designing new technological tools, you ought 
     to consult the people--controllers, technicians, pilots--who 
     are going to use them. For too long, that just wasn't the 
     case. When new equipment arrived at the loading dock, it was 
     a little too much like Christmas Day--no one knew what was 
     inside the box; the instructions were near impossible to 
     follow; and batteries were not included.
       Today, everyone knows what to expect--and how to use it. 
     When we develop new products and programs, we do it not only 
     with the users in mind, but at the drawing board.
       With all this new hardware and software, delays due to 
     equipment are down 70 percent from this time last year. A 
     Eurocontrol report shows that the productivity of U.S. 
     controllers is about twice as great as in Europe--and that 
     our air traffic management is about twice as efficient. It's 
     true: you just don't hear about outrages anymore. Instead, 
     you hear about more direct routes, lower fuel consumption, 
     and--let us not forget--better service for the men, women, 
     and children who entrust us with their air travel. Of course, 
     they're less concerned with who's using what technology than 
     with getting to their destination safely, swiftly, and 
     affordably. These new efforts help them to do so.
       It is this clear progress in air traffic management that is 
     so critical for aviation's recovery from the one-two punch of 
     the terrorist attacks and last year's recession. After an 
     inevitable decline--in traffic, yields, revenue--we expect to 
     see traffic returning to pre-recession levels next year.

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       Those one billion annual passengers we've been projecting 
     may not be in the departure lounge just yet, but they're on 
     the way. Demand will continue its historic rise--and we're 
     determined to meet it. Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta 
     talks frequently about closing the gap between demand for air 
     travel and the capacity of our infrastructure. Whether or not 
     we build it, they will come. And as Phil Condit reminded us 
     in recent speech. ``Economic growth follows infrastructure.''
       That's why the government and the aviation community 
     reached agreement last year on the Operational Evolution 
     Plan, which, as you know, is the centerpiece of the 
     FAA's efforts to build and expand infrastructure over the 
     next decade. The OEP includes new runways, new 
     technologies, and new procedures. It's not a wish list; 
     it's a set of marching orders--clearly setting out the 
     responsibilities of the FAA, airlines, and airports. These 
     ideas are meant for action. And we're already seeing what 
     action can achieve.
       Look at Detroit. Detroit's new runway opened last December. 
     Overnight, the number of flights per hour that Detroit Metro 
     can handle jumped from 146 to 182 in good weather--a 25 
     percent increase. We've targeted our efforts toward the worst 
     bottlenecks in the system. The controllers among you have 
     told me that conflict probe, now in use at four en route 
     centers, is the biggest improvement in the en route 
     environment they've seen in their entire careers. It cuts 
     costs even as it cuts emissions.
       With results like this, I am more confident than ever that 
     we are going to meet our goal: increasing capacity by up to 
     30 percent over the next ten years. We are already looking at 
     how we can accelerate initiatives and reach for more 
     capacity.
       The critical question--which we are already tackling with 
     industry--is, ``What's next? ''
       All of this progress flows directly from one source: our 
     spirit of community. It is incredible to behold. I have seen 
     it in so many ways on so many occasions during my five years 
     in office. And in all that time, the spirit of community was 
     never stronger than on September 11. Among the countless acts 
     of heroism on that terrible day, history will record the way 
     the aviation community pulled together, in the worst of 
     circumstances, to bring the planes down quickly and safely--
     and bring the system back up smoothly in the weeks that 
     followed.
       We have realized more and more the potential of flight. We 
     have mitigated more of its risks. But in many ways, we've 
     only begun.
       Moving forward, our mission must be to build on this 
     foundation--and create a legacy worthy of our children. The 
     next Administrator will face many challenges--some I've just 
     discussed, and surely many new ones. One of the greatest will 
     be the challenge of staying focused on modernization and 
     safety, in the face of new security pressures.
       For obvious reasons, security concerns will continue to 
     command the headlines. They demand our attention and deserve 
     our vigilance.
       The FAA's mission is just as important as ever. Not only 
     the new administrator, but also all of us, must keep our 
     focus on that. The industry faces an additional challenge in 
     providing a higher and higher level of service to its 
     customers. I do not want to leave office without saying how 
     grateful I am to Presidents Bush and Clinton, and Secretaries 
     Mineta and Slate, for entrusting me with this awesome 
     responsibility. And I am grateful to you for helping me, to 
     the best of my abilities, to fulfill it.
       I took office on the cusp of a new century; and depart with 
     those new horizons, and the new possibilities we foresaw, a 
     little closer in reach. It is you who made it so; you who 
     created this moment of opportunity; you who will carry us 
     forward. Every time I visit a control facility or an airport, 
     or talk to a pilot, or see the launch of a new technology, I 
     am impressed anew by your dedication and professionalism. I 
     am uplifted by your commitment to our mission.
       I know my successor will count on your insights and 
     energies just as much as I have. Because if one thing is 
     clear to me as I leave office, it is that our roles, like our 
     lives, are interdependent; our goals are interconnected. 
     Modernization, for example, is dependent on the financial 
     health of the industry. Safety depends not only on new 
     technology but also on the century-old concern of labor 
     relations. Efficiency in the air has a lot to do with 
     security provisions on the ground. And so on. None of us is 
     flying solo.

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