[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 59 (Friday, April 11, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E742-E743]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        INTRODUCING THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM INTEGRITY ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES L. OBERSTAR

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 10, 2003

  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, today I have joined with Congressmen 
LoBiondo, DeFazio, and Quinn to introduce the Air Traffic Control 
System Integrity Act of 2003, a bill to ensure that functions relating 
to the air traffic control system continue to be carried out by the 
United States Government.
  Mr. Speaker, I am deeply disturbed by the Bush Administration's 
recent attempts to inch its way towards privatization or 
corporatization of our air traffic control system. First, on June 4, 
2002, the President signed Executive Order 13264 to delete a phrase in 
Executive Order 13180 stating that air traffic control is an 
``inherently-governmental function.''
  More recently, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) placed air 
traffic controllers on its 2002 Commercial Activities list, which is an 
inventory of activities performed by government personnel that should 
be subject to the forces of competition. Although FAA Administrator 
Marion Blakey testified before the House Aviation Subcommittee that ATC 
is in a protected class of the OMB Commercial Activities list, there is 
nothing that prohibits the Administration from re-categorizing ATC in 
the future.
  The National Air Space system is not one well-defined piece of 
equipment. It is a complex, integrated arrangement of thousands of 
distinct systems, as well as regulations, procedures, and people, all 
interfacing with one another to accomplish one of the most intricate 
missions in the world--ensuring our country's ability to safely and 
efficiently move over 600 million passenger a year.
  On September 11th, we learned just how efficiently our 15,000 air 
traffic controllers and 6,000 technicians do their jobs. On that 
fateful day, at 9:45 a.m., the Department of Transportation gave the 
order to ground all aircraft in U.S. airspace immediately--an operation 
that controllers and technicians had neither been trained nor tested to 
accomplish. Within the space of two hours, the FAA's air traffic 
controllers safely landed 4,482 aircraft; 3,195 commercial, 1,122 
general aviation, and 165 military--without one operational error.
  Following September 11th, our FAA technicians worked with the 
Department of Defense to staff Long Range Radar sites throughout the 
country as well as to provide additional radar surveillance data and 
voice communication capability to the military in support of ``Homeland 
Defense.'' The dedication and professionalism of all of our highly 
skilled government employees is unparalleled.

  Operation of ATC requires the cooperative, coordinated efforts of 
many divisions in FAA including those responsible for ATC services, 
facilities and equipment, safety certification and regulation, airport 
development, research and development and law. All of these divisions 
are required by law to have safety as their highest priority.
  Any plan to privatize or corporatize the ATC system contemplates that 
system users, principally the airlines, will be saddled with a fee 
structure to pay for the corporation. This means that the ATC system 
will be an expense for airlines, affecting their profit and loss. At 
the same time, airlines will play a role in setting policies for the 
new corporation and deciding how much the corporation will spend, and, 
very likely, deciding who will be winners, and who will be losers.
  Do we really want to have a relationship between airline 
profitability and ATC spending and other decisions affecting safety or 
security? To be blunt, when airline profit margins start to influence 
ATC practices, the safety margin may be eroded, and that would not 
serve the public interest.
  One of the main justifications advanced in support of an ATC 
corporation is that it would produce a system that is more responsive 
to airline concerns and would reduce airline costs. However, two of the 
most prominent

[[Page E743]]

countries that have privatized their ATC systems--Great Britain and 
Canada have had numerous problems. Both countries' systems are 
financially distressed and suffering from performance setbacks. The 
perceived gains by privatizing the ATC systems in these countries--
lower fees and increased efficiency--have actually translated into 
higher fees, numerous flight cancellations, delays, and very recently, 
a $250 million bailout of no privatized company by the British 
government. This is not a model that the U.S. wants to emulate.
  In the existing ATC system, the FAA and the Congress make decisions 
on safety issues in the overall best public interest, with input from 
system users. If there is any move towards privatization or some form 
of government corporation, how will the public be assured that ATC 
operations will be managed with a primary goal of protecting the 
interest of airline passengers and ensuring safety and security?
  The basic question that needs to be asked is whether we should risk 
the uncertainties of creating a new system to promote ATC safety and 
security when we already have in place a system with an outstanding 
safety record. The answer is simple: No.
  That is why we must act now to halt any efforts to privatize or 
corporatize our nation's air traffic system functions. This bill 
prohibits the Department of Transportation from authorizing the 
conversion of any FAA facilities, or the outsourcing of any work 
currently performed by FAA employees (including air traffic 
controllers, systems specialists, and flight service station 
employees), in the ATC system to private or public entities other than 
the U.S. government. Importantly, however, this bill would not impact 
the contract tower program, the safety benefits of which have been well 
documented.
  This bill would guarantee the continued integrity of our nation's air 
traffic control system. I urge my colleagues to support this critical 
piece of legislation.

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