[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 140 (Thursday, September 20, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H10636-H10637]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    FAA REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2007

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 664 and rule 
XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House 
on the state of the Union for the consideration of the bill, H.R. 2881.

                              {time}  1134


                     In the Committee of the Whole

  Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of the 
Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of the bill 
(H.R. 2881) to amend title 49, United States Code, to authorize 
appropriations for the Federal Aviation Administration for fiscal years 
2008 through 2011, to improve aviation safety and capacity, to provide 
stable funding for the national aviation system, and for other 
purposes, with Ms. DeGette in the chair.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered read the 
first time.
  The gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) and the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Mica) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Minnesota.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Chairman, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
brings to the House today an historic bill to address the needs of 
aviation today and into the future. At a time when we are seeing 
aviation recover from the devastating aftereffects of September 11, the 
flood of bankruptcies that occurred in the years subsequent to that 
tragic assault on America, and the retiring of aircraft, laying off of 
tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of airline workers and 
workers in related fields, we are now seeing aviation return to and 
exceed all-time previously registered highs.
  Last year, over a billion people traveled by air worldwide, and 750 
million of that travel was in the U.S. air space. We are seeing 
increasing delays. Only 72 percent of flights arrived on time in this 
last year. That indicates congestion in the air space and congestion on 
the ground and congestion in our air traffic control system.
  We bring to the House, we bring to the country, historic funding 
levels of $68 billion over the next 4 years. We bring you a 4-year 
bill, not 3 years like we have done in years past, to address the needs 
of creating capacity on the air side of airports: $15.8 billion for the 
airport improvement program; $13 billion to invest in the air traffic 
control technology and making room for and accelerating the development 
of the Next Generation air traffic control technology; and $37.2 
billion to fund the operations of the FAA, essentially paying air 
traffic controllers and those who maintain the system.
  These are all-time high investments. I have served in the House for 
33 years. I have been deeply engaged in aviation for over 25 years of 
those years, and I have never seen this kind of investment that 
Congress has made, this deeply, this extensively, and so far out into 
the future.
  I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Costello), the 
chairman of our Subcommittee on Aviation who has seized the issue, 
mastered the subject matter, conducted extensive in-depth hearings on a 
broad range of issues considered by the committee, and has played a 
critical role in shaping the bill.
  I want to express my appreciation to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Mica), the ranking member of the full committee, who has served 
previously as the Chair of the Aviation Subcommittee and is fully 
engaged in the issues of aviation and who committed himself every step 
of the way to the shaping of this legislation, including working 
together with us on the Democratic side, with the DOT and the White 
House and the air traffic controllers in an attempt to resolve a very 
knotty problem of the air traffic controllers' contract.
  And I also express appreciation to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. 
Petri), the ranking member on the Aviation Subcommittee, for the 
enormous amount of time he devoted and for his always thoughtful and 
intellectual contributions to the work of the committee.
  Madam Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MICA. Madam Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Chairman, I am pleased to be here this morning to bring to the 
floor the FAA reauthorization legislation that is before us. As Members 
know, and those who follow this subject, our authorization runs out, I 
believe, the end of next week. That is our Federal policy and projects' 
financing ability to run our Nation's air traffic system. We had a 
responsibility to move forward legislation to renew that Federal law, 
and that's why we are here today. I think that is an important 
responsibility.
  I have tried to work with Mr. Oberstar, who now chairs the full 
committee. He chaired the Aviation Subcommittee, ironically, when I was 
a freshman in Congress. And as he mentioned, I had the opportunity to 
chair that subcommittee for the past 6 years and developed a great 
working relationship with him.
  I am pleased to work with my ranking member, the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Petri), who has done yeoman's work to try to bring this 
legislation forward in a responsible manner, working with the now-
chairman of the subcommittee, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Costello), who likewise has put his full efforts towards this important 
reauthorization.
  We have been fortunate, too, to have great staff on both sides of the 
aisle working together to meet that responsibility. I am pleased that 
we could bring the bill forward.
  However, I have to say, in all honesty, I have some mixed emotions. I 
must also state that when we come to final passage, and I have told Mr. 
Oberstar and Mr. Costello and others, that I will cast a vote not in 
support of this FAA reauthorization, and really for two reasons.
  First of all, when we introduced the bill, there were several 
objectionable provisions that had been proposed that I opposed, and I 
do respect the gentlemen from Minnesota and also Illinois, in working 
cooperatively to introduce the bill without those objectionable 
provisions. However, right after we introduced it and we marked up the 
bill, we started sort of piling on, and there are two provisions which 
I cannot support, two major provisions, and I made them aware of my 
opposition.
  The first one involves an unprecedented reach-back, and it is for the 
air traffic controllers. Let me say there are men and women, some 
15,000 of them, who do an incredible job serving our air traffic 
control system. And back in the 1990s, I believe that they were 
underpaid, undercompensated for their responsibilities. But through a 
contract that was negotiated then under the Clinton administration, 
they did receive for the next 7 years an average increase of about 10 
percent a year. In fact, it totals 75 percent over those 7 years.
  Now, I would love to have it 10 percent guaranteed increase. I think 
people who work here in the Congress would like to have a 10 percent 
pay increase every year; 1.2 million Federal employees, maybe another 
20,000 that work at FAA would all like to have this deal, and that deal 
wasn't to be.
  This past Congress had the difficult task of receiving the contract 
that was being negotiated and the final offer that was made by FAA 
because the contract reached an impasse. And in an

[[Page H10637]]

unprecedented fashion also, the terms of that contract offer was 
brought to Congress, and the air traffic controllers lost in that vote 
here on the floor.
  Now, I sympathize with Mr. Oberstar and also with Mr. Costello. The 
appropriators turned down the air traffic controllers in the House. We 
had several CRs where they attempted to reopen this contract; it was 
turned down. It was turned down by the appropriators in the Senate. It 
was turned down in the bill that is now before the other body. Each 
time that they have gone to the Democrat side, which now controls this 
body, they have been turned down.
  Now, they did manage to put this provision to which I object in the 
bill, and it is unfortunate. It has a huge financial impact. It is 
estimated to be $1.9 billion, if this is allowed to go forward. And the 
money is one thing, but reaching back in an unfair manner to other 
Federal employees. We have some 20,000 professionals, engineers, people 
with Ph.D.s, a whole host of staff in FAA that aren't going to be 
treated in an equitable manner.
  And then the bad precedent it sets for Congress. Folks, any time you 
get into a labor dispute, just bring it to Congress and we will up your 
salary when we are pressured. That can't be the way we operate. I have 
agreed to change the mechanism. Nobody in Congress likes to be the 
negotiator of salaries or contracts, and we shouldn't be, and I am 
committed to that.

                              {time}  1145

  I will also say that since we took up this bill and knowing that this 
is a pending controversial matter, I have worked day and night to try 
to get the administration and NATCA union representatives together to 
resolve those differences. I appreciate the work of all of those 
involved. The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) has also joined the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri) and myself and the Democrat 
members in that effort. Unfortunately, it's jammed into this bill and 
that's not fair.
  There are other provisions that have been put in here for big labor. 
Now, I know labor won a big vote with the election and is attempting to 
increase its membership. I respect that, but I think that the grab they 
have attempted here goes beyond what I feel is reasonable, not only in 
expanding organizational opportunities that I think go beyond again a 
reasonable level but some of the other provisions in here that will add 
cost, that will add regulations, that will add complications to 
operating our system and not give us a fair return. Not only do we have 
a responsibility to bring forth this legislation that runs this system 
but we have an obligation and responsibility to taxpayers and others, 
the travelers who finance the system, that their funds be spent wisely.
  I do also have some reservations about provisions that will be added 
in the manager's amendment. Again, it's not always how much money you 
spend, but how you spend that money, and we have a responsibility to 
spend that wisely and very efficiently for hardworking Americans who 
are paying in to also help finance this system.
  And then, of course, the final point is the President has issued a 
veto statement, and he will veto this based on spending, based on the 
overreach by labor for their contract and other terms that have been 
put into this legislation. Even though I have opposition, I have 
pledged to work to move the process forward and continue to renew that 
pledge at this time as we move forward with the bill.
  Madam Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Costello), the Chair of the Aviation 
Subcommittee.
  Mr. COSTELLO. I thank the chairman of the full committee, the 
gentleman from Minnesota, for recognizing me and yielding this time.
  Today is an important day for the future of aviation. We are 
considering this legislation, which was introduced in a bipartisan 
manner. I do want to thank the gentleman from Minnesota, the gentleman 
from Florida and the gentleman from Wisconsin for all of their hard 
work in bringing the legislation to the floor today.
  The issues we address in this legislation are important, and they 
will determine our ability to continue to maintain the world's safest 
aviation system. There is a provision in this bill that the gentleman 
from Florida referred to that addresses FAA's imposed work rules on the 
air traffic controllers. We spent many hours working together with the 
FAA and the air traffic controllers trying to bring together an 
agreement. Unfortunately, an agreement could not be reached and that 
only left us with one clear choice, and that is binding arbitration.
  I strongly believe in collective bargaining and bargaining in good 
faith with a fair dispute resolution process for both sides. 
Unfortunately, that did not happen in 2006, but it was corrected with 
the T&I Committee markup by adopting the Costello amendment with a 
strong bipartisan vote of 53-16. The approach in H.R. 2881 will ensure 
fair treatment of FAA employees and restores two fundamental 
principles: the rights of workers and the right to collectively 
bargain.
  H.R. 2881 also allows us to increase capacity and safety within our 
aviation system, modernize our air traffic control system, and continue 
to reduce energy consumption and improve our environment. Our Next 
Generation system can be absorbed by the existing FAA financing 
structure, and that is exactly what we did in this bill.
  Our bill does not impose user fees as the administration recommended. 
Instead, our bill uses the current tax structure. This legislation 
provides a record $68 billion over the next 4 years to improve our 
Nation's aviation infrastructure, modernize our air traffic control 
system, and maintain the highest level of safety in this ever-changing 
aviation environment.
  Further, the legislation applies a four-part approach to the FAA 
Joint Planning and Development Office. We provide more funding, more 
authority, more accountability and more oversight. These changes will 
ensure our ability to meet our modernization goals and objectives.
  The first half of 2007, as the gentleman from Minnesota pointed out, 
has been the worst as far as delays in the last 13 years. We have 
addressed that situation in this legislation and we address the 
problems with airlines scheduling more flights than the system 
currently can handle. To help airports increase capital needs and 
reduce airline delays, like the administration, our legislation would 
increase the passenger facility charge cap from $4.50 to $7. According 
to the FAA, if every airport currently collecting a $4 or $4.50 PFC 
raised its PFC to $7, it would generate $1.1 billion in additional 
revenue to develop airports each year.
  The bill also provides significant increases in the AIP fund. Giving 
the ability to raise the PFC and the AIP funding will provide the 
necessary financing of capacity-enhancing airport improvements that 
will be necessary to reduce delays.
  Let me conclude by saying that our legislation also contains 
passenger and consumer protections, a passenger bill of rights that, in 
fact, will protect passengers.
  I urge passage.
  The CHAIRMAN. The Committee will rise informally.
  The Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Chandler) assumed the chair.

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