[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 26 (Thursday, February 17, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E259]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             FULL-YEAR CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2011

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                       HON. MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO

                                of guam

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 15, 2011

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1) making 
     appropriations for the Department of Defense and the other 
     departments and agencies of the Government for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes:

  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of amendment #488 pre-
printed in the Congressional Record. My amendment is simple and 
straightforward. It would fence off 24 million dollars for the ground-
based augmentation system (GBAS) which is a critical component of the 
Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) next generation air traffic 
control system.
  GBAS is in the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) National 
Airspace System Enterprise Architecture and the Next Generation 
(NextGen) Implementation Plan and is a foundational operational 
capability for international aviation. Over time, as aircraft equipage 
increases, GBAS will allow the FAA to decommission other ground based 
precision landing aids. It also facilitates the publication of safer, 
more efficient and highly accurate terminal arrival, departure and 
approach procedures. These more efficient terminal procedures will help 
to reduce CO2 emissions and fuel burn over the long run. 
Further, because of the operational flexibility of a system it will 
allow airports to quickly recover from natural disasters that can 
greatly deteriorate those airports landing approach vectors. But, we 
need to invest in this technology to get it to a Category 3 operational 
standard and this takes a commitment from the Congress, the FAA and the 
airlines.
  Since we are passing a year-long Continuing Resolution this will give 
the FAA a considerable amount of discretion in how it obligates funding 
for its facilities and equipment account. The significant cuts of 
almost $400 million to the facilities and equipment account could 
greatly hamper any true investment in GBAS or other critical components 
of the NextGen system. It is important for us to invest in the future 
safety of our skies now rather than later. To date, the FAA has shown a 
poor track record of supporting this critical part of the NextGen 
program and we want to ensure that the FAA knows Congress supports this 
important part of the program. I commend Congressman Tom Latham and 
Congressman John Olver, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee 
on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies 
for their support of this program in the Omnibus bill. I look forward 
to working with them to ensure GBAS gets the support it deserves from 
the FAA.