[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6146-6147]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




PROVIDING FOR CONCURRENCE BY HOUSE WITH AMENDMENT TO SENATE AMENDMENTS 
      TO H.R. 98, EXTENSION OF AVIATION WAR RISK INSURANCE PROGRAM

  Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
resolution (H. Res. 135) providing for the concurrence by the House 
with an amendment in the Senate amendments to H.R. 98.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                              H. Res. 135

       Resolved, That upon the adoption of this resolution the 
     House shall be considered to have taken from the Speaker's 
     table the bill H.R. 98, with the amendments of the Senate 
     thereto, and to have--
       (1) concurred in the amendment of the Senate to the title; 
     and
       (2) concurred in the amendment of the Senate to the text 
     with the following amendment:
       At the end of the Senate amendment, add the following:
       Page 2, line 3, strike ``March'' and insert ``May''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Petri) and the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia 
(Ms. Norton) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri).
  Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, last month the war risk insurance program was 
reauthorized by the House, but only through the end of next month. We 
need to quickly move to reauthorize the program for a longer period of 
time and do it in a way that is acceptable to the Senate.
  This program has operated successfully for over 47 years.
  The bill would reauthorize the war risk insurance program through 
December 31, 2003. Insurance is an essential feature of any commercial 
airline operation, but ordinary business insurance operations are 
normally not willing, and certainly not at normal rates, to insure 
flights to high-risk areas such as countries at war or on the verge of 
war.
  In many cases, flights into these dangerous situations, however, are 
required to further our Nation's foreign policy or national security 
objectives. On many occasions in the past, commercial airlines, rather 
than military planes, have been used to move materiel and troops into 
war-type areas including, for example, most recently during Desert 
Storm-Desert Shield operations and other conflicts.
  Without the war risk program, commercial airlines would not have 
flown these military flights, and therefore the Department of Defense 
would have had to grant or purchase aircraft at a cost to the taxpayers 
of millions of dollars, if not billions.
  Although the program is not currently being used in Kosovo, it could 
be needed at any time and, therefore, we cannot afford to allow the 
program to lapse. The bill before the House now is virtually the same 
as the bill that we passed last February, but the Senate dropped a 
provision in the bill involving unrelated technical changes to the 
centennial of flight commission. Therefore, we need to pass this bill 
and send it back to the Senate. I would urge support for the 
resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 135, a bill to extend 
the war risk insurance program through 2003. This program allows the 
Federal Aviation Administration to issue insurance to airlines flying 
into war zones when it is in the national interest for the airlines to 
do so and commercial insurance is not available on reasonable terms.
  The war risk insurance program was first authorized in 1951 and it 
has served the country well. Since 1975, the nonpremium option under 
the war risk insurance program alone has been activated over 5,000 
times. Recently it has been used in support of Operations Desert Shield 
and Storm in the Middle East, Operation Restore Hope in Somalia, 
Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti and Operation Joint Endeavor in 
Bosnia.
  As Members can see from its scope, it has been an active part of our 
Nation's foreign policy and national security efforts.
  In March, we extended this program for only 2 months until May 31, 
1999. With the continuing activities in the Persian Gulf and the 
current situation in Kosovo, it would be unfortunate to allow this 
program to expire. I would hope that we could quickly pass this 
legislation to avoid any lapse in this crucial program.
  I want to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster) and the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Duncan), the gentleman from Minnesota 
(Mr. Oberstar) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski) for their 
leadership, and I urge my House colleagues to support H. Res. 135.

[[Page 6147]]

  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution, House Resolution 135.
  The question was taken.
  Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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