[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17219]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



    PRESERVING VIABILITY OF UNITED STATES AIR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                       HON. DONNA M. CHRISTENSEN

                         of the virgin islands

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 14, 2001

  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the bill 
introduced by my colleague Mr. Oberstar.
  All week, my constituents in the U.S. Virgin Islands have been 
calling and asking for some kind of a lifeline for our tourism 
industry.
  Not only is the travel and tourism industry the largest or second 
largest industry worldwide, but also it is responsible for 70 percent 
of the economy of the Virgin Islands.
  Mr. Speaker we have just struggled to bring back our industry after 
several major hurricanes. We are almost there, and now this!
  But this goes beyond just my district, and the people there who 
depend on tourism, and thus airline travel for their jobs, and to 
provide for their families. If the airline industry falls, we can see 
clearly that it would domino all through the national economy.
  This bill providing financial support, and a line of credit is 
critical to this industry, to our economy and to my and many other 
districts.
  We have come through an extraordinary week, and we need to take 
extraordinary action to secure the future of our nation.
  Like many of my other colleagues, I do not support using the social 
security trust fund, but there is funding in the recently passed tax 
cut. This is more important and I would respectfully suggest that we 
use funds set aside for this unnecessary measure to support and sustain 
our airlines, tourism and the people who depend on them.

                          ____________________