[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18336-18342]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         AIRLINE WORKER RELIEF

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2001, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I can pretty much assure the 
Speaker that I will not take the whole hour, but the gravity of why I 
am here allows that time is of no moment.
  Time stood still on September 11 for this country and the world. 
Indeed, time ended for the countless victims that we know so well now 
lost their lives and many are still missing. Time stood still for the 
families of those victims and continues to stand still.
  When that kind of tragedy occurs, in spite of our hope that we will 
get back to normal, the reality is that we will be normal; but it will 
be a different kind of normal, and those persons that were lost, 
Americans and persons from other parts of the world, will have their 
memories best served if those of us that have the immense 
responsibility of assisting in getting to the different normal were to 
take our time and make sure that we do everything that we possibly can 
to protect the interests of those victims, their families and the 
various workers and the industries and entrepreneurs that make this 
great structure of ours function.
  Toward that end, last week I filed a bill that I come to the floor to 
speak about tonight, the Displaced Workers Relief Act, which is H.R. 
2946; and in addition thereto, the minority leader and myself filed yet 
another measure that deals with virtually the same subject, but expands 
the definition of eligible employees.
  I am proud to report to America this evening that 100 Members of the 
United States House of Representatives have signed on in that short 
period of time to the bill that was filed by my Republican colleague, 
the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Hart), and myself

[[Page 18337]]

as the initial movers of 2946. Among that 100, are 10 other 
Republicans. And, hopefully, in time, more will see the wisdom of this 
particular measure or will come forward with measures of their own so 
that we will not be standing still while the lives of others are lost.
  There are so many creative notions as to what ought be done, and this 
is minuscule by comparison to some that have been introduced on either 
side of the aisle. In the other body, Senator Jean Carnahan filed the 
legislation that our minority leader, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. 
Gephardt) and myself and other cosponsors filed.
  It is not that all of us do not understand the seriousness of where 
we are in this country, but there is such a great need for us not to 
obfuscate, for us not to be about the business of trying to one-up each 
other, of our being prepared to sit down. I am fond of saying that we 
probably should be locked up here in the Capitol, all 540 of us that 
represent the people of this great country, until such time as we have 
come up with appropriate legislative answers that will address our 
needs and the needs of our constituents.
  In the past 2 weeks, Mr. Speaker, more than 100,000 airline employees 
have been laid off as a result of the terrorist attacks on September 
11. In the coming days, weeks, and months, it is almost certain that 
the number of layoffs in the airline industry alone, as well as the 
industries directly affected and indirectly affected by airline travel, 
will affect all of us as far as the change that comes; will affect us 
all and the effects of same will be drastic increases in unemployment.
  The residual from this tragedy is beyond anything any of us ever 
comprehended would happen in our homeland. And it has not only 
devastated one portion of our industry that we rushed, correctly, to 
assist, the airline industry, the linchpin, the literal vertebra of 
this country insofar as our commercial activity is concerned, we 
correctly addressed that. But at that time, we left out the airline 
workers; and we left out the collateral. And now we say we are going to 
come back to that.
  I want to make it very clear that while I am advocating this evening 
in this legislation for airline workers, I really am advocating for all 
of America and all of America's workers. When the National Airport is 
not open, it does not just affect United States Congress persons, it 
affects 16 million people that travel through that airport, and it 
affects everybody from the salesperson of the magazines and newspapers 
that we purchase to the sky captains, to the mechanics, to the 
restaurant workers. All of us are affected when this kind of tragedy 
occurs.
  Aviation experts as well as the Government Accounting Office note 
that the airline industry has a high multiplier effect. It is thought 
by some that for every 100 jobs created by the airline industry an 
additional 250 jobs are created by those industries who service the 
airlines. In turn, as many as 250,000 workers may have already lost or 
will soon be on the brink of losing their jobs.
  I was standing on the floor speaking with both the representatives 
from Hawaii, and I am sure the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Mrs. Mink) will 
not mind my telling this story about the loss that is occurring not 
only in Hawaii, but in my home State of Florida, in California, and all 
over this Nation. The City of Washington, D.C. has under 50 percent 
registration in its hotels. But the gentlewoman from Hawaii was telling 
me that she and her family were planning a celebration, a family 
reunion. And what transpired when she went to a meeting where they were 
organizing the effort, they learned that the hotel that they were 
scheduled to hold their family reunion in is closing.
  I can tell my colleagues that that is going to happen in an awful lot 
of places. The vignettes, Mr. Speaker, the anecdotes that we all have 
picked up on on both sides of the aisle from our colleagues are ad 
infinitum with reference to the losses that are occurring.
  I went to the Miami International Airport yesterday. I had received a 
letter from the Miami-Dade Mayor, Alex Penelas, as well as my county 
commissioners in Broward and Palm Beach County that have come here to 
discuss, among other things, the losses that are the derivative in all 
of this. Yesterday, I saw two people that were leaving the airport, 
having been alerted that their jobs were no longer needed, one woman, a 
Latino lady, with tears in her eyes. Now, we have a responsibility to 
do something about that; and I, quite frankly, believe that we will and 
that we can.
  One of the things that Minority Leader Gephardt or Senator Carnahan's 
bill, and I cannot continue to talk about this bill without continuing 
to mention my colleague, the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Hart), 
but what we forgot was something that a lot of us forget, that is 
definitional with reference to legislation. We forgot to include Guam 
and American Samoa and the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and the 
District of Columbia in our definition. So I will be amending my 
legislation to reflect that. And I thank my colleague, the gentleman 
from Guam (Mr. Underwood), for bringing that to my attention.
  Very occasionally we file legislation not mindful that Americans in 
our territories also need to be contemplated. What would have happened 
had my legislation fortunately passed is that Guam would not have been 
eligible for any of the consideration that I had offered.

                              {time}  1930

  That must be corrected. Those kinds of little things are why we need 
to share, why we do need to make sure that we are talking with each 
other.
  The Mayor of Dade County wrote me about the airline and aviation 
industry, that it is the county's primary economic engine, consisting 
in that county alone of more than 90,000 workers and representing more 
than 9 percent of the county's total workforce. The loss of jobs and 
income in Miami Dade and in Broward, that is Ft. Lauderdale, my major 
city that I am fortunate and privileged to represent, and in Palm Beach 
County, the multiplier is something in the neighborhood of 160,000 
workers at airports alone. Without them there is no doubt that 
Florida's economy is going to be hindered for years to come.
  If Florida's economy, just like the District of Columbia's economy, 
is hindered, then all of America's economy is hindered.
  I am fond of teasing my friends who act parochially all the time by 
telling them if the sparrow falls, it will not necessarily fall in 
their district. I mean no offense when I say that, but this is not a 
district thing. It is an American thing. It is an international thing. 
We live in a global village, and we are fortunate that God has given us 
the privileges that we have in this country. To preserve them, this 
Congress, this institution, has the responsibility of passing not just 
this legislation but companion legislation that will address all of our 
needs.
  A lot of times we do not take into consideration the human dimension 
when tragedy occurs. I want us to be sure that, while we did what I 
perceive to be the right thing in protecting airplanes, that we do what 
is the right thing in protecting people.
  When we introduced this legislation, among the things that the 
gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Hart) and I hoped would happen is 
that we would extend unemployment benefits from 26 to 78 weeks. This is 
the same amount provided to workers under the Trade Adjustment 
Assistance Program.
  We hope and we believe that it would be helpful to provide 26 weeks 
of unemployment insurance benefits for workers who would not otherwise 
qualify. The gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Hart) and I feel and 
the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), the minority leader, and 
Senator Carnahan feel that to extend job-training benefits from 15 to 
78 weeks, this is the same amount provided under the Trade Adjustment 
Assistance Program, and it is the right thing to do for America.
  We would want to provide up to 78 weeks of federally subsidized 
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 premiums, COBRA 
it is referred to in the vernacular here. We

[[Page 18338]]

will provide up to 72 weeks of optional Medicaid coverage to workers 
who are not covered under COBRA, and they are too numerous to mention.
  Under either bill, all airline and airplane workers, including 
transit workers as well as employees who work for airline suppliers, 
such as service employees and plane manufacturers, like the upwards of 
30,000 people in the State of Washington in the Boeing manufacturing 
part of the airline industry, not to mention the other places where 
parts are made, those persons too will be eligible to receive these 
benefits. The two bills are cost-effective ways to assist workers and 
their families as they deal with these hard times and at the same time, 
help stimulate our faltering economy.
  Working families will not be saving this meager assistance that we 
are trying to provide them. On the contrary, they will be putting it 
back into the economy at a time it desperately needs it. Everywhere I 
look in this country industries and businesses are hurting. Hotels are 
reporting record lows in occupancy levels.
  I am a native Floridian. For the very first time in Florida, 
Florida's hotels are occupied at a single digit level. Need I remind 
people of Las Vegas and Mississippi and California and Hawaii and other 
places, not to mention just New York and the places where the tragedy 
impacted severely, physically. The residual is that we are losing.
  I filed another measure to assist in protecting travel agencies who 
were losing customers by the dozens, and their number of unemployed 
within the next 2 weeks is expected to be 8,500.
  The cruise industry that borders my shores, including the day cruise 
industry, those persons that provide some luxury, and I will be filing 
another measure that will now address the American family and the 
American middle class who misses out so often when we do things here in 
the House of Representatives, and that measure that will be introduced 
before the end of the day tomorrow or at the earlier portion of the 
next day, that will be cosponsored by the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Farr) and the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Mrs. Mink) and the 
gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Abercrombie), will give the hotel industry 
and the travel industry a shot in the arm if we would allow tax 
deductions for families when they take their vacations in the places 
that we need to get back to normal.
  Service industries dependent upon airlines are closing their doors as 
we speak. One person said to me that in the Fiji Islands, people got 
off of the airplane and were ready to go on their cruise. They were 
deboarded from the cruise line because the tour operators at the rest 
of their destinations, which included the territories, had gone 
bankrupt.
  We need to fly planes but protect people. Both of the bills that we 
are using as vehicles here in Congress can use all of my colleagues to 
address the human dimension in national tragedy we all know affects us 
all.
  Mr. Speaker, let us look at another country which is accustomed to 
terrorism and how they handled their situation.
  Yesterday morning, USA Today ran an editorial arguing that Congress 
should not be helping out hurting industries and unemployed workers in 
this time of need. The paper claimed that Federal assistance to these 
faltering industries is unnecessary and fails to truly stimulate the 
economy. Fortunately, USA Today was fair, and I had the opportunity to 
respond to what I perceive to be a misleading and incorrect editorial.
  Mr. Speaker, I take tonight as an opportunity to ask USA Today to 
consider again the response that I offered and to allow for other 
Members of Congress to display their views, which I am sure they are 
willing to do.
  In preparing the response, I was curious as to how other countries 
dealt with acts of terrorism and the result of these cowardly acts. As 
many of us would have done, I sought a visual, a country which has 
dealt with terrorism for more than 50 years. Interestingly enough, in 
responding to decreasing profits in many industries and increasing 
unemployment as a result of continuing terrorist attacks in Israel, the 
Israeli Government has responded in a similar manner to how we are 
responding here in the United States.
  Just in the last week and a half, the Israeli Government provided the 
hotel industry with emergency funds to offset their single digit 
occupancy levels. The Israeli cabinet has approved emergency measures 
to fight unemployment that has come as a result of the increasing 
amounts of terrorism within Israel's borders. It is time for Congress 
to follow that kind of lead and not allow any unemployed worker to go 
on living without help.
  Mr. Speaker, I have been joined by several of my colleagues, and I 
yield to the gentlewoman from Indiana (Ms. Carson).
  Ms. CARSON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, when we come in on a daily basis, 
we pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and 
to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, 
with liberty and justice for all.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight in support of the Displaced Workers 
Assistance Act, and any other measure that is pending before this 
Congress; and I am here to enlist the eyes, ears and hearts for support 
for the Displaced Workers Act and any other measure that may be out 
there.
  Mr. Speaker, how would my colleagues, Members of the United States 
Congress, feel if we appropriated billions of dollars to this 
institution, and show up the next day once that measure had been 
enacted, only to find that we are no longer employed, that our 
employment has been abruptly terminated without notice, that we are no 
longer receiving a paycheck or severance pay or insurance or benefits.
  That is why I believe that any delay in assisting those workers who 
were dramatically affected by the September 11 incident would be a 
delay in justice and thus a denial of justice to the numerous people 
who were affected by the horrendous and tragic September 11 event.
  In 1900, Mr. Speaker, when Wilbur Wright designed this remarkable 
instrument that would eventually annihilate space and circumscribe 
time, the Wright brothers' idea some 98 years later, sought and 
obtained billions of dollars in bail-out funds from this Congress.
  We preserve the Wright brothers' marvelous invention. Now with equal 
haste it is imperative, I believe, that we treat our brothers and 
sisters right.
  So I rise tonight, Mr. Speaker, to suggest that we have fewer people 
flying, and with fewer people flying we have fewer planes in the air. 
With fewer planes in the air, we need fewer people to fly and man and 
maintain these airplanes.
  I have heard heartbreaking examples all over the place about people 
who suddenly and abruptly lost their jobs. I have a lady in my district 
who had been employed by the airlines for some 38 years. Her daughter 
and her husband met a very tragic accident and lost their lives; and 
she is trying to maintain the family, and they left behind some five 
children, school-aged children. Suddenly she became unemployed. She has 
no benefits and has yet to get any kind of support to support the 
children whose mother and father died prematurely.
  Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus this weekend had an event 
at the Grand Hyatt; and I heard the sorry, sad stories of the employees 
there and wanted to applaud the Congressional Black Caucus for going 
ahead with the event. I am glad we did not suspend it because the hotel 
held a few employees over to handle the event, and they lost their jobs 
at the end of the Congressional Black Caucus weekend. These were maids. 
They were service workers, they were counter agents, and just an 
abundance of workers lost their jobs.
  I understand at Washington National the figure goes all over the 
place, some 10,000 people. I had a lady call me because she would see 
me coming in and out of the airport from Indianapolis on a weekly 
basis, and shared with me the sad situation she faces, a disabled 
husband hurt on his job, and they are living off a meager worker's 
compensation check that will expire in the next 2 or 3 weeks.

[[Page 18339]]

  While I understand the rationale in part for assisting the airline 
industry, we cannot wait any longer to assist the employees, the sky 
caps that were on the curb, the baggage handlers, the cargo handlers, 
the ticket agents, all of these people who have been affected by that 
tragic situation on September 11.

                              {time}  1945

  We helped out the airline industry. Let us help out the people who 
are we the people of the United States who are in dire need.
  I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the honorable gentleman from 
Florida for allowing me to speak on behalf of this measure and to 
applaud him for having the foresight and the insight to try to help all 
of those who have been so severely affected.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. I thank the gentlewoman.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield to the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Inslee). I mentioned earlier the losses. I am sure that 
the gentleman from Washington will be able to bring us current. I am 
sure that my statistics do not reflect all of the collateral damage 
that has been done in his great State.
  Mr. INSLEE. I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings), I 
thank the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Hart) and Minority Leader 
Gephardt for their leadership in bringing this to the attention of the 
House. I and about 100 other Members were in New York City to see the 
devastation. The personal loss of life there is so stunning it defies 
description, but I think it is the responsibility of this House to very 
promptly deal with the loss of income, the loss of living ability of 
many other families across the country that have been caused by this 
terrorist act.
  In my neck of the woods, I represent the area north of Seattle. We 
have 20 to 30,000 workers at Boeing that may have layoffs hit them in 
the next year as a result of the decline in airline usage in the next 
year or so. There are 20 to 30,000 families as a direct result of this 
terrorist act that are looking at a loss of health care benefits, 
potentially a change in their career and a real problem paying the 
grocery bill. It seems to me very important for our Chamber this week 
to pass a measure that will give assurance to those families that they 
will not be left out in the lurch when we deal with this terrorist act.
  There are a couple of reasons for that, I think. One, we have got to 
realize that while we have responded to the immediate corporate needs 
of the corporations that run our airlines, and I think that was an 
appropriate and necessary thing to keep this infrastructure going in 
our country, it is impossible for me to go home and explain to my 
families at Boeing who have been directly laid off as a result of these 
terrorist acts why the U.S. House would deal with the needs of the 
corporations, legitimate as they are, and not deal with the personal 
needs of the workers who have been damaged as well.
  They have needs to pay the grocery bill and their rent that are every 
bit as much pressing as the needs to keep those lines of credit going 
for the airlines. We hope that the House will send a strong message 
this week when we pass the airline safety bill that we are going to 
deal with airline workers as well. It just is not right to sort of 
shuffle off individual family members' needs to the back of our 
legislative calendar. That just is not right. We need to deal with that 
at the same time.
  I want to applaud Speaker Denny Hastert of our Chamber who has helped 
us find unity in dealing with this challenge in the last several weeks. 
We hope that he will be successful in forging a bipartisan consensus on 
how to deal with these laid-off families' needs as well as the 
corporate needs that we did.
  The second reason I think this is necessary is this is part of our 
counterterrorism effort. Our conflict involves our military and our 
intelligence forces, but it also involves depriving the terrorists of 
what they want, which is a disruption, instilling fear in the American 
people. To the extent that the American government provides a safety 
net, provides security to families, we defeat the terrorists. This is a 
counterterrorism effort when you tell the terrorists they are not going 
to succeed in putting 130,000 families out on the street, away from 
their homes, with an inability to deal with their financial crisis. 
This is a way of beating the terrorists in their efforts to strike fear 
in our heartland.
  And, third, we are going to have to talk about a stimulus package. I 
think it is appropriate that we deal with this on a global basis or a 
national basis, but if we are going to stimulate anything, we need to 
stimulate the ability of these people who are laid off, these 130,000 
families in the next several months, let us make sure they can stay 
afloat to send a message of confidence to the American people.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I hope that we will all be successful this week, not 
next week, not next month, not at the end of the legislative calendar, 
but in our next round of discussions to help these families. I, again, 
thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) for his leadership.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. I thank the gentleman from Washington (Mr. 
Inslee) very much.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. 
Jackson-Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished 
gentleman from Florida and member of the Committee on Rules. It is very 
important to note how early he recognized this issue and how quickly he 
moved with legislation, in fact, the week of this tragic and terrible 
incident, in addition to the need for stabilization of airlines, along 
with the mourning for the enormous loss of life, to begin to put in 
place a structure that will respond to the numbers of individuals, 
again I want to emphasize, working people who are being impacted by 
this heinous act.
  We all know what terrorism is all about. Tomorrow, the Committee on 
the Judiciary marks up the antiterrorism bill. We have used that word 
more often now than we have ever used it probably in our lifetime. 
Terrorism is fear, intimidation. It wants you to turn on your fellow 
neighbor. It wants you to be fearful. It wants you to feel crushed. 
There is nothing more crushing than a hardworking individual, Americans 
who believe so much in the work ethic, self-supporting, believing in 
their employer, being laid off with no potential opportunity for 
employment.
  And so I was certainly one who supported the stabilizing of the 
airports and providing the resources and support for the airlines. But 
equally important is recognizing that these are families that now are 
without income. We must move on this legislation, the legislation filed 
by the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), premised on the 
legislation that the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) filed 
earlier, the legislation filed in the Senate by Senator Carnahan is 
clearly legislation that I wish was moving this week, because even as 
we see the return of individuals to our airlines and flying and all of 
us have said, please, we are working, it is safe, we believe that we 
have the responsibility to ensure safety, and we are committed to doing 
so along with the airline industry, and, of course, our airport system. 
We want Americans and others to fly. But at the same time we know it 
will be a transitional period, and there are people who are being laid 
off now who will be off for a period of time until this whole idea of 
flying is restored. But as those individuals are laid off, then we know 
that the hotel workers, small businesses with employees and others that 
tie into the industry, travel agents, tourism, we hear the call to come 
back to Las Vegas and we know how much you can lose or gain in Las 
Vegas, but it is part of the economy, the call to come back to Disney 
World and Disneyland, to go visit our national parks and our wonderful 
capital of the United States of America. We heard a great announcement 
today that Reagan National is going to open, so we know changes will 
come about, but this legislation is so key.
  As I entered the airport today, sky caps were saying thank you, 
because we restored privileges to have curbside

[[Page 18340]]

check-in. Changes are being made, but it is still important to have 
legislation that extends the unemployment assistance and provides job 
training because we do not know where this will lead us.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I want to join my colleague and I want to thank him 
for this special order and allowing me to proceed because of the time 
element. But I am very much concerned that we do not move this 
legislation quick enough. I want to note my appreciation to the Leader 
and as well the Speaker. I believe that the two of them can help us 
move this legislation quickly. I hope that maybe, I assume we want it 
marked up, I do not know the procedures, I would almost like a 
suspension bill, but if it has to go through committee, I would ask 
those committees to mark this up quickly. I would like to see this on 
the floor, as I said, this week, but certainly next week because there 
is nothing like supporting the flag of the United States with our arms 
around the American worker who makes the engine of this economy move.
  They are falling on hard times now. This legislation is not a 
handout, it is a hand up. Each of us in our respective districts know 
these families. We go to church with these families. We have got to 
help them.
  I ask the airlines as I close, each of them would do well, and I 
would welcome it if they would send us a letter of support indicating 
their commitment as well to these workers and those who are impacted 
tangentially through the industry. We are all one big family. For the 
airlines to stabilize, I wish them well, and I will be working with 
them as hard as I can.
  I see my colleague from Texas. We represent Continental Airlines in 
our community. We want them to survive. Let us work with the American 
worker as well. I thank the gentleman for his kindness.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. I thank the gentlewoman. I make note of the 
fact that when we prepared the legislation, the gentlewoman was the 
second person to speak with me about being an original cosponsor.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my distinguished colleague and good friend 
from Houston, Texas (Mr. Green).
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues tonight in 
support of our Nation's working men and women who have been laid off as 
a result of the terrorist attacks. I thank the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. Hastings) for spearheading not only this legislation, but also 
tonight's special order.
  Just over a week ago, we gathered in the House and passed bipartisan 
legislation designed to take care of the critical needs of one of the 
most visible victims of the economic effects of these attacks, our 
national air transportation system. Due to the restrictions placed on 
air carriers in the aftermath of this tragedy as well as the 
understandable reluctance of Americans to resume flying, Congress 
passed the Air Transportation System Stabilization Act which provides 
critically needed economic assistance to our airlines. I believe that 
that bill was a necessary and responsible action to these attacks. I 
was hoping we could do it even the week of the tragedy, but it ended up 
the next week. I support other measures that will provide additional 
aid to additional industries that have been similarly impacted.
  However, in our rush to help out these companies across America, we 
must not forget the working Americans who are losing their jobs because 
of these attacks. Even with the aid that Congress provided, layoffs at 
the airlines since September 11 have passed the 100,000 mark. For 
example, Continental Airlines, our hometown airlines in Houston, the 
largest employer in my hometown of Houston, has announced that they are 
laying off as many as 12,000 workers systemwide, 3,000 of them locally 
in Houston. These layoffs, combined with a decrease of close to 100 
flights a day into Continental's hub at Intercontinental Airport, will 
have a substantial impact that will be felt throughout our local 
economy.
  That is just the tip of the iceberg. It is still possible that 
additional layoffs could happen in the airline industry. Further, other 
transportation-related businesses, such as restaurants, hotels and car 
rental agencies have all begun laying off significant portions of their 
workforce. That is why I feel that the Displaced Workers Relief Act is 
so crucial.
  This legislation will provide needed relief to hardworking Americans 
and families as they deal with this difficult time. At the same time, 
this relief will serve as a stimulus for our economy. The bill would 
extend unemployment and job training from 26 weeks to 78 weeks for 
these workers. This is the same amount provided to workers under the 
trade adjustment assistance program. For workers not otherwise 
qualified for unemployment insurance benefits, the bill would provide 
26 weeks of unemployment insurance. More importantly, it would provide 
up to 78 weeks of federally-subsidized COBRA premiums and provide 
optional temporary Medicaid coverage for these workers without COBRA. 
COBRA is the part where if you are laid off, you can continue to buy 
your insurance from your group insurance, your employer. The problem is 
oftentimes that it is so expensive, you are laid off, you do not have 
any income, you cannot even afford the insurance. That is why we need 
to pass this legislation as a package. Hopefully the airline security 
is immediately adjacent to it so we can do it. All airline and airport 
workers, including transit workers as well as employees who work for 
airline suppliers, such as service employees and plane manufacturers, 
will be eligible for these benefits.
  That is why I urge the House quickly to do that. Mr. Speaker, I am 
proud that Continental Airlines was one of the airlines that said that 
they would not abrogate their union contracts, they would pay their 
employees under their union contract and not have the emergency 
provisions in their contracts. I am proud that they are our hometown 
airline and they are treating their employees well. Other airlines were 
not.

                              {time}  2000

  That is why today I was disappointed when I heard that Reagan was 
reopening and that Continental was not getting some of the slots based 
on being the fifth largest airline. We are working on that as a 
delegation from Houston.
  I thank the gentleman for this bill. Hopefully there are a lot of 
things we can do, and this is one of the things we need to do for our 
employees.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. I have a 
very strong feeling that American Airlines should have some of those 
slots, if we are going to open it, safely, for all of the airlines to 
be able to undertake to do their responsibilities as well.
  Mr. Speaker, sometimes bipartisanship takes on characteristics where 
even on one side of the aisle there may be divisions on issues. 
Tomorrow, if America is looking, my good friend, and he is my good 
friend, the gentleman from Chicago, Illinois (Mr. Davis), is going to 
be opposing a measure that I support. So if they want to see Democrats 
in a cat fight, wait until tomorrow when the gentleman and I go at it. 
But tonight, for America, the gentleman and I stand totally together. 
We will have our dispute about the sugar industry and the confectionery 
industry on tomorrow. I do not want to take too much of the time, since 
I control it.
  I now yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis).
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the 
Displaced Workers Relief Act of 2001 as proposed by my colleagues, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) and the gentlewoman from 
Pennsylvania (Ms. Hart). I want to commend both these Members, because, 
once again, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) is out front 
dealing seriously with the needs of working class Americans, making 
sure that there is balance in our decisions, so that everybody gets a 
piece of the action.
  This bill will provide much-needed relief and assistance to families 
that are affected as the airline industry is facing a very tough 
challenge in the

[[Page 18341]]

aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11. Analysts had 
already projected an overall loss of about $3 billion in 2001, the 
worst performing year since 1992. With the terrorist attacks on our 
shores, those losses will very likely escalate. Even though most 
airports are back in operation, yet the airlines are flying with less 
than 75 percent of their capacity. In other words, layoffs, the high 
level of unemployment, are directly affecting employees of the airlines 
and associated industries.
  We have just entered the fall season, meaning that children are back 
in school, mortgages have to be paid, and life must continue. To 
minimize anticipated hardships affecting hardworking families of our 
respective districts, I support wholeheartedly H.R. 2946, known as the 
Displaced Workers Relief Act of 2001, and once again commend and 
congratulate the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) and the 
gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Hart) for taking to heart the needs 
of American workers.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I was about to commit a major 
mistake. The previous speaker pro tempore, the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Simmons), is a cosponsor of this measure as well, and, 
in light of the fact that he was in the Chair, I was not ignoring that. 
I want to acknowledge and thank the gentleman, not only for his 
support, but for his demonstrated leadership here in the House of 
Representatives.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. 
Clayton), a champion of working and rural Americans, who clearly 
understands that this tragedy has impacted us all and has impacted 
North Carolina's industry, its hotel industry, its tourism, and its 
rural communities.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and 
thank him for his leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress passed within 10 days of the terrorist attack a 
bailout package for our airline industry, which they indeed needed. 
Now, about 10 days later, we have an opportunity to pass a bill, H.R. 
2946, to provide relief for displaced workers. We must support 
America's workers.
  I again want to congratulate the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Hastings) and the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Hart) for their 
collective leadership, and all of those who are cosponsors. I am 
pleased to say I am also a cosponsor of this bill.
  In addition to the hardships suffered by airlines during this crisis, 
thousands, indeed, hundreds of thousands, of airline and airport 
workers have lost their jobs or may lose their jobs and need help from 
the Federal Government.
  We also should find ways to help the millions of workers in hotel and 
travel industry jobs who also may become unemployed during this crisis.
  I would like to place into the Record a statement by Mr. John 
Wilhelm, President of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees 
International Union.

                Statement by John W. Wilhelm, President

       The devastation of the hospitality industry nationwide 
     cannot be overstated. Between one-third and one-half of our 
     Union's members will be laid off this week, and the same 
     proportions are true for the larger non-Union sector of our 
     industry, resulting in at least three million workers laid 
     off.
  Our Union supports temporary relief for the companies in our history. 
In addition, we believe temporary relief for the employees is 
essential, not only for the sake of the workers and their families, but 
for the sake of our nation. The hospitality industry has driven the 
recovery of central cities over the last decade. We are the largest 
welfare-to-work employer. The collapse of our industry has dire 
implications.
  Supplemental Federal unemployment insurance is important, and has 
considerable precedent. It may also prove necessary, in New York and 
perhaps in other states, to provide Federal help for state unemployment 
systems.
  But the most important issue we need to focus on is health care for 
these laid-off workers and their families. They will be able to scrape 
by on unemployment compensation, but in no way will they be able to pay 
for continued health care coverage after lay-off.
  Moreover, it is very much in the national interest for the existing 
health plans, both corporate and union, to continue to cover them. We 
cannot afford for those existing health plans to be destabilized, 
because that will mean that even when the industry recovers, the trend 
toward more uninsured Americans will continue. In addition, the public 
health system in this country cannot absorb all these laid-off workers.

  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Wilhelm is giving the needs of what he saw on 
September 25, the needs of millions of laid-off hospitality workers for 
Federal help with unemployment compensation as well as with continued 
health care coverage.
  These workers and small business operators in communities all over 
our Nation constitute the backbone of their local economies, in North 
Carolina as well as other States. These workers may be expendable to 
the airlines, but they are essential to the economic well-being of 
their families and their communities. Their economic security is as 
important to the Nation as the fiscal soundness of our airlines. We 
should help both.
  These workers receive low wages and have meager resources to draw 
upon during a crisis like this. Neighborhood food pantries and food 
banks currently have insufficient inventory to respond to the sudden 
increase of unemployed workers. We must expedite this package and hope 
that the distribution of these funds to families becomes a reality, 
because the community resources will not be sufficient to address this 
emergency for food and housing and utilities in the interim.
  Our economy was declining before the attack of September 11. It is 
now getting worse. We must find ways to restore the public confidence, 
capacity, and commitment to our economy; that is, for people to travel 
and spend money. We must ensure the safety of Americans when they 
travel. We also must retrain unemployed workers and marshal their 
talents and skills into productive enterprises, including 
infrastructure development in rural and urban communities and the 
development of affordable housing. We also must raise the minimum wage 
to a meaningful level of wage.
  We must take these steps and others towards recovery. We must 
understand we have already depleted our Social Security trust funds and 
are resorting to deficit spending, because already we have spent the 
projected budget surplus. And we have very few resources because of the 
unwise, huge tax cuts earlier this year.
  These are tough times and require wise stewardship of our economy. As 
we move forward, Mr. Speaker, to recover and rebuild, we should move 
forward together. We have bailed out the airlines, and now we have an 
excellent opportunity to respond and help workers who so desperately 
need it. They have lost their jobs due to the crisis resulting from the 
terrorist attack. We now have an opportunity to support the American 
workers. We must support the American workers.
  Again, I congratulate the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) on 
his leadership and all of those who cosponsor this legislation.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. I thank the gentlewoman.
  I would alert my colleague, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Weldon), and his traveling companions, and I would ask the American 
public to pay attention to the next hour that interrelates in this 
global village. I just want the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Weldon) to know that we have less than 10 minutes, and I will not take 
all of that time. His traveling companions are my good friends, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Reyes), with whom I serve on the Permanent Select Committee on 
Intelligence. And they are going to consume the next hour, and I am 
sure they are going to enlighten us with reference to recent and 
laborious travel they have undertaken and as it relates to our present 
circumstances.
  Mr. Speaker, last week I received a call from George Mador. Mr. Mador 
is

[[Page 18342]]

the President of L&M Aircraft Services, and he called my office looking 
for help. L&M is a small aircraft maintenance company that services 
charter airlines transporting passengers to and from the Bahamas. L&M 
has only seven employees, and many of them have been with the company 
for the majority of the company's existence. However, in the wake of 
the terrorist attacks on September 11, L&M is now facing imminent 
bankruptcy; and its seven employees, therefore, are facing certain 
unemployment.
  George told me that he did not want to get out of bed this morning 
because of the reality that he will have to lay off at least half of 
his staff by the end of the week as a result of zero income in the past 
3 weeks.
  Last week's payroll left George and some of his employees without a 
paycheck and L&M $500 in the hole. With no apparent income coming in 
the past 2 weeks, the future of L&M airport services and its seven 
employees are undoubtedly in jeopardy.
  At the three international airports that I am privileged to serve, 
Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Palm Beach, and Miami, there are more than 
300 small businesses like L&M that are now on the verge of bankruptcy 
as a result of lost income. In Miami-Dade, as I have said earlier, the 
airline industry is the economic engine representing more than 9 
percent of the county's total workforce. Thousands of employees already 
have or will lose their jobs, and hundreds of businesses will go under 
nationwide if Congress does not expedite this legislation, as well as 
other legislation.
  The headline in this morning's Palm Beach Post read, ``Florida's 
layoffs worst in 10 years.'' That is not unique to Florida. It happens 
to be the place that I am privileged to represent. But those layoffs 
nationwide are immense, and we have a responsibility here in this 
institution to do something about it and to do it now, for all of the 
workers of this country.
  This country has a historical precedence in protecting our economy 
when it needs it most. During the Depression, and I was born during 
that period, and my mother saw the earlier stages of the real 
Depression, the 1929 crash. Although we were in a different kind of 
society, I can tell you that the week of the crash itself, 1,000 
persons committed suicide.
  So last week when I introduced this legislation someone said I was 
being incendiary, because I was using the facts to demonstrate what can 
and likely will happen in this country, and among those things are 
increased child abuse, increased domestic violence, increased 
alcoholism, and, indeed, crime will increase.
  People ask, how can we afford to do what you are saying, Al? I ask 
them, how can we afford not to? During the Depression, President 
Roosevelt worked with Congress and initiated the New Deal. From Social 
Security to Job Corps programs, the WCC and the WPA, the New Deal 
succeeded in stimulating a dead economy, much more dead than ours is 
now, while at the same time creating a safety net and programs such as 
Social Security that would provide immediate relief as well as long-
term security.
  Reflecting on the programs that were created in the New Deal, 
President Roosevelt in 1936, the year of my birth, said, ``America got 
something for what we spent, conservation of human resources through 
the CCC camps and through worker relief, conservation of natural 
resources, of water, soil, and forest; billions of dollars for security 
and a better life. While many who criticize today were selling America 
short, we were investing in the future of America.''
  Today, at a time when our country mourns and hurts, it is the 
responsibility of the Federal Government and the United States Congress 
to do what it needs to do in order to help all Americans deal with 
these hard times, all working Americans especially. For Congress to 
remain silent at a time hundreds of thousands of Americans have lost 
their jobs as a result of the terrorist attacks would be nothing short 
of irresponsible.
  Another Roosevelt quote from May of 1932. President Roosevelt said, 
``The country needs, and unless I mistake its temper, the country 
demands, bold, persistent experimentations. It is common sense to take 
a method and try it; if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But 
above all, try something.''
  Domestic security is not just protecting our borders with guns and 
soldiers. It is not just protecting our planes and airports. On the 
contrary, domestic security is also about protecting our economy.

                              {time}  2015

  It is about protecting our industries and our entrepreneurs, and it 
is about protecting all of America's workers. If we fail to consider 
these crucial elements of our country, while charting a response to the 
cowardly acts of terrorism that occurred 3 weeks ago, then we 
ultimately allow the terrorists to succeed in altering our lives for 
not just days, but for years to come; and that new normalcy that we 
will have will be but a fading memory of the old normalcy before 
September 11.
  I want to applaud, Mr. Speaker, as I conclude, all of the agencies of 
our government: FEMA, the firefighters in New York and at the Pentagon 
that came from all over this great country of ours; the police officers 
here on Capitol Hill that have worked, as reported today in Roll Call 
magazine, some of them, lots of them, most of them, 72 hours a week, 
protecting the interests of America's Congress persons, as well as 
those of us that live here and work on Capitol Hill. I applaud those 
officers, the officers in New York, as well as those from around the 
country.
  I would like to especially applaud the FBI for the enormity of the 
task that they have undertaken in the face of sometimes unwarranted 
criticism; the same for the Central Intelligence Agency, and FEMA, 
which lost its own building, its own offices, in the World Trade 
Center. They too are to be complimented.
  But most of all, the people of New York City, the people of 
Washington, D.C., the people in Pennsylvania where the tragedies struck 
home the hardest, and they felt the victimization more than those of us 
with our rhetoric, more than those of us with our creative notions 
about what we can do in order to set and stabilize our economy. They 
felt that pain, and they responded in kind as Americans are wont to do 
when they are faced with difficult and tragic times.
  I ask all of our colleagues, what would we be doing, what would we be 
doing if a tactical nuclear weapon had been used in either of the three 
sites where folks were victimized and lost their lives and families who 
are still mourning them? And what makes anybody think that if these 
fools had the tactical nuclear weapon that they would not have used 
them, for they feel they have some divine mandate from God to eliminate 
people who do not think like them.
  Had it been a nuclear tactical weapon, none of us would have gone 
home, no airports would be open, and we would be here in this building 
and the people in the other body would be in that building until such 
time as we could conference with real solutions, not just for big dogs 
feeding at the trough, but for all Americans. I entreat this country to 
answer that question, How we can afford it? Simply by saying, we cannot 
afford not to afford it. There are outyears in this tax cut that has 
been put forward. Anybody in their right mind would know that we can 
repeal those tax cuts in the years 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, and take 
care, as Franklin Roosevelt did, of the needs of our country now.

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