[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 18468]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                 THE NEED FOR RURAL AIR TRANSPORTATION

  Mrs. LINCOLN. Madam President, I rise today to express my deep 
concern with the state of the airline industry in the United States.
  On Friday, September 21, Congress passed the ``Air Transportation 
Safety and System Stabilization Act.'' This bill provided the 
commercial airline industry with $15 billion in emergency aid and 
loans. The intention of the bill was to ensure that our system of 
commercial air transportation remained viable nationwide, both in less 
populous rural areas and in larger metropolitan areas.
  When this bill came before the Senate, I had reservations about how 
effective it would be. I was not convinced that it would do enough to 
help the tens of thousands of workers who were being laid off by the 
airline companies; I was not convinced that it provided adequate 
incentives to assist the airlines in correcting the management problems 
that had forced them into a corner to begin with; I was not convinced 
that it would do enough to encourage passenger confidence in the wake 
of the horrible hijackings of September 11; and I was not convinced 
that we were taking adequate time to consider the ramifications of the 
package. I expressed my reservations to several of my colleagues, and I 
was assured that we would deal with those concerns soon after.
  It would appear my reservations were well-founded. One important 
provision of the stabilization bill was that the airlines would honor 
their service commitments so that small communities would not lose 
scheduled air service. This week, United Airlines announced that they 
are discontinuing service to Little Rock, AR. The cutback at Little 
Rock was one component of a sweeping reduction in capacity which will 
reduce United's service from 2,300 daily flights worldwide to 1,900 
daily flights. According to the airline, the cutback is a result of the 
reduced demand for travel nationwide. Similar cuts were made in 
Virginia, Washington, and Alabama. The airline claims that service will 
resume if demand for air travel picks up.
  The day after the United announcement, other airlines followed suit. 
American Eagle, USAirways Express, Continental Express, TWA, Delta, and 
Northwest all curtailed their service to Arkansas as well. Most of 
these airlines only reduced their schedules, but it is still enough to 
limit the options for transportation in and out of Arkansas. These cuts 
are a blow to the economic well-being of rural States. How can rural 
economies ever grow if we don't maintain transportation to those 
States?
  When the airline stabilization bill came before the Senate, there 
were several legitimate reasons for us to support it. In the aftermath 
of the September 11 attacks, the federal government had shut down the 
airlines for nearly three days, dealing a serious blow to their 
revenues. Furthermore, once the planes were in the air again, the 
airlines suffered a significant decline in passengers. When we passed 
the bill, we were looking to ease the blow of the shutdown and 
subsequent decline in ridership.
  Now that I see how the commercial airlines are going to treat small- 
and mid-sized markets and rural States, it is clear to me that we may 
have rushed the airline stabilization package. Certainly, if I had 
known that the airlines were simply going to take the money and then 
announce they would no longer serve my constituents, I might have 
thought again about the vote I cast in favor of that package.
  I have contacted the Secretary of Transportation to express my 
concerns and ask for a full review of these scheduled service 
reductions. I hope that my colleagues will join me in requesting this 
review, to ensure that the American people are getting a fair return on 
the investment they have made in the airline industry.
  Perhaps the great lesson of the airline stabilization package is 
that, if we are going to enact policy to build and strengthen our 
economy, we need to have adequate discussion and debate to ensure that 
the policies are effective, constructive, and broad-based. In the 
coming weeks and months, as we take up other matters of economic 
policy, funding for defense and national security, and agricultural 
policy, let's take care to consider the ramifications and the realities 
of what we're dealing with so that we can do what's best for our entire 
Nation.

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