[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13515]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          THE WRIGHT AMENDMENT

  (Mr. BURGESS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, almost 3 decades ago, the cities of Dallas 
and Fort Worth came together and made an historic agreement to have one 
regional airport. This local agreement was codified by congressional 
action known as the Wright amendment.
  There are those in Congress today who now seek to repeal the Wright 
amendment. But, Mr. Speaker, it is my belief that if there is a change 
to occur to that agreement that it should come from the local level and 
not from Washington. I think the mayors and county officials on both 
sides of the Trinity River should make this decision, and if they come 
to us, if they propose a change to the agreement, then and only then 
should Congress become involved.
  Our community in North Texas is fortunate to have two thriving 
airports. We serve millions of satisfied customers and employ hundreds 
of thousands of North Texans. We should not jeopardize that which is 
working well already.
  As a Republican, I am all for competition. But as a Republican, I am 
also for local control, and I do not believe in a Washington top-down 
approach to problems. And, finally, as a Republican, I believe it is 
important to keep our word and keep our covenant, and that is exactly 
what we should do with the Wright amendment today.

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