[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 4830-4831]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1220
                     ESSENTIAL AIR SERVICE FUNDING

  (Mr. McKINLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. McKINLEY. Mr. Speaker, this week, the House will consider the 
fate of crucial funding for commercial flights to and from airports in 
Morgantown, Clarksburg, and Parkersburg in my home State of West 
Virginia. West Virginia is a rural State without major population 
centers, and its employers need and deserve an adequate transportation 
infrastructure. Access to air transportation is essential to achieving 
economic growth. The I-79 corridor, for instance, has a large presence 
of Federal, defense, and high-tech workers, in

[[Page 4831]]

part because of daily flights to and from Washington, D.C. North 
Central West Virginia Airport in Bridgeport accounted for 2,372 jobs 
and $395 million in economic impact in 2008.
  Cutting spending is necessary to bring down the deficit and create 
certainty for job creators. But our local airports are part of what 
provides certainty for area businesses. Let's make this airport funding 
program more efficient by throwing out what is wasteful but keeping 
what works.

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