[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15885-15886]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      TRANSPORTATION SAFETY ISSUES

  (Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as a senior Texan on 
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, I am very concerned 
about the transportation safety issues created by the Republican 
government shutdown. For example, aviation safety is in peril as the 
Federal Aviation Administration has furloughed approximately 1,700 
safety inspectors and drastically limited aircraft maintenance. These 
types of safety risks created by the Republican government shutdown are 
intolerable.
  Further, the National Transportation Safety Board has been forced to 
furlough more than 90 percent of its staff.

[[Page 15886]]

As a result, it has not been able to continue investigating deadly 
transportation incidents nor initiate new investigations of accidents 
that have occurred since the Republican government shutdown began.
  Mr. Speaker, the political games being played by the Republican 
leadership are causing serious harm to transportation safety for all 
Americans, and it is totally unacceptable. We do have a spending 
problem created by the two Republican wars.

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