[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15403]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                IN SUPPORT OF THE 21ST CENTURY AIRR ACT

  (Mr. WESTERMAN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, the 21st Century AIRR Act gives a voice 
to rural America on aviation issues.
  For too long, our aviation assets have been managed with little to no 
input from the citizens in the real world who are most impacted. The 
21st Century AIRR Act benefits rural and small communities through 
local empowerment.
  This bill enhances the Airport Improvement Program and ensures grant 
availability for small airports in the years ahead. These grants 
support infrastructure construction and rehabilitation critical to 
local and regional economic development.
  The bill also promotes air traffic control tower technology. This 
promising concept has vast potential to allow rural airports to 
maintain tower service at a far lower cost and to actually bring 
service to airports that have previously been unable to support it.
  The 21st Century AIRR Act is visionary, innovative legislation that 
will make the long-needed improvements to more efficiently serve 
American fliers and keep rural America connected to our aviation 
system.

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