[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 46 (Monday, November 24, 2008)]
[Pages 1429-1431]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Department of Transportation

November 18, 2008

    Thank you. Please be seated. Madam Secretary, thank you for the kind 
introduction. Thank you for the reception. I am honored to be with the 
men and women who work here at the U.S. Department of Transportation. I 
appreciate you giving me a chance to come by and visit with you today. I 
want to thank you very much for the great job you are doing to make sure 
that across America our railroads and highways and airways are working 
to keep our citizens moving. You have done a terrific job, as far as I 
am concerned. The past 8 years I have not seen a traffic jam--
[laughter]--waited for an airplane--[laughter]--or had my bags lost. 
[Laughter]
    I appreciate very much the fabulous job--and I emphasize fabulous 
job--that the Secretary of Transportation, Mary Peters, has done and is 
doing for our country. And I want to thank you for your service, Madam 
Secretary. She has been an outstanding member of the Cabinet; she is a 
strong leader. I saw her leadership, as did the country, firsthand when 
Minnesota's I-35 bridge collapsed. The Secretary coordinated a swift and 
an effective Federal response. Swift was important for the people in 
Minneapolis. Effective is always important when it comes to reminding 
our citizens that the Government can respond in a way that will make 
them proud.
    I appreciate the fact that she launched a thorough review of bridge 
safety across our country and worked with the Congress to get the monies 
necessary to rebuild that bridge. The bridge reopened months ahead of 
schedule, thanks in large part to the organization, determination of our 
Secretary and the people who work for her.
    Madam Secretary, you did your job. That's what I expected when I 
asked you to serve, and I really want to thank you for your service.
    I'm proud to be here, as well, with the Deputy Secretary, Tom 
Barrett; thank you--as well as the former Deputy Secretary, and at one 
time Acting Secretary, Maria Cino.
    I know that a lot of folks in our country think about transportation 
a lot, particularly this time of year. People are getting ready to move 
around for Thanksgiving, and with Christmas not very far behind. And a 
lot of our citizens are nervous about travel. They're not nervous about 
their safety, but they're nervous about what the experience will be 
like: the long delays, lost bags, overbooking of flights. One way to 
look at it is they're saying, ``Will traveling home for the holidays be 
`It's A Wonderful Life,' or will it be `The Nightmare Before 
Christmas'?'' [Laughter]
    Our job is to make sure it is as comfortable an experience as 
possible. Now, obviously, the Federal Government can't control all 
aspects of how the airlines, for example, conducts their business. We're 
not in the business of managing airlines. We are in the business, 
however, of making it easier for airlines to do the job we expect them 
to do.
    And so, to this end, you might remember, at Mary's recommendations, 
that we--the military opened its east coast airspace to civilian flights 
during the Thanksgiving holiday season. And it worked. This year, we're 
going

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to expand what we call the ``Thanksgiving express lanes'' to areas of 
the Midwest, the Southwest, and the west coast, including the skies over 
Phoenix and Los Angeles. In other words, we innovated last year to ease 
the travel; it worked, and now we're expanding that innovation this 
year. We're also working with the FAA, the TSA, and the airlines to make 
more staff available to speed check-in and boarding, and to help 
passengers affected by cancellations and delays.
    We have just completed new regulations that provide increased 
protection for consumers. These include measures that will require 
airlines to provide greater compensation for lost bags, as well as 
tougher penalties when airlines fail to notify travelers of hidden fees. 
I think that's a responsible role for government. I think it makes sense 
for us to, through this Department, put regulation in place that stands 
side by side with consumers in a reasonable way.
    We expect these rules to take effect in December, in time for 
Christmas and New Year's. These efforts represent our commitment to 
making this year's holiday travel season as smooth as possible. And, 
frankly, they are part of this administration's strong record on 
improving air travel for American consumers.
    During my time in office--or our time in office, we have put 
regulations in place to make airlines more accountable for the way they 
treat passengers. In other words, we have done this kind of regulatory 
regime before, notably doubling the fine airlines pay for bumping 
travelers off of overbooked flights. Our message is: We will hold you to 
account. The consumers will hold you to account, but we have a 
responsibility in government as well to help our air travelers.
    This administration has signed agreements with the EU and India, 
Thailand and China to increase flights between the United States and 
these countries. It makes it easier for Americans to travel around the 
globe. We have launched an unprecedented effort to reduce air congestion 
by boosting flight capacity at some of the busiest airports. The 
Department of Transportation, over the past 7 and a little more than 
three-quarters years, has completed 13 major airport improvement 
projects, including 11 new runways. This week, 3 more runways will open 
at Seattle-Tacoma, Washington-Dulles, and Chicago-O'Hare, bringing the 
total to 14, which is going to help ease aviation congestion coast to 
coast.

    And for those of you in this audience who have worked on these 
projects, I thank you.

    The administration has taken steps to address the source of most 
flight delays and cancellations across the country, and that would be 
the heavy air traffic around New York City. To help untangle the skies 
over New York, we have improved air traffic control. We added a new 
departure route from the metro area and capped the total number of 
flights, providing nearly $90 million over the next 8 years to upgrade 
taxiways at JFK. And in January, the FAA will start auctioning takeoff 
and landing slots at New York airports. This will increase competition 
for access to these airports, and we strongly believe increased 
competition will help lower fares to consumers.

    I remember talking about this market-based approach, Madam 
Secretary, in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House, 
and I thank you for implementing the vision.

    Airlines need incentives. They need incentives to boost efficiency. 
And this incentive that we put out will encourage them to use larger 
planes out of the New York area. We believe these actions will ease our 
traffic jams in New York, which will help reduce flight delays all 
across the country.

    In addition to tackling air congestion, this Department has built an 
impressive record when it comes to travel safety. I hope you take pride 
in the record: Department policies that helped make the past 7 years the 
safest ever in commercial aviation. Last year on America's roadways we 
saw the lowest highway fatality rate ever recorded.

    Another important part of our transportation record is our work to 
safeguard the environment and promote energy security. The energy bill I 
signed last year will save fuel and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 
specifying a national fuel economy standard of 35 miles per gallon by 
2020.

[[Page 1431]]

    A lot of folks here in this Department have worked hard on this 
initiative, and I congratulate you for your good work. By dramatically 
boosting our output of clean-burning biodiesel and ethanol, providing 
tax credits for the purchase of low-emission hybrid vehicles, and 
investing in technologies like advanced batteries and hydrogen fuel 
cells, the Department can be proud of the ways in which we have made 
America's transportation system safer, cleaner, and more effective.
    Yet there's a lot more work to be done. For example, in an age when 
teenage drivers use GPS systems in their cars, air traffic controllers 
still use World War II-era radar to guide modern jumbo jets. That 
doesn't seem to make any sense to me, and I know it doesn't make sense 
to the Secretary and a lot of folks in this audience. Modernizing our 
aviation system is an urgent challenge. So today, I'm signing an 
Executive order that makes this task a leading priority for agencies 
across the Federal Government.
    Members of Congress have responsibilities. As they take up the next 
highway and aviation bills in the coming year, they should adhere to a 
few key principles. They should harness the power of the free market 
through policies like congestion pricing, which uses the laws of supply 
and demand to reduce traffic on our roads and in the air. They should 
ensure that taxpayer funds for transportation are allocated based on the 
true needs of the American people, not spent on wasteful earmarks or the 
political demands of influential lobbies. They should provide incentives 
for the private sector to develop new technologies, invest in our 
infrastructure, and help make our transportation system worthy of the 
21st century. Just a little advice.
    Of course, we all wish the American citizen to have a safe and 
pleasant travel--travels during this holiday season. We wish them all 
the best. And our citizens must know there's some really fine people in 
this Department of Transportation working hard to see that goal comes 
true.
    I want to thank you for what you've done. It's been an honor to 
serve with you. May God bless you, and may God continue to bless the 
United States America. Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 9:50 a.m. In his remarks, he referred to 
Executive Order 13479.