A bill to authorize the Secretary of Transportation to make emergency airport improvement project grants-in-aid under title 49, United States Code, for repairs and costs related to damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 1786) to authorize the Secretary of Transportation to make emergency airport improvement project grants-in-aid under title 49, United States Code, for repairs and costs related to damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on S. 1786.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in strong support of Senate bill S. 1786. This legislation authorizes emergency grants to airports to repair damage caused by both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Specifically, this legislation authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to make grants under the existing Airport

Improvement Program, also referred to as AIP, funds in fiscal year 2006 for hurricane-related costs incurred by public-use airports in the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas.

Under this bill, affected airports may receive grants for emergency capital costs. Some of those costs include repairs to terminal buildings, to hangars, runways, airfield signage, lighting, fencing, navigation aids and fuel systems.

In addition, emergency operating costs resulting from the hurricane will also be eligible for grants. This would cover items such as the cost of putting fences back up, renting generators and hiring extra security personnel. This bill would also waive the local cost-share requirement that traditionally applies to grants made under the AIP program, the Airport Improvement Program.

Many of these airports, particularly the small airports that have been shut down for an extended period of time, lack the ability to pay even the traditional 10 percent local match that would otherwise be required of them under the Airport Improvement Program.

Over 40 airports were damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and are in very serious and desperate need in some instances of the provisions of this bill. The Federal Aviation Administration estimates that these airports, in total, will have sustained damages of some $160 million or more.

Of this total, some $47 million has already been funded by using fiscal year, the current year that we are in, 2005, or just left, I should say, 2005 Airport Improvement Program funds. This was critical to getting some of the airports reopened quickly after the storms, and it also provided much-needed transportation links to the disaster areas.

However, at least $113 million in damages still remains to be funded in fiscal year 2006. These repairs are essential to restoring our system of airports to pre-hurricane conditions and also to the high standards that we require.

It is important to note that this bill does not increase Federal spending. Rather, it would temporarily broaden the eligible uses of existing Airport Improvement Program funds, AIP funds, so that the full spectrum of hurricane repair costs can be met.

After the hurricanes that damaged several Florida airports last year, I am particularly aware of the devastation that can be caused by these storms and the need to repair critical aviation facilities and infrastructure as quickly as possible. I, therefore, am pleased to join wholeheartedly with the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), ranking member of the full Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Costello), Aviation Subcommittee ranking member, in urging the immediate passage of this much-needed legislation.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) and also Chair of the Railroads Subcommittee of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

(Mr. LaTOURETTE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Again, I urge my colleagues to pass S. 1786. This is a needed piece of legislation and an immediately needed bill. It will provide some relief to some of the Gulf States that were hit by two of our most recent and very tragic hurricanes.

Airports do provide a link between communities and a gateway to the Nation and the world. It is one of our most important economic generators in this country, and it is a Federal responsibility to move forward in the repair and the replacement of the infrastructure and facilities at these transportation hubs.

I might repeat that this does not require any additional funding, but it does allow flexibility. It does allow additional payments to these areas for their traditional Federal requirement share and local requirement share.

Also, in closing, we hear a lot of criticism about Federal agencies, but I am pleased to stand here and commend those of the FAA for their quick response to all of the States that were hit by the hurricane disasters we have seen this year.

I also want to thank them for last year. My area in Central Florida was hit by three very serious hurricanes, and as the Members know, we had a fourth, a tremendous storm that hit the gulf coast.

In each instance, the Federal Aviation Administration, starting with Marion Blakey, the administrator, and also with Woodie Woodward, who is our national airports administrator, they were ready in advance. They assisted us then and they are assisting now in an admirable fashion. So I am pleased to also commend their work.

Madam Speaker, I ask for passage of S. 1786, which will provide our airports much-needed relief in these hard-hit areas.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida for not only yielding me this time but also for his leadership in bringing S. 1786 to the floor and also the gentleman from Oregon and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Costello) on the Aviation Subcommittee.

I asked for time today to indicate that S. 1786 is exactly the kind of legislation that we should be crafting in both the House and the Senate and sending to the President of the United States in response to the devastation of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. And primarily what motivated me to come speak today is that there was mischief afoot in the other body as this bill was being crafted relative to the issue of prevailing wages. And there is some thought that while we should extend grants through the AIP program to help ailing airports, perhaps we could do it on the cheap and suspend what are known as Davis-Bacon wages.

And I want to alert the House and my fellow Members that this is something that will come to a head in a couple of weeks. It is disturbing to a number of us. Davis and Bacon happened to be Republican legislators who, after the Great Depression, became concerned with the issue of bands of roving laborers going from market to market and undercutting the local labor market and not living in the community, not receiving a decent wage, not paying taxes that supported the infrastructure, the schools and other things that go on. And unlike S. 1786, other legislation that we have already crafted in the House and an executive order by the President of the United States has suspended, we hope temporarily, Davis-Bacon wages for the reconstruction of the gulf coast. And I have heard a lot of different stories as to why that was done. Some in my party say it is all going to go to the labor unions and we do not want to help the labor unions.

I will tell them, not only was the history of Davis-Bacon of Republican origin, the sad and really the truth of the matter is that if we look at what the combined wage rates are in the gulf coast for the laborer, the carpenter, the operating engineer, it is certainly not some sop to the labor unions.

For example, in Alabama, Madam Speaker, a laborer makes $5.15 an hour. Tell me, where we are going to find somebody to clear away the horrible debris in the gulf coast for less than $5.15 an hour, first of all, and why would we, as a Federal policy, even think that that was a good idea?

The other unintended consequence of the suspension of Davis-Bacon is that we repeal things known as the Copeland Anti-Kickback provisions. And what that says is, if people are complying with the Federal Labor Standards Act, they have to, if they are a contractor, submit every week a certified payroll with the employee's name, what their wage rate was, what their Social Security number is, and what they did. They cannot come waltzing in as a contractor and say, I hired 50 guys with chainsaws last week and here is my bill. It makes sure that we do not permit profiteering in the gulf coast. It makes sure that our Federal dollars are spent as we intend them, and it makes sure that some unscrupulous contractors do not come in and make a boatload of money on the backs of the misery in the gulf coast.

So while I think S. 1786 is a wonderful piece of legislation, we are doing it the right way, I do sort of serve notice to the House that there are some of us on this side of the aisle that do not intend to let this situation with reconstruction and the situation with Davis- Bacon stand much longer.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

The chairman has made an excellent case for this legislation. It is not to set any precedent for the future use of AIP funds, since those funds we know are not going to be adequate in the future to meet the total needs of the system. But this is a recognition of an extraordinary circumstance of the disasters of Katrina and Rita and what it has done to the aviation infrastructure in addition to other elements of the infrastructure in those regions. And it is only, I think, appropriate that the Federal Government use discretion and flexibility in helping those airports to recover and to become fully operational. They obviously suffered not only physical damage but tremendous economic losses due to the storms and, in some cases, face perhaps an uncertain economic future because of the damage in the City of New Orleans and questions about how soon or when full aviation schedules will be reinstated to serve that airport.

So I think this legislation is timely. It is appropriate, and I appreciate the chairman of the committee for bringing it forward in such an expedited way.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I would like to support the remarks of my colleague from Ohio. He mentioned what a laborer would earn under Davis-Bacon. I have become aware of the fact that a skilled pipe fitter under Davis-Bacon wages in the Southeast would earn $10.22 an hour. That hardly seems to me to be an excessive wage.

And with the extraordinary poverty that was brought to the Nation's attention in New Orleans, one would think that we would want to have people working in jobs that pay a living wage, a decent wage, so that they can support themselves and their families. And it is just extraordinary to me.

We had a meeting with the IG and the GAO regarding the FEMA contracts under Homeland Security, and we asked if they could document, particularly with Hurricane Andrew last year and some other times when Davis-Bacon has been suspended, that, in fact, the taxpayers came out ahead. And they said, well, they really could not. So I said, they mean we might just be lowering wages and increasing the profit margin? And they said, they had a lot of concerns about a lot of these contracts and the no-bid nature of the contracts and whether or not taxpayers were getting full value for their money. And it is particularly distressing when we do not know that we are getting full value for our money and we might, in fact, be only increasing profits while depriving people of a living wage.

So I support the gentleman's remarks, and I do hope that we are allowed to bring legislation to the floor in the near future to overturn the President's misguided efforts in this area.

Madam Speaker, I urge Members to support the legislation.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 1786, which authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to make emergency airport improvement project grants-in-aid under title 49, for repairs and costs related to damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Madam Speaker, S. 1786 permits the Secretary of Transportation to make project grants from the Federal Aviation Administration's, FAA, Airport Improvement Program, AIP, fiscal year 2006 funds for capital costs to repair or replace public use facilities damaged as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which were incurred by a public use airport in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas that is listed in the FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems. The bill also permits AlP grant funding to cover emergency operating costs incurred by these airports as a result of the Hurricanes.

According to the FAA, airports located in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas sustained structural damage costing over $162 million. Importantly, S. 1786 provides FAA with the flexibility to fund repairs to airport structures, such as terminals and hangars, which would otherwise not be eligible for grants under the AlP program. The bill also requires the Federal Government to cover 100 percent of the allowable project costs, thereby waiving State and local government match requirements.

Earlier this week, I joined several of my Committee on Transportation colleagues on a trip to the gulf coast to see the devastation of Hurricane Katrina first hand. Flying over New Orleans, Bay St. Louis, Biloxi, and Mobile, we witnessed destruction unlike anything we had ever seen.

We also had the opportunity to meet with airport officials at the Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans. The bill addresses the direct emergency capital and operating costs to address the structural damage to the New Orleans and other affected airports as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

In addition, the New Orleans and other affected airports face long- term revenue challenges. Although the New Orleans airport has reopened, it is operating at a significantly diminished capacity, which is directly affecting airport revenues. The airport, which served as a major origin-and-destination airport with almost 10 million passengers per year prior to Hurricane Katrina, expects it to take several years to recover from this disaster. Passenger traffic in the coming year is expected to equal only 10-15 percent of pre-disaster levels and equal only 70 percent within 3 years. As a result of this lost revenue, the airport faces a potential deficit of approximately $90 million by the end of 2007.

This legislation will enable the FAA to provide additional emergency capital and operating grants for the structural damage of the New Orleans and other affected airports in the region.

I strongly support the bill and urge my colleagues to join me in support of this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of S. 1786, legislation to authorize emergency grants for airports damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This important legislation gives the Secretary of Transportation authority to use millions of dollars in existing federal grant funds to make emergency repairs at airports in the Gulf Coast region damaged by the hurricanes. The bill also permits grant funding to cover emergency operating costs incurred as a result of the devastating hurricanes by these airports.

To get the local economy and jobs improving and moving again, fully functional airports are needed. S. 1786 will restore these airports by making the necessary funds available to immediately begin repairing and refurbishing the airport infrastructure to help restore passenger and commercial air traffic throughout the Gulf region.

I recently visited the Gulf Coast region and saw the devastation and destruction Hurricanes Katrina and Rita left in their wake firsthand. I listened to state and local officials describe their immediate infrastructure needs and this legislation would provide some resources to address their airport needs. Those affected by these hurricanes should be commended as they continue to display tremendous courage and persistence.

Madam Speaker, this legislation is an important step toward economic recovery of the entire Gulf Coast region and towards restoring these airports to their full operational capacity as soon as possible. I ask my colleagues to join me in support of this legislation.