Utah National Guard Readiness Act

Mr. Speaker, I regret that I was prevented from casting votes during last Monday night's session due to repeated delays of a flight from Charleston, West Virginia, to Washington. Had I been present, I would have voted in support of all three measures brought before the House--H.R. 686, H.R. 765, and H.R. 670.

The flight, originally scheduled to depart at 4:50 p.m., did not leave Charleston until after 9 p.m., more than four hours late. In that time, the airline offered numerous excuses--maintenance, delayed flights that had backed up the system. Numerous alternative departure times were put forward and then retracted. Within one four-minute span, the airline emailed four different departure and arrival times. At moments, the arrival/departure information was so confused that the airplane would have had to violate the laws of physics in order to abide by the airline schedule. This is an all too often occurrence and often maintenance delay excuses are used to cover crew issues and/or other problems.

Needless to say, all passengers were inconvenienced and the airline's explanations were wholly unsatisfactory. This flight delay prevented me from carrying out my Constitutional duty to represent the people of southern West Virginia: I feel I owe them and this body an explanation about why that was not possible last night.

I recognize that flight delays happen and perhaps at times no one is to blame. But, given how disruptive and costly delays and cancellations can be, travelers ought to be able to depend upon consistent, timely air service to all communities, even in rural areas.

Rural communities depend on air service like any other communities. It connects us to the global economy. Our businesses need to ship their goods. Our families, workers, and students need to travel. We need reliable, dependable air service. According to GAO, airports in rural communities have higher rates of delays and cancellations than airports in larger communities. That's simply not acceptable.

As the Ranking Member on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, I feel acutely aware of the transportation challenges this nation faces, and as I sat in that airport last evening--like so many other passengers at that airport and others across the nation--I was frustrated by the delay, annoyed at the changing excuses offered by the airline, and angered that I was unable to get to work on time.

During all that time that I sat in the airport, I had plenty of time to think and to boil over that I was sitting there at the mercy of an airline whose veracity continued to come into increasing doubt. But I also had time to ponder our work here.

We are in a great debate in this country about our federal budget, while at the same time we are struggling to get people back to work and get our economic engine humming again. I believe that improving our transportation system has to be one of our top priorities. We need to do more to ensure the efficient transportation of people and goods. We need to stop announcing delay, after delay. We need to stop offering political excuses.

Otherwise, while we hold the future of our citizens captive, forcing them to wait and wait, we will only succeed in making them more and more frustrated and angry.

We had better get off our duffs, come together, and make some real progress on a longterm measure that will ensure improvements to our transportation system and greater safety and reliability to business and the traveling public. And we had better do it soon.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss H.R. 686, ``Utah National Guard Readiness Act.'' The bill requires the conveyance of certain public land within the boundaries of Camp Williams, Utah, to support the training and readiness of the Utah National Guard.

Our National Guard and in some instances combat soldiers of tomorrow must have access to training. Our troops must receive the training they need prior to being deployed in combat zones. By allocating parcels of land for that purpose helps to ensure our nation's security. Camp Williams, located 26 miles south of Salt Lake City, is a professional training environment operated by the Utah Army National Guard. The Utah Training Center consists of 24,000 acres of combat areas resembling the same types of environments encountered by those currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those facilities include small arms weapons firing ranges, artillery firing points, demolition, grenade and crew served weapon ranges.

This parcel of land will allow for specialized winter, desert, mountain, and amphibious training. Urban environments include the Mac MOUT Shoot-house, dismounted/mounted maneuver areas and the recently opened FOB. Leadership and individual training is enhanced by utilizing the rappel tower, leadership reaction course and Afghan Village. This facility seems to be well equipped for training the Utah National Guard.

The Utah National Guard has possessed facilities and trained at Camp Williams since 1912. H.R. 686 would convey 420 acres of land within the boundaries of Camp Williams, without consideration. The acreage proposed for conveyance is already withdrawn for military use by the Guard. This land transfer will open access to property along a major transportation corridor with all the utilities and services necessary to support expanded military use. The Utah National Guard already owns and operates several buildings, an air traffic control tower and a tactical airfield on portions of this property. Placing the land in the State's name for use by the National Guard consolidates ownership patterns in the headquarters area and allows the State of Utah to bond for future Guard facilities. Transfer of title to these lands expedites the building and expansion of Camp Williams training facilities and would improve the readiness of the Utah National Guard. Additionally, the bill includes a provision directing that the land revert to federal ownership if it stops being used for National Guard or national defense purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 686) to require the conveyance of certain public land within the boundaries of Camp Williams, Utah, to support the training and readiness of the Utah National Guard, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 686 is a bill I sponsored. It is a bipartisan bill, and it has the sponsorship of all of the members of the Utah delegation, Republican and Democrat, and directs the Secretary of the Interior through the BLM to convey to the State of Utah lands that have been withdrawn for military use by the Utah National Guard and known as Camp Williams in Utah.

The National Guard has had this facility and trained at Camp Williams since 1912. The 420 acres proposed for conveyance is located within the boundaries of Camp Williams and has already been withdrawn for military use by the National Guard.

The transfer will simply open up property that is along one of the major corridors there to help support the military use of this camp. For obvious reasons, placing the land in the ownership of the State will allow the State to bond for other facilities that need to be built there. The State of Utah will not bond for building facilities on land it does not own. So the transfer of title to those lands also expedites the building and expansion of Camp Williams and the training facilities to improve the readiness of the Utah National Guard.

This conveyance without consideration is consistent with other bills in which you are doing government to government conveyances. The bill includes a provision directing the land revert to Federal ownership if this property is not used for National Guard or national defense purposes.

So the bill was passed by the House by a voice vote last Congress. The administration supports this bill. It was requested by the Utah National Guard. As I said, it is cosponsored by the entire Utah delegation.

I urge its adoption, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

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

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

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 686 will transfer a parcel of Federal land to the State of Utah for use as part of a Utah National Guard facility. The bill specifies that the land would return to Federal ownership if it is no longer needed for national defense purposes.

This legislation passed the House under Democratic leadership in both the 110th and 111th Congresses, and we support its passage again today.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained in my district and missed the votes on October 3, 2011. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 742, H.R. 686; rollcall No. 743, H.R. 765; and rollcall No. 744, H.R. 670.