Floor Statements

Mr. President, I would say to the good Senator from the State of Arizona that we have a number of amendments that are already more or less agreed to. More amendments are coming in, including several that he has mentioned. We want a chance to look at those to see whether those are--I heard one amendment, for example, that sounded pretty easy to do.

The earmark amendment, I actually--I am not dissing this, but I just cannot resist but point something out; that is, on earmarks, this would ban earmarks for the foreseeable future. Let me redefine that.

In the last 71 years, the Congress of the United States has not had a budget deficit in only 13 years. So you can see for the foreseeable future it is sort of a large matter. Nevertheless, we welcome the chance to look at that and work on it.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I compliment the Senator from New Jersey who is complimented far too little for doing so many good things but did a lot of them on the floor this afternoon. I appreciate what he said which is not related to aviation, about the school bond. It makes an enormous difference. It has been changed a bit to make it more effective at the State level. I appreciate the fact that he said that. And the points he made with respect to some of the amendments to the aviation bill seemed to make a lot of sense. The last one may cause some discussion, but I know the Senator and I know what is in his heart. He always speaks the truth.

You could join the Commerce Committee. You are right up there in the leadership. I respect everything the Senator from New Jersey does.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I rise to get back to something called the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill. It is the bill we are on. I do not hesitate to say my daughter was one of the cofounders of a charter school, very successful, in Washington, DC, but I would also say to her, as I would to proponents of this legislation which is being discussed--vouchers--that in the Federal aviation bill, we are talking about 500 million Americans who fly every year. Not to diminish them nor my daughter's incredible work--1,300 students--that figure is going to rise very shortly to over 1 billion, and therefore what we do in the Federal aviation bill, which is the pending business, is incredibly important.

Senator Byron Dorgan has discussed safety issues and other aspects of the legislation and he is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security, which I was for 10 years before I became chairman of the full committee, so I care passionately about the Federal Aviation Administration bill. I recognize it is not the most colorful, gallant legislation in the history of the world but, believe me, it affects every single American. It used to be that only 16 percent of Americans fly. Now everybody flies.

There is no way to describe how frustrated passengers are, and they have every right to be. This Federal aviation bill, incidentally, has been extended or laid over 11 different times. Eleven different times we have not been able to get to it, until this day. So I am glad we had the previous discussion and we are going to get to a number of amendments and vote on them before 6 o'clock this evening, after I announce some agreements that have been already been reached. So progress is being made, and I just wish to see it continue being made.

You have to figure that some passengers--not many cases but in some cases--have been kept waiting 9 hours on a tarmac. I can't even begin to do the body math of 9 hours, but I don't choose to because it is not pleasant. How does one eat? How does one keep sanity? Presumably, the engines are running. If they are, there is air. If they are not, there is no air. So it is extremely stuffy. You are without food, you are without water, you are without facilities and, most important, you are without any information to know where you are. This is all absolutely unacceptable.

In one little section of the bill, I want to say a couple of the things we do to fix that. This bill requires that air carriers in coordination with airports develop contingency plans to make certain they are prepared for these kinds of delays which will happen and which do happen. As more and more people fly, they will happen more frequently. It is a fact of life.

Under our bill, passengers have to have access to water, they have to have access to food, to restroom facilities, and to medical attention. They cannot remain on the tarmac for over 3 hours. I think that is stretching it. There is one little caveat which I sort of accept--at least it is in the bill--that if a pilot in his or her judgment believes that within the next 30 minutes or less they will take off, they do not have to go back to the terminal to disgorge their passengers so they can get caught up on water, facilities, medical attention, all the rest of it.

These are such commonsense protections, but they affect so many people and children. I have five grandchildren. I am trying to think what my five grandchildren would be acting like after 3 hours on a plane that has not gone anywhere. I am trying to imagine that from various points of view and none of them comes out very favorably, not one of them.

The air carriers will also have to post on their Web site which of their flights as a matter of their record tend to be delayed, tend to be canceled, tend to be on time, or diverted. That is a matter of record. It is not doing every one, but those which are likely to do that. That is on the Web site so when the passenger purchases tickets they get that, and that information has to be updated on a monthly basis and it has to be provided to customers before they purchase a ticket, Web site or no Web site. That is an advance in keeping passengers happier.

Any air carrier selling a ticket must disclose the actual air carrier. Why do I say that? Because, as Senator Dorgan has said a number of times, oft you do not know what you are flying on. There is a United up here, and a Colgan down here, and you don't know what you are flying on so you do not know who to hold accountable. We think accountability matters so you are told before you get the ticket what plane you are going to be flying on--who owns that plane, who flies that plane. So you do not, as I routinely--in West Virginia, this Senator--they are all propeller flights with one or two exceptions.

Senator Dorgan has also pointed out that 50 percent of all our aviation in

America--and we do fly half the people in the world. We are half the world's air traffic, right in North America. So we have to know whether they are a regional carrier and we have to know the information about them before people buy their ticket.

Passengers have been overlooked. They have been dismissed by the aviation system for so many years because we could get away with it and everybody was prospering. But along this time people were suffering, grievously sometimes. I think a lot of people--in fact, I think of a couple of my sisters and some people in my office, who, just when they are in an airplane, they change. They get white-knuckled. It is a cylinder, and people react in different ways to that. So we need to give passengers all the comfort, the information, and the transparency they can possibly have.

I just make that short statement. It is one aspect of our very long and comprehensive FAA authorization bill which has been waiting now for 3 years to reauthorization, and which we wish to do.

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now resume consideration of the DeMint amendment No. 3454, and that at 6 p.m. the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the amendment, with the time until then divided and controlled between Senators Inouye and DeMint or their designees; and that upon disposition of amendment No. 3454, the Senate then proceed to vote in relation to the following amendments with 2 minutes of debate prior to each vote equally divided and controlled in the usual form; and that after the first vote in this sequence, the remaining votes be limited to 10 minutes each; and that no amendment be in order to any of the amendments in this order, prior to a vote in relation thereto; and that in the case where there is a modification, the amendment be so modified with the changes at the desk.

The amendments are Feingold amendment No. 3470, as modified; Vitter amendment No. 3458, as modified; Lieberman amendment No. 3456.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I move to table the amendment and hope it is defeated.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and that it be in order for the Senate to consider en bloc the amendments listed here--I will read them in a moment--and that the amendments be considered and agreed to; that in the case where an amendment is modified, the amendment, as modified, be considered and agreed to; and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc; and that no amendments be in order to the amendments considered in this agreement.

Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the following Senators recognized to speak as follows: Senator Merkley for up to 5 minutes, Senator Sanders for up to 15 minutes, and Senator Kaufman for up to 20 minutes; and that if there are any Republican speakers, they would be included in an alternating fashion.

Madam President, just one word on what my distinguished colleague Senator Hutchison said.

I completely and totally agree. This is kind of a feast, I guess, for some who want to bring all their frustrations about government and put them into the aviation authorization bill, but it is so frustrating because we have been working on this for so long. There have been 11 delays on this when we were not able to go forward with anything. If they keep doing what they are doing with extraneous amendments, we have no hope for this bill.

What they need to consider is that as they take down our bill, which is important for the Nation, they will take down their amendments, should they prevail, as well. So that doesn't make any sense.

I am so proud, as always, of the Senator from Texas and her work to try to get rid of extraneous amendments, discourage those, and to work on Federal aviation. This is very important work.

I know the Senator from Kansas wishes to speak, and I yield the floor.

Madam President, I thank the Senator from Kansas for his very cogent remarks. Kansas probably is the airplane center of the country, if not the world. The point he makes is that it is bipartisan and that we have been working on it a long time.

Anybody can come down and offer extraneous amendments. We don't preclude that in our system. It is possible under the Senate rules. It is also possible under the Senate rules to make extraneous amendments unacceptable and unactionable. I think what we want to do is try to avoid some of those processes. I know the leaders on both sides are trying to figure out a way to deal with this problem of extraneous amendments. If it has to do with aviation, we are all for it. If people simply want to talk about subjects they care about but not offer amendments, that is fine. If people want to offer aviation amendments, please come forward. Those are important.

This is a 3- to 4-year effort we have been on, trying to do an aviation bill. The Presiding Officer certainly understands the consequences of aviation delays and all the rest of it. It is something we have to do as a country and we cannot dally. This is not the Senate acting in its finest tradition. We have a chance to change that, and I hope the Members will cooperate in that effort.

I thank the Chair and note the absence of a quorum.

Would the Senator yield?

As I understand it--and I am presiding over the Federal Aviation Administration legislation, so this is a little offtrack, but it is very hard for me to listen to this kind of dialogue week after week without having these thoughts and questions.

The Senate passed with 60 votes the health care bill which is now----

Right--which is now on the way over to the House. The House has it.

The question is, is the House going to pass it. If there is going to be any health care reform at all, the House has to pass it. Now, if the House does pass it, it will then constitute about 85 to 90 percent of the entire health care bill.

I listened to my good friend and the Senator from South Dakota talk about 16 percent of the gross national product. But the bill that will come out of the House--hopefully passed--and, therefore, will not have to come back to the Senate will, No. 1, be nowhere--will be the vast majority of the 16 percent, if that is an accurate figure. But one thing that is even more clear to me is it will have absolutely nothing to do with reconciliation, just the regular legislative process.

The only question about reconciliation and the only place where it applies from this Senator's point of view is on that particular add-on that would be done to include some Republican ideas and include a few more things that the House wants to do.

I ask the Senator from Utah, why does he say this is reconciliation affecting 16 percent of GDP when, in fact, it affects 14 percent or 15 percent of GDP, which is simply in the regular order of Senate process and has nothing to do with reconciliation?

I have stipulated that.

Then I would further inquire: I don't see any possibility of the House changing a bill, which would have to come back over to the Senate, because it would be highly unlikely the Senate would be able to pass that bill. So I don't think that will be the process. I think what the House will do--and they said they haven't done it; therefore they can't do it--well, they said that about the Senate bill in the Senate, too, and we did, and it was very close for reasons that it got no votes from your side. But that is not the point.

The point is, reconciliation on 16 percent of the GDP, if they pass it--and this is all in the full time of working out the process on the House side the Senate bill, which is what they want to try to do, and then the reconciliation is not done on their side, it is done on our side, in which we put in a few things to--whatever will be attractive to Republicans as well as some things which will help with liberals on the Democratic side in the House because they are more liberal than we are.

That, I would say to my good friend from Utah, is not reconciliation, but it is put that way for months now. I am on the floor and I have this microphone and you are being kind enough to be patient with me, but it isn't reconciliation. The Senator from South Dakota said it is 16 percent of the gross domestic product. It isn't. It is probably about 5 percent, 6 percent.

I thank the Senator.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I object.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, a primary emphasis I have put into this Federal aviation bill over the last number of years is modernizing our air traffic control system. I have heard myself talk about it so much that I am tired of listening to myself. But, on the other hand, I am not sure other people have heard it enough, it is so important.

One way of explaining it is that most cars use a more sophisticated global positioning system than do our air carriers, our legacy airlines. That is kind of pathetic and it has to end. The only way we can do that is by modernizing the air traffic control system. It is doable. There is money in the bill to do it on an annual basis. It should be completed by the year 2025. In fact, it has already begun. In one of the Gulf States, it is completed and they are using it. Mongolia is using it, and we just would think it is not too much to ask to catch up to Mongolia on air traffic control.

We have a very safe air system, but it is not safe enough. By that I mean we move 30,000 flights a day in America. More than half of all the air traffic in the world is American. Nearly 700 million people per year use our airplanes. So how you position airplanes and how you guide them and how they know where they are and where they are going and how they can most quickly and safely get there is very important.

The FAA's recent forecasts say there will be probably a 50-percent increase in the foreseeable future. That will be well over 1 billion passengers per year. But we are already stretched too thin in the air traffic control system that we have, which is antiquated and which is owned by no other industrialized country in the world, obviously, including Mongolia, which probably is not fully industrialized.

So the Next Generation Air Transportation System--and the word for it is NextGen; we just use that word--will create the capacity, will save us millions of dollars, it will help clean up our air because airplanes will be able to go from one place to the other because they will be able to see in real time what the weather patterns are, where other planes are. It will help the air traffic controllers on the ground position them. Airplanes will be able to fly more closely to each other's tail, so to speak. In all ways, it will be much more efficient, much more manageable--all in real time. We do it with our automobiles, and we ought to be able to do it with planes.

It is very good environmentally, which to the Presiding Officer, the Senator from New Hampshire, may sound like a reasonable prospect. Jet fuel is not inexpensive, and it is not carbon free. This will produce a lot less carbon emissions. It will also lower another kind of emission, which is noise, which affects people, and not just in this city but everywhere.

Most importantly, NextGen will dramatically improve safety, and that is the whole point. It will provide pilots and air traffic controllers with better situational awareness. It is what we do for our troops, it is what we do for ourselves, and we need to do it for our airplanes.

If you can see weather maps in real time--and you just know airplanes are going this way and that way to avoid what they visually see in the way of clouds or rain or whatever--if they can get it in real-time GPS, then they can cut right through and go from point to point much quicker.

So our bill, S. 1451, takes a lot of steps right away to do that. We will be spending $500 million a year--that is in the bill--on this. We expect it to be finished by 2025. It seems like a long time. We are not going to pay for all of it. We are going to ask the airlines to pay for equipage, which is their electronic response to what is on the ground, which is what we will pay for. Obviously,

every airplane will have to have that. They will want to do that. They will not like paying for it, but they will not like not having it when everybody else does.

The bill takes further steps to make certain about NextGen. This is one of those items that does not sound very good, but if it is done properly, it will be very good. We create an air traffic control modernization oversight board within the FAA, and they will be active. We establish a chief NextGen officer at the FAA. That is a person and a group to be responsible simply for seeing that progress is on schedule, pushing people who have to be pushed, and we will include representatives of Federal employees in the planning of the NextGen projects. It is appropriate that we include people who fly airplanes in this.

So we need to begin implementing this technology now, and we need to get to the day when we can know we are as safe as we are in our car. Actually, I am not sure that is the right encouraging statement, but it is dangerous up there and we take a lot of chances. I have been in an airplane that was struck by lightning, a single-engine plane with one pilot. I did a lot of praying, and here I am.

Senator Dorgan was speaking about safety. The grieving families from flight 3407, that accident in Buffalo, NY, are never to be forgotten, and we can never allow a tragedy such as that to happen again. That is the problem when you have commuter airlines. Fifty percent of all our air traffic is now commuter airlines. As I am sure the Presiding Officer understands, in West Virginia and New Hampshire, we don't get-- you get a lot more than we do of major jet flights. We don't get those very much. So we make do with the propellers, and I squeeze my 6-foot-7 frame as best I can usually next to the exit door because there is more room there.

But that accident in Buffalo, NY, was avoidable. It didn't have to happen, and it shouldn't ever happen again. We have an important opportunity to make serious changes, and we need to make sure these changes put safety first. Safety is always the No. 1 consideration.

So a few ideas. Our bill includes measures to strengthen the Nation's aviation safety system and takes great strides to promote something called one level of safety. As I stand here speaking to the Presiding Officer, I can't believe that one level of safety is going to be achieved within 6 months, but that is the objective of the bill--that nobody gets to be more safe than somebody else.

When the Senator from North Dakota was talking about--and this is airline pilot folks. They pay their senior people a great deal. But if you pay somebody who did not land in Buffalo, NY, in that tragic flight, he was being paid between $20,000 and $25,000. Neither the Presiding Officer's State nor mine pay teachers that little. It is shocking. It is absolutely shocking that an airline pilot would be subject to those wages and, therefore, can't stay in a motel overnight and, therefore, may go one or two nights without sleep and then fly a plane. We can't do that. We can't allow that. That is why we want to get to this bill, and we ought to pass this bill instead of waiting year after year and postponing it 11 times, as we have, by extending the authorization.

So in recent years we actually have seen the safest period in aviation history, even with the busiest system in the world. The air traffic controllers oversee over 30,000 flights a day--I think it is closer to 36,000 flights a day--and, again, 800 million people each year. But there are ways we can do better. Our passengers and the dedicated airline workforce deserve better.

As chairman of the Commerce Committee and as former chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee for more than 10 years--I have been into this a lot--I appreciate the work Senator Dorgan, who is now chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee, has done to continue to focus on safety, using flight 3407 that crashed in Buffalo as his sort of emotional touch point but simply driving and driving and driving--we have had actually eight safety hearings in the committee since that time, since that accident.

One could say, well, so what. But that is what galvanizes us. That is what allows us to put together a better safety section in this bill which, in fact, we have done.

So in the bill, we strengthen greatly the training and certification of commercial aviation pilots, two vague words with two very sharp meanings.

Our bill requires the FAA to reevaluate pilot training and qualifications and issue a new rule to make certain flight crew members have the proper skills and experience. They either do or they don't. They have to be evaluated, and if they don't make it, they are out. I don't know what the union will say about that, but that is what we have to do. If the FAA fails to do this and do so by the end of 2011, then all air carrier pilots must have at least 1,500 flight hours, and now it would be more at the 800 level. In other words, that is a jolt. That is a real stick which we are holding out there in this bill to make them better in their certification and the rest of it.

We focus a lot on pilot fatigue. That is a human phenomenon, but it is a dangerous one if you are flying an airplane. It requires the FAA to revise the flight and duty time regulations for commercial airline pilots and issue the final rule within 1 year. No, that is not tomorrow but within 1 year, they will have a schedule that will hopefully stop this kind of thing, where pilots fly in from San Francisco, don't get any sleep, have to sleep in a little bunk house.

We also require some other key changes. We require an electronic database that the FAA must develop and that carriers must consult to obtain a full picture of a pilot's experience and skills before giving them such enormous responsibility. They have to pass that database examination.

The FAA will also require air carriers to implement a formal remedial training program for underperforming pilots. The underperforming is a hard thing to evaluate, but it is doable, and the remedial training is not hard to do. That is just time in simulated cockpits or in real cockpit situations.

In conclusion, we all must understand the reality we are living with; that our utmost priority is always safety, but that is easier said than accomplished. The National Transportation Safety Board recently determined pilot error was the primary cause of that accident in Buffalo, flight 3407. To put it even more clearly, this tragedy simply did not have to happen and could have been avoided, and by passing this bill, we can do more to make sure we don't repeat that kind of history.

Safety is always important. I don't know of anyplace where it is more important than in the skies.

I thank the Presiding Officer. I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Sessions amendment No. 3453 be modified with the changes at the desk.

Madam President, I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the list that I will send to the desk shortly be the only first-degree amendments in order to H.R. 1586 other than any pending amendments; that the first-degree amendments be subject to second-degree amendments which are relevant to the amendment to which offered; that managers' amendments be in order if they have been cleared by the managers and leaders and, if offered, they be considered and agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; further, that upon disposition of all amendments, the substitute amendment, as amended, if amended, be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; the bill, as amended, be read a third time and the Senate proceed to vote on the passage of the bill; that upon passage, the title amendment, which is at the desk, be considered and agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr, President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 11, 2010, at 9 a.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 11, at 10 a.m., in room SD-366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 11, 2010, at 10 a.m., in room 406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 11, 2010, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet, during the session of the Senate, to conduct a hearing entitled ``A Fair Share for All: Pay Equity in the New American Workplace'' on March 11, 2010. The hearing will commence at 10 a.m. in room 430 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on March 11, 2010, at 10 a.m. in SD-226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct an executive business meeting.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness and Integration of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 11, 2010, at 11 a.m. to conduct a hearing entitled, ``New Border War: Corruption of U.S. Officials by Drug Cartels.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 11, 2010, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 11, 2010, at 10 a.m., in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Chris Goble, a legislative fellow with the Senate Finance Committee, be granted the privilege of the floor during the consideration of H.R. 1586.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to Calendar No. 36, H.R. 1586, and that once the bill is reported, I be recognized to offer a substitute amendment.

I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be waived.

Mr. President, I am very happy to be here this afternoon with the most excellent ranking member of the Commerce Committee, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, to lay down our Transportation bill, and in so doing we say that our transportation system is at a crossroads, and not a comfortable one.

For decades, the Federal Aviation Administration has done an excellent job of operating the world's most complex airline system. Nobody else comes close. The system has served us very well. Not only is it the safest airspace system in the world, it is a critical component of the national economy. I cannot overstate the importance of a

vibrant and strong aviation system. It is fundamental to our Nation's long-term growth--from the largest cities to the very smallest of towns--because it connects our citizens and it connects our businesses with the global economy.

Increasingly, however, our air transportation system and the FAA--the Federal Aviation Administration--are strained beyond capacity. Our skies and airports have become plagued with congestion and delay, and what is more, on a pretty regular basis. Over the past decade, we have seen passengers delayed for hours on runways, and we hear about it. During peak times, such as the holidays, the system is often paralyzed--stopped. Disruptions at just one key airport--maybe JFK, maybe O'Hare, maybe Los Angeles, should they be in trouble at any one of those places--can quickly cascade throughout the entire system.

With airline capacity cut, these delays can easily extend to days for passengers who cannot find flights with empty seats because the capacity has been reduced. Our constituents are frustrated about flying and, frankly, rightly so.

When our economy recovers, and I believe that growth has slowly begun--we shall see--congestion and delay will only get worse. The FAA predicts that commercial air traffic will increase by nearly 50 percent over the next decade. Putting that in other terms, from our current level of 700 million passengers a year, it will be well over a billion passengers per year. In a complex system as ours, everything has to work so the possibility of a meltdown of the air traffic control system may in fact become a reality and this will put passenger safety at extreme risk.

These are not the only troubling signs; there are more. While aviation has an excellent safety record, as I have indicated, the Federal Aviation Administration and the industry's focus on safety and vigilance in maintaining it as the highest priority, has come into question--the question of safety. The grounding of thousands of aircraft throughout the system in 2008 raised questions about the quality of airline maintenance practices and the FAA's ability to provide sufficient oversight of air carriers.

The tragic accident of flight 3407 has exposed problems with pilot training, crew fatigue, and the ability of the industry to assure the traveling public that there is one level of safety throughout the entire system, and that does not exist.

For all these reasons I stand here, along with my distinguished colleague, and encourage my colleagues in as strong a fashion as I can possibly muster to move forward and pass S. 1451, the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act. I will only say that once.

I want to spend a few minutes discussing how and why we have made so little progress in addressing the issues facing our Nation's aviation system. In 1999 and 2000, the aviation system was experiencing the worst congestion and delays in its history. There was, indeed, a growing recognition that fundamental change was needed. Nonetheless, I worked with Senator Lott to author Vision 100, in effect the 2003 FAA reauthorization bill. This bill laid the foundation to build a modern digital satellite-based air traffic control system. We created the joint planning and development office and authorized a significant increase in FAA's capital budget to meet the specific air traffic control modernization needs--a lot of what I say will be based on that--an increase based upon the administration's own budget requests.

But instead of investing in the system in 2004, 2005, and 2006, the previous administration proposed dramatic cuts in the FAA's facilities and equipment, the F&E account, the account that funds air traffic control modernization.

The urgency of 2000 understandably but regrettably waned as air traffic fell after 9/11. Today we find ourselves in a similar situation. The recession has prevented widespread delay--temporarily. We must not let this temporary reprieve keep us from taking action to address these concerns once again. Our economy has begun, as I indicated, to slowly turn around and I am confident that demand for air travel will soon begin to grow. If we do not act quickly, our system will simply not have the capacity to cope with the growth in demand.

That is where you get in trouble. I believe everyone in aviation recognizes the need to modernize our national air transportation system in order to meet the growth in passenger traffic. In addition to creating much more capacity, a new satellite-based air traffic control system, an ATC system, will allow airplanes to move more efficiently by taking more direct routes, being able to be closer to each other but without danger. These improvements will save our economy millions of dollars annually.

Most importantly, the next generation air transportation system, which we refer to as ``NextGen,'' will dramatically improve the safety of air transportation by providing pilots and air traffic controllers with better situational awareness. They will be able to see other air traffic and detailed weather maps in real time. President Obama clearly recognized the value of investing in our air transportation system and this is, in fact, reflected in his fiscal year 2011 budget request. The administration has proposed spending a total of $1.1 billion in fiscal 2011 on the NextGen program, which is more than a 30-percent increase. That is not in line with the so-called freeze. So it is a 30-percent increase over 2010.

We oversee all of transportation--trains, cars, airplanes, trucks, whatever you have. I will say at this point for the record that the same financial requests or needs for the Surface Transportation Board, which interacts with railroads and shippers, has not been increased sufficiently. It is $31 million and it needs to be closer to $44 million. These efforts, however, are only the first steps in a long journey. Modernizing the ATC system will require sustained focus and substantial resources. S. 1451 takes concrete steps to make sure that the FAA accelerates the NextGen--that is the modern system--programs, and that the agency implements modernization efforts in an effective and efficient manner over the long run. The FAA estimates that NextGen will cost the agency $20 billion through 2025, and the airlines another $20 billion in aircraft equipage--how they, as individual airplanes, respond and react to that system so it can work.

I have worked with Senators Inouye and Baucus to reach a deal that I believe moves us in the right direction. S. 1451, the bill under discussion, will create a new subaccount with the aviation trust fund to fund FAA's modernization efforts. This modernization subaccount will dedicate $500 million annually to NextGen efforts. I appreciate the hard work of my colleagues on this provision, to develop it, to make it become possible.

I wish to spend some time talking about the highest priority in aviation and that is called safety. Statistically, the United States has the safest air transportation system in the world. I indicated that. But statistics do not tell you the whole story. It has been a little more than a year since the tragic crash of flight 3407 in Buffalo, NY, that took the lives of 50 people. It is clear from the National Transportation Safety Board investigation that we need to take serious steps to improve pilot training, address flight crew fatigue, to make the cockpit isolated from extraneous conversation, and reform air carrier employment practices. I commend Senator Dorgan in particular for the work he has done to promote the safety in the aftermath of this accident. He has attached himself to this cause ferociously.

The committee's work has prompted the FAA to initiate a number of activities to improve aviation safety. The agency has been able to get many air carriers to make voluntary commitments to implement important safety measures and the agency has committed to initiate new regulations on flight and duty time regulations in coming months.

Despite this progress, our work remains far from complete. We must also make certain that the FAA remains as vigilant on other safety priorities--the oversight of airline operations and the maintenance, reducing runway incursions, and air traffic controller staffing issues. Just as with modernization, we must make sure the FAA has the tools and the resources to accomplish these safety objectives.

I am especially proud of the safety title we have developed and included in this bill, S. 1451. This title will do the

following, in part: address pilot fatigue by mandating the FAA revise flight and duty time limitations based on the latest in scientific research; ensure one level of safety exists throughout commercial aircraft operations by requiring that all carriers adopt aviation safety standards. The bill also requires stronger safety oversight of foreign repair stations, which is a very controversial subject. They are a relatively small percentage of air maintenance. Most of it is done in this country. But there is some argument as to how well it is done overseas.

These are critical measures that will help us identify safety issues and prevent problems before they occur and this is the best way to address safety.

A word on small community air service. The State I come from is not large. In fact, it is small and it is rural. But it is important and it is a good place. We need to keep America's small communities connected to the rest of the world. If one lives in a rural State or in a rural part of a rural State, one is no less important than if one lives on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The nature of the individuals may be the same, the entrepreneurship may be the same, but access to international aviation or transcontinental aviation is not the same. The continuing economic crisis has hit the United States airline industry very hard. They are in and out of bankruptcy. We have all read about that. They are cutting back on things they offer that they used to offer in flight and do not now. We grump about it but there is a reason they do that so I don't grump about it, and this affects the future of hundreds of rural communities across our country.

In their effort to cut costs, air carriers have drastically reduced service to small or isolated communities. From a business point of view, I guess that makes sense. From my policy point of view, that does not make sense and it is not fair. They are the first routes to go, the rural ones. They go in tough economic times, and that is where we are right now. The reduction or elimination of air service has a devastating effect on the economy of a community. Having adequate air service is not just a matter of convenience but also a matter of economic survival. Without access to reliable air service, no business is willing to locate their operations in these areas of the country, no matter how attractive the quality of life. Airports are economic engines that attract critical new development opportunities and jobs.

The Federal Government needs to provide additional resources and tools for small communities to help them attract adequate air service. Our legislation does this by building on existing programs and strengthening them. Authorizing funding for the Essential Air Service Program is increased to $175 million annually. The bill also extends the Small Community Air Service Development Program--incredibly important for small airports. This program has provided dozens of communities with the resources necessary to attract and retain air service.

In conclusion, when I began work on this bill, I had four simple goals: No. 1, take steps to address the critical safety concerns--that was always No. 1 and always will be; No. 2, to establish a roadmap for the implementation of NextGen and accelerate the FAA's key modernization programs; No. 3, make certain we adequately invest in airport infrastructure; and, No. 4, continue to improve small communities' access to the Nation's aviation system.

I believe we have worked hard in a truly bipartisan fashion with Senator Dorgan, obviously Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison from Texas, Senator DeMint from South Carolina, to develop a bill that I think advances these goals and which all of my colleagues can support.

This bill is not being held up. There is a reason for that. We worked out our problems early. This bill takes the steps needed to advance the system. The FAA must be provided with the tools, the resources, and the clear direction and deadlines to make sure the agency provides effective oversight of the aviation industry itself.

I think we all recognize the United States must significantly expand the capacity of our Nation's transportation system. There are no quick or easy solutions to the problem, and I believe our situation is going to get worse before it gets better. But we do have to take the actions we can right now. We cannot ignore the aviation system anymore.

We cannot float on nice memories of a glorious past. The United States is losing its position as a global leader on aviation. The American public is not happy with the aviation system or with us. We must move boldly, just as we have with our investments in high-speed rail, or risk losing our leadership in the world.

Given the challenges our Nation's aviation system faces, we must act now to pass S. 1451, the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act.

Is it the order that the Senator from Texas will have the floor?

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Franken.) There is no order to that effect.

Business as usual.

I yield proudly to the Senator from Texas.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following Finance Committee fellows and interns be accorded floor privileges for the consideration of the FAA bill: Aislinn Baker, Mary Baker, Brittany Durrell, Scott Matthews, Greg Sullivan, Maximilian Updike, Meena Sharma; as well as Jim Connelly and Rajat Mathur, both detailees for the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Mr. President, I rise today to urge passage of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010, or STELA, as part of the American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010.

Over the past 15 years, satellite television has grown into a strong competitor to cable by offering consumers in rural as well as urban markets a choice in pay television providers. Where residents once were limited to a single cable operator, satellite providers now offer most consumers an alternative. This has led to price and service competition, which is good for consumers. Congress supported such competition through the passage of the Satellite Home Viewer Act and its progeny, including the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act, or SHVERA. And now Congress has the same opportunity with passage of STELA, which reauthorizes and extends certain communications and copyright provisions.

A decade ago, Congress, recognizing that consumers want access to local news, weather, and community-oriented programming, established a mechanism by which satellite providers could offer local broadcast stations to residents in the local market. This means that when a satellite subscriber in Huntington, West Virginia tunes-in to CBS, PBS, ABC, FOX or NBC, they hear about events in the state capital and see the successes and trials of their neighbors--not the weather in Manhattan.

Recognizing the limits of satellite providers at the time, Congress did not require the companies to offer local channels to every market in the country. Over time, this has created a division between haves and have-nots in which satellite companies are not providing local channels to residents in the smallest markets.

In West Virginia, satellite subscribers in the Parkersburg and Wheeling markets cannot receive local channels from either satellite provider. In certain other markets in the State, only one provider offers local channels. Rural consumers deserve better.

That is why I am particularly pleased that STELA provides incentives to provide local service into all 210 markets across the county, which sets the stage for consumers in even the most rural regions to gain access to local news, sports, and community programming.

Another important provision of STELA changes existing law to promote the carriage of high-definition local public broadcasting stations and to make it easier for statewide public television networks, like that in West Virginia and 14 other States, to reach every resident of the States they serve.

As some broadcast television has become coarser and less informative, the importance of the mission and programming provided by public television has grown. STELA makes sure that more satellite subscribers will have access to the compelling programming available on public television.

Passage of STELA provides us with the opportunity to encourage greater competition and access to quality programming to consumers throughout the nation. For this reason, I urge my colleagues to support passage of this important legislation.

Mr. President, as we move closer than ever to enacting legislation that delivers on the promise of secure and affordable health care across America, it is important to remember what is at stake and whom we are fighting for.

Over the last year, I have told many of my colleagues about the Bord family of West Virginia and their son Samuel who suffered from leukemia.

Stories like the Bords' are a reminder that our work in Congress has a profound and personal impact on millions of lives every day. Each of us brings to this critical work the shared tragic and trying personal experiences of our friends and neighbors back home. They are real: These stories are a picture of people's lives and their pain. And we have an obligation to honor those struggles and sacrifices by working to make things better for everyone. Yet recently, radio host Rush Limbaugh sneered at the Bords' experience, describing it and other stories highlighted during last week's bipartisan health care summit as ``sob stories.'' Always the cynic, he dismissed them entirely, ``Can you believe these stories happen in America?'' These stories do happen in America--every day. And it is a shame that anyone could hear of this heartbreak and fail to recognize what it says so clearly about the terrible burden our failed health care policies have placed on countless families across this country.

Rich and Amy Bord of Fairmont, WV, are two dedicated schoolteachers with health insurance through their employer. Let me repeat that: They have health insurance. Their 9-year-old son, Samuel, suffered from leukemia, and he needed significant invasive medical therapy. They thought they were covered, only to learn that their policy had a million-dollar lifetime cap. A million dollars sounds like a lot of money--and it is--they surely never would have expected to exceed it. But health care costs are spiraling out of control and the reality is, health insurance companies don't want to cover sick people.

In addition to Samuel, the Bords have two young twin sons at home, and the entire family's health care decisions were impacted by Samuel's bills.

After multiple rounds of chemotherapy and a relapse that required additional treatment for Samuel, the Bords reached their insurance fund's cap. Even with the help of my office and from the Public Employees Insurance Agency to get supplemental coverage for the Bords, Samuel still needed surgery and lots of additional care. Soon they would be approaching the next cap on their supplemental coverage. So the Bords were left with only heart-wrenching suggestions--consider getting a divorce so that Samuel would qualify for Medicaid or stop taking their other children to the doctor altogether, even if they get sick, in order to save every penny for Samuel. That is right. Get a divorce or choose one child's health care needs over another's. Those are the suggestions our Nation offered to these caring, hardworking parents with a sick child?

They did everything in their power to save Samuel, but this fall, he passed away--and there are simply no words to ease his family's loss and pain.

I understand that, to many, circumstances like these may seem rare.

But I cannot tell you how many times, over the many years I have served as U.S. Senator and before that, Governor, that I heard families' desperate pleas for help because their medical needs could not be met.

It breaks my heart to think of what the Bords went through: not only the pain of watching their son fight a terrible disease but also the uncertainty of paying for his treatment when the coverage they counted on--and paid for--would run out. For anyone, especially a public figure, to aggressively question and attack a family's extraordinary personal anguish is deeply offensive and morally reprehensible.

No parents should have to spend the precious, fleeting time they have with their child, struggling to navigate a broken system, worrying how they are going to provide care. And no one, especially a child like Samuel, should be forced to walk such a dangerous tightrope between life and death because he or she lacks meaningful health insurance coverage, because of runaway costs, and caps, and exclusions. Yet that growing and deeply felt insecurity runs like a common thread through our entire health care system.

It is these stories--real stories of real people--and the unbelievable pain behind them and the battle of so many West Virginians that drive me to fight for comprehensive health reform every single day. We must listen to these stories, take them in, and never ever forget them.

Mr. President, I rise today, to celebrate a remarkable anniversary. This month, Volunteers in Service to America, better known as VISTA, celebrates the 45th anniversary of its founding. I am delighted to have Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi as my cosponsor. Public service is a bipartisan issue.

Forty-five years of bringing people together, lifting communities up, fighting poverty, making America stronger.

Forty-five years of fighting illiteracy, improving health services, reducing unemployment, increasing housing opportunities, reducing crime and recidivism, and expanding access to technology.

Forty-five years of leveraging resources and building capacity while providing thousands of Americans the opportunity to devote a year of full-time service living and working in low-income communities to help eradicate poverty.

VISTA did not invent these ideas; America has a long and rich history of public service. But when John F. Kennedy became president, these enduring values found new life. The person in his new administration who truly pursued that vision with all his might was President Kennedy's brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver. I will always know him as a hero and a friend.

He created a legacy of programs that promote social equality and human dignity--such as Legal Services, Job

Corps, and yes, VISTA. He was also the driving force behind the creation of the Peace Corps, which is how I originally came to know him.

When we first met in the early 1960s, I was still studying Chinese and interested in Southeast Asia affairs, but my life was quickly transformed after meeting Sargent Shriver.

He understood that one way to improve the world was to start with our own communities--and that if we unite together with a common mission of making our communities stronger, we can make the world a better place.

That was when I became a VISTA volunteer, shortly after the program began. I was lucky enough to come to West Virginia--and that was when my life changed forever. I often say that while I was technically born in New York, I was really born in West Virginia that year.

I truly believe that people are liberated when they get outside of themselves to help others.

When I first came to West Virginia, over 40 years ago, much of my work was with children who didn't have great opportunities in life. I was a VISTA member in Emmons, West Virginia, a small, coal mining community on the Boone-Kanawha County line.

It took me 6 months to finally be accepted by the community. I used to sit on the railroad tracks with the kids, throwing rocks and just talking with them. One day, one of the kids invited me into their home; then the others soon followed.

I had found what I wanted by working with this community--what my gut was telling me was important. I found out a few other things as well. There was not any organization in the community or a general effort to better the living conditions of the area.

Many of the children didn't even go to school because it was several miles to a paved road and the school board wouldn't send a bus to Emmons.

So, we fought for a school bus. We built a small library. We built a park. We started a baseball team. We didn't win a single game, but that wasn't what was important. It was opening up new possibilities for those kids.

My experience was just one of thousands. Since 1965, more than 175,000 Americans of all ages and walks of life have answered VISTA's call. I am proud to count myself as a member of that very special group.

So VISTA's anniversary is also my own. When I look back on VISTA beginnings, I see my own roots--the foundation on which I have built the rest of my life.

I got into politics shortly thereafter. I knew I could not be a VISTA forever, so I ran for the House of Delegates, knowing that was the way I could continue to make change.

I knew there were a thousand Emmons all across Appalachia. But everything that I have done in my career in public office has been grounded in the VISTA experience and in those kids and families who taught me so much about life.

Today, VISTA, which became part of AmeriCorps in 1993, continues to engage more than 7,000 members in helping more than 1,000 local organizations build sustainable anti-poverty programs every year.

So to them--to VISTA's members, past and present--to its numerous devoted host organizations and communities which give as much to the program as they receive--to my friend and mentor Sargent Shriver--to everyone who carries on VISTA's noble work every day--congratulations and thank you.

Now, watch out. We have only just begun: In these times of enormous economic uncertainty and challenge, our nation needs VISTA's, courage, commitment and service more than ever. Your impact is real. I know without a doubt, from the bottom my heart that for years to come, VISTA members will continue to transform our communities and our nation--for the better.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business until 3 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided between the two leaders or their designees.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.