Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2016--Continued

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise to talk about the FAA reauthorization we are going to be voting on, and I thank Senator Moran for being here and talking about aviation in general and aviation manufacturing. He comes from a strong aviation manufacturing State, so I certainly support many of the things he said.

I certainly support making sure we continue to streamline our process, and it is one of the things left out of this legislation. So we need to do more on that effort. I certainly don't want people demonizing any aspect of aviation because they are all aviation jobs. People don't realize how many aviation jobs we have in the United States and the fact that we are still the top when it comes to aviation manufacturing jobs. So it shouldn't be a sector we relent on. We have a lot of work to do.

I would add to that list, though, the passage of the Export-Import Bank Board members so the Export-Import Bank can be functioning so we can actually approve aviation sales when we get them done, and this is for smaller aircraft or larger aircraft. It doesn't matter.

If we build the best product, we ought to be able to sell the best product around the globe. And we are still stuck on getting that nominee out of committee because of someone holding it up, and the fact that they are holding it up means we will go many more months before completing airplane sales.

I want to talk about some other provisions we are passing today. I am so proud to have worked with the chairman of the committee, whom I just saw pass here on the floor--I am sure he is going to speak in a moment--and the ranking member on very important aspects of aviation security.

First, we are doubling the number of terrorist-deterrent teams at U.S. airports and ground transportation. As we can see, these TSA teams are people who are very involved in making sure we handle security at our airports. This is a very important aspect of this legislation because, as we saw with the tragic events in Brussels and Istanbul, terrorists can attack us not just on airplanes or inside the security perimeter but outside security as well. So I think this legislation, thanks to Chairman Thune and Ranking Member Nelson, is giving us the workforce we need to enhance the use of bomb-sniffing dogs, strengthen perimeter security, expand training, respond to active shooter attacks, and make sure the outer limits of our airports are secure.

I am proud that many of these provisions we passed out of the Commerce Committee are contained in this legislation and that it is doubling the number of these TSA VIPR teams that conduct controls and make sure our passengers are secure. These teams consist of a combination of law enforcement, inspectors, explosive specialists, and, as I mentioned, bomb-sniffing dogs.

What is so important about those dogs is that they are one of our best deterrents, picking up explosive material and tracking down people, and that is what we need to have at our airports. I again thank Chairman Thune and Ranking Member Nelson for putting this in. Combining these law enforcement and bomb-detecting canine capabilities provides another layer of security at our airports. We have seen how the use of dogs helps us expedite our security lanes at SeaTac--now the busiest airport in the country as far as increase in volume--and we need to have more of these dogs outside on the perimeter as well. This will give us a visible deterrent and help us in protecting the much needed continuation of air transportation travel.

I also want to mention a couple of other things that are in this legislation--the checkpoint of the future and making sure we are streamlining our security checkpoints. We have been proud to work with the Pacific Northwest Lab in Richland, WA, where critical work is underway in detection technologies. And this legislation contains the extension of an important aviation safety item. There are 136 airports across the country that have automated weather equipment, but they need weather observers to make these around-the-clock observations. So at Spokane International Airport, this is a vital tool, and I was so glad to work with Senator Moran and others in keeping this on.

Finally, we address in this extension a critical upcoming shortage of air traffic controllers by making improvements to the FAA's hiring process and creating a path forward for graduates like those at the Green River Community College in Washington State.

I thank Chairman Thune and Ranking Member Nelson for these inclusions in their work. We obviously have much more work to do to maintain our aviation infrastructure, and I look forward to getting those done in the very near future.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source