Ground-Based Air Traffic Management

Floor Speech

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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Madam Speaker, I share the concerns of my friend from Kansas regarding the need to upgrade the Nation's ground- based aviation infrastructure in a much timelier fashion. Aviation is a part of the backbone of the U.S. economy and keeping all aspects of the system up to date is essential to continued growth and quality of life for all Americans. The backlog of ground-based navigation aids that are currently operating past their useful life is real. In fact, at the current slow pace of modernization, some of these systems will be more than 100 years old by the time they are replaced.

As Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation, I am committed to addressing this issue before it becomes a crisis for the aviation system. The funding in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will give the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the tools it needs to make significant improvements in the safety and reliability of critical ground-based infrastructure by acquiring, installing, and commissioning new instrument landing systems; distance measuring equipment; tactical air navigation equipment; runway lighting systems; and very high frequency omni-range equipment. Further, this funding supports the FAA's administrative expenses, including salaries, giving the agency the flexibility to bolster its workforce and implement innovative solutions to accelerate the modernization of these systems.

Ensuring the safety and reliability of the Nation's ground-based aviation infrastructure is a priority of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and I am committed to working with Representative Davids on this issue as we move forward, including oversight on the U.S. Department of Transportation spend plan.

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