Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. 3935.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chair, H.R. 3935, the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act, is a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration and the Nation's aviation safety and infrastructure program for the next 5 years.
I thank Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Rick Larsen, Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Garret Graves, and Aviation Subcommittee Ranking Member Steve Cohen for working with me to develop and introduce this legislation.
For over a century, the United States has led the world in aviation safety and innovation. Unfortunately, our gold standard status is being threatened by increasing global competition, by rapid developments in technology, a shortage of aviation professionals, and the inefficiencies and lack of leadership in the FAA.
H.R. 3935 is critical to keeping America a global leader in aviation. It is vital to our economy, to millions of American jobs, and to the 850 million passengers that depend on our National Airspace System every single year.
If Congress fails to act on a new long-term aviation measure by September 30, when the current FAA law expires, key aviation programs will cease to function.
H.R. 3935 provides the necessary long-term certainty that is demanded by both the civil aviation system and the aviation community to guarantee its safety and prosperity for decades to come.
This bill not only improves FAA's efficiency through reasonable organizational changes but makes the agency more agile while simultaneously prioritizing safety each step of the way.
The FAA is simply too slow in everything it does, from rulemaking to aircraft registrations and from certifications to just simple paperwork.
This bill ensures robust investment in infrastructure for airports of all sizes, including the thousands of smaller and general aviation airports that make up the bulk of our aviation system.
I am proud to say our bill includes the first ever General Aviation title in the FAA reauthorization bill. GA is the foundation to our civil aviation system. It is where many of our pilots, mechanics, and other aviation professionals begin their careers, gaining valuable experience along their journey in the aviation industry.
This bill recognizes the importance of GA and protects the freedom to fly for every American.
As previously mentioned, growing shortages across the aerospace workforce are a true threat to the future of American aviation.
H.R. 3935 addresses workforce challenges head-on by removing barriers to entry for individuals and veterans interested in pursuing careers in aviation, such as through the CAREER Program.
Bottom line, our bill encourages growth in the aviation workforce through meaningful reforms, the most meaningful in decades.
What is more, H.R. 3935 maintains American leadership when it comes to the development and integration of new and emerging technologies into the airspace, such as drones and Advanced Air Mobility.
Specifically, this bill requires the FAA to stop endless testing and pilot programs that go nowhere to integrate innovation, such as drones and AAM into the National Airspace System.
As air travel recovers from the COVID pandemic, renewed growth in air travel has come with some difficulties, obviously, for the traveling public. Our bipartisan bill includes an entire title dedicated to improving the flying experience for the traveling public, an issue that each of our offices hear about from constituents probably on a daily basis.
Finally, and most importantly, the bill recognizes that while our aviation system is safe, we must continue to raise the bar for safety. As such, this bill includes a number of safety-focused provisions to ensure that America continues to be the world's gold standard in aviation safety.
One of the most important safety features of this bill is a title for 5-year reauthorization of the National Transportation Safety Board, the NTSB. It is this independent Federal agency that investigates all civil aviation accidents and transportation accidents throughout this sector.
I believe the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act is one of the most important pieces of legislation this body is going to consider in the 118th Congress.
This bill is vital to America's airport infrastructure, to our economy, and to the future of American leadership in aviation.
Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time. House of Representatives, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Washington, DC, July 6, 2023. Hon. Sam Graves, Chairman, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: I am writing concerning H.R. 3935, the ``Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act,'' which was introduced on June 9, 2023.
H.R. 3935 contains provisions within the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology's Rule X jurisdiction. As a result of your having consulted with the Committee and to expedite this bill for floor consideration, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology will forego action on the bill. This is done based on our mutual understanding that doing so will in no way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology nor is it a waiver of any future jurisdictional claim over subject matter contained in this bill or in similar legislation.
I would appreciate your response to this letter confirming this understanding and would request that you include a copy of this letter and your response in the committee report and in the Congressional Record during the floor consideration of this bill. Finally, I ask that you support the appointment of Science Committee conferees during any House-Senate conference convened on this legislation. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Sincerely, Frank D. Lucas, Chairman. ____ House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Washington, DC, July 7, 2023. Hon. Frank D. Lucas, Chairman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Lucas: I write to you concerning H.R. 3935, the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act, which was introduced on June 9, 2023, and solely referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
I appreciate you agreeing to withdraw your request for a sequential referral of H.R. 3935, so that the bill may be considered expeditiously. I acknowledge that forgoing your referral claim now does not waive the right to jurisdictional claims in the future on subject matter contained in this bill or similar legislation. Further, I will appropriately consult and involve the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology as the bill moves forward on issues that fall within your Rule X jurisdiction. In addition, should a conference on the bill be necessary, I would support your request to have the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology represented on the conference committee.
Finally, I will include a copy of our letter exchange in the Committee Report and the Congressional Record when the bill is considered on the House floor.
Thank you again for your cooperation. Sincerely, Sam Graves, Chairman, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. ____ House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Washington, DC, July 7, 2023. Hon. Frank D. Lucas, Chairman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Lucas: I write to you concerning H.R. 3559, the FAA Research and Development Act of 2023. The bill was referred primarily to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, with an additional referral to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Specifically, provisions of H.R. 3559 fall within the Rule X jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
I recognize and appreciate your desire to bring this legislation before the House of Representatives in an expeditious manner, and accordingly, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will forgo action on the bill. However, this is conditional on our mutual understanding that doing so will not prejudice the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure with respect to the appointment of conferees or to any future jurisdictional claim over the subject matter contained within the bill or similar legislation that falls under the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's Rule X jurisdiction. Further, should a conference on the bill be necessary, I appreciate your agreement to support my request to have the Committee represented on the conference committee.
Finally, I would ask that a copy of this letter and your response acknowledging our jurisdictional interest in the bill be included in the Committee Report and Congressional Record during consideration of H.R. 3559 on the House floor. Sincerely, Sam Graves, Chairman, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. ____ House of Representatives, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Washington, DC, July 10, 2023. Hon. Sam Graves, Chairman, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: Thank you for your letter regarding H.R. 3559. the ``FAA Research and Development Act of 2023,'' which was referred initially to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and sequentially to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
I appreciate your willingness to work cooperatively on this bill. I recognize that the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has a valid jurisdictional interest in certain provisions of H.R. 3559, and that the Committee's jurisdiction should not be adversely affected by your decision to forego formal consideration of H.R. 3559. As you have requested, I will support your request for an appropriate appointment of outside conferees from your committee in the event of a House-Senate conference on this or similar legislation should such a conference be convened.
Finally, I will include a copy of your letter and this response in the Committee Report and in the Congressional Record during the floor consideration of this bill. Thank you again for your cooperation. Sincerely, Frank D. Lucas, Chairman.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chair, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Graves), the chair of the Subcommittee on Aviation.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas), the chairman of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. D'Esposito).
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Molinaro).
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bergman).
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins).
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Chairman, it has been made clear through debate that H.R. 3935 is a must-pass bill that provides a path for America's future success, growth, and leadership in civil aviation.
This strong bipartisan, forward-looking legislation is going to improve efficiency and operations at the FAA. It is going to strengthen America's foundational general aviation sector, and it is going to grow the aviation workforce.
It is going to invest in airport infrastructure across the country. It is going to encourage domestic innovation in aviation, enhance the passenger experience, and uphold America's gold standard in aviation safety.
Before I yield back, Mr. Chair, I would like to recognize the work of staff on both sides of the aisle in the development of this legislation. I appreciate the many long days, weeks, and weekends, for that matter, that staff, including the folks in the legislative counsel's office, have put into this effort. I think it shows in the quality of the legislation that we have before us.
On the Republican Subcommittee on Aviation, I thank staff director Hunter Presti, Laney Copeland, Julie Devine, Andrew Giacini, Christopher Senn, and Will Moore.
On the Republican full committee staff, I thank staff director Jack Ruddy, Michael Falencki, Corey Cooke, Meghan Holland, Abby Wenk, Leslie Parker, Chris Divine, Tyler Micheletti, Wills MacKay, Payton Palazzolo, Justin Harclerode, Jake Murphy, and Kerry Goldberg.
I also thank Maggie Aryea of subcommittee chairman Garret Graves' staff.
On the Democratic staff, I thank committee staff director Kathy Dedrick, Helena Zyblikewycz--I am sorry; I apologize--Stanton Johnson, aviation staff director Brian Bell, Alexandra Menardy, Adam Weiss, and again, all the staff who worked on this complex and critical legislation.
Mr. Chair, I urge support of the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in the American Aviation Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of the Graves-Larsen amendment. This amendment makes several technical conforming and clarifying changes throughout the underlying bill.
Furthermore, the amendment includes provisions that were the result of bipartisan negotiations on several policy issues.
These provisions include additional requirements for FAA to further coordinate the safe integration of new entrants into the National Airspace System, adding pilot apprenticeship, internship, or scholarship programs or veteran career transition nonprofits as an eligible grant recipient under the aviation workforce development program, protections on voluntary safety information disclosures, and several other provisions that reflect the bipartisan work with our colleagues across the aisle.
Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I would urge my colleagues to support this important amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chair, pursuant to House Resolution 597, I offer amendments en bloc.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of en bloc No. 1, containing 18 amendments from my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. This en bloc contains a number of important amendments that address issues of national importance as well as issues that are impacting individual districts.
This package allows airports to use their Federal dollars to better understand the communities which they serve and the length people travel in order to take a flight.
It will instruct the FAA to test and evaluate means by which general and business aviation can utilize technology to receive flight clearances as opposed to using antiquated systems.
It also instructs the FAA to stand up a multidisciplinary task force to review the impact that human factors have on aviation safety and to make related recommendations.
In addition, this package instructs the Government Accountability Office to consult with airports to review emergency response plans and assess electrical resiliency for the safe operations of an airport during emergency scenarios.
This en bloc includes a number of provisions from members of the T&I Committee that were raised at markup but that we didn't have time to resolve. I am very glad that we were able to work together to resolve the few issues and support changes on a bipartisan basis.
Mr. Chair, I urge support of this bipartisan en bloc package and reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Yakym).
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this en bloc amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chair, pursuant to House Resolution 597, I offer amendments en bloc.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of en bloc No. 2, containing 20 amendments from my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. This en bloc reflects the bipartisan work of our committee, which has done what we have done to address Members' priorities.
This includes bipartisan agreements on several amendments that we considered during our markup, including requiring the FAA to develop training materials to improve safety for airport ramp workers, and it requires the GAO to conduct a study on air cargo operations in Puerto Rico.
Furthermore, the en bloc package includes amendments to ensure the Secretary responds to essential air service contracts in a timely manner, allowing the FAA to provide weather observer training to airport personnel and ensures that United States passengers on foreign air carriers are protected in the same manner as they would be on United States air carriers by avoiding Russian airspace.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I don't have any speakers, so I am prepared to close. I urge my colleagues to support these amendments en bloc, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chair, pursuant to House Resolution 597, I offer amendments en bloc.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this en bloc, which contains 17 amendments to H.R. 3935 offered by my colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
This en bloc package includes amendments that seek to require the Government Accountability Office to study the pilot shortage, require community feedback regarding aircraft noise matters, improve emergency medical kits on board aircraft, require an audit of recent flight cancellations that continue to plague passengers and travelers, as well as many more things in this en bloc.
I urge support of this en bloc package and encourage a ``yes'' vote by all Members.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Rose).
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chair, I have no further speakers at this time.
Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this en bloc amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to amendment No. 10 offered by Mr. Langworthy.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, it is hard to even know where to begin. The sad thing about it is that very few people have actually read the report on what happened to Flight 3407.
Starting out, I have to say that I don't question anybody's motives on whether they oppose or support, or whatever the case may be. The sad thing about it is the wrong questions are being asked.
Now, what we are trying to do does not in any way change or weaken the 1,500-hour rule. What we are trying to say is that simulator time-- which you can simulate anything--should be used in training pilots.
I am an ATP, and I will kind of explain how that process works. You get your private pilot certificate, and then you move on to your commercial certificate. After an instrument rating, you get the single- engine commercial rating, the multiengine commercial rating, and then you move on to the ATP. It stands for airline transport pilot, and I have that rating. I have flown all the profiles that anybody would have to go through to achieve an ATP.
What is interesting in this whole process is that if you take a look at the recommendations that came out of the investigation when it comes to Flight 3407, the Buffalo accident, you have to wonder--again, this is where the wrong questions are being asked.
The pilot had 3,379 total hours before the accident. This pilot failed six checkrides, and not just checkrides that were recurrent. He failed his initial instrument checkride. He failed his commercial single-engine checkride. He failed his commercial multiengine checkride. He failed at the Gulfstream Academy when he was checking out in Gulfstreams. He failed his checkride in the Gulfstream. He failed his ATP checkride and had to do remedial training. Then, ultimately, when he was upgraded to the plane that was in the accident, he failed his sixth checkride.
He didn't fail some of his checkrides when he advanced from one rating to the next. He failed all of them and had to go to remedial training.
I ask whether you would get on an airline or a flight or put your family on a flight if you knew that the captain had failed all six checkrides as he advanced through his process. No, you wouldn't, not in a minute. Would you get on a flight if it was recommended that the pilot have remedial training?
Here we are with a simulator. You can simulate anything. I remember one of my simulator profiles, one of my simulator flights. We were coming in. I was doing an approach and lost my autopilot as a result, so I had to hand-fly the approach--zero visibility, 200-foot ceiling, which is at the minimum.
As I am on approach, I lose sight of the runway because the ceiling comes down. I have to execute a go-around to reestablish my approach. This is all being done in the simulator.
As I am executing my go-around, I lose an engine. I have to execute a go-around with one engine to minimums, and I have to get it on the ground in zero-zero visibility.
You can't simulate that in a real airplane. You can't simulate any of this, any emergency, in a real airplane.
First of all, in an airliner, that means the airplane is going to have to be taken down because it is going to have to be checked. If you do stalls in a full-blown airliner, you are going to have to take that aircraft down to have the airframe inspected because of the stress that is put on it.
Now, what I do want to point out is ALPA, the airline association that represented the pilots, I got on their website and found it fascinating. One of the things that they like to point out--I am glad they were part of the board that was the ARAC. That is the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee, which is who we established to make recommendations on exactly how much simulator time we should add. They co-chaired the ARAC when it came to investigating this accident.
Do you know one of the things that they tout, one of the things that they are very proud of on their website that they push? When it comes to one of the recommendations made by the NTSB, additional training on upset prevention and recovery, a new certification training program course requirement. These new simulator-based training requirements also include performing manual controlled maneuvers, procedures, slow flight--all these things. They actually endorsed more simulator training because you can simulate anything.
Today's simulators, by the way, are far and above what they were just 10 years ago.
I also have the testimony that the NTSB gave in the Senate hearing. It is unfortunate, Mr. Chairman, because the testimony in the Senate hearing says it all.
Mr. Chairman, may I inquire how much time I have remaining.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues not to support this amendment.
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