Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, on the committee, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, we like to pride ourselves on being boring. We like to let folks know if they want excitement in Congress, there are other committees to attend or go to. The T&I Committee is not one of those. We like to think that we are focused on the transportation and infrastructure of the United States and on the things that we need to do to ensure its safety and building it out.
I am confused by this amendment, that it exists at all, because what the amendment is doing is taking out a word, ``social,'' that the proponent is defining as something that is not in any way defined by the committee in the way he is defining it.
Think about what we are talking about when we talk about the BEYOND program and what we would like to do beyond just looking at economic factors of drones. We want to look at how medical supplies can be delivered to rural areas. That is not an economic factor to look at. That is a social factor to look at, the ability to get healthcare to rural areas. The ability to assist law enforcement with things like search and rescue, that is not an economic factor. It is a social factor to ensure safer communities.
Assisting wildfire responders as they fight wildfires, that is not an economic factor. That is a social issue to protect wildfire responders as well as the communities that are impacted by wildfires.
I am just really confused. If this amendment had been in our committee and had been discussed, we would have never brought this up because it just doesn't live between our ears on the committee--this debate about the problem that people have with social factors. We would have realized these social factors are really about the things that I am talking about here, like how do we use the BEYOND program to ensure that we can use drones or uncrewed aerial systems, unmanned aerial systems, in order to provide factors that are beyond just the economic factors, how do they help the economy grow? They have uses beyond just helping the economy grow. The BEYOND program should be used to help us look at those issues.
I would just ask folks to please let us do a bill that is actually trying to move aviation forward instead of bogging us down in some of these debates that frankly are better left, perhaps, in other committees but not in the T&I Committee.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Beyer).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Bost).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wittman).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, may I inquire how much time I have remaining.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.
Mr. Chair, this is not only an issue that evokes passion among Members, it is also very bipartisan. It is going to be bipartisan in opposition and bipartisan in support.
We expected that on the committee, which is why we had asked for the Rules Committee to put something in order on the floor so we could have this debate and let the will of the House take its course.
I would just note, though, in my informal survey of Members on my side of the aisle, the seven slot pairs have been committed only 36 times already.
The point is: There is a lot of overpromising taking place about which cities are going to be served by this deal.
The problem with that is that one is too many and 100 is not enough, but the supply of runway at DCA is so small that it can't handle what it is taking now much less what increased demand will bring to it.
Mr. Chair, it is a difficult issue. Members are going to be voting for and against on both sides, and I look forward to that vote.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, this amendment would strike the requirement that the FAA administrator consider expanding the CLEEN Program, which stands for continuous lower energy, emission, and noise program, to new entrants.
Now, I want to be clear. It doesn't necessarily mean new technologies or different kinds of technologies as much as it can also mean new companies that are looking to do the same thing but do it better. To ensure that the FAA administrator is not continually approving grants to existing companies that are already in the program who may not be succeeding, we want to be sure the FAA administrator is looking beyond the current slate of companies that are applying.
In addition to that, of course, there are new entrants in the airspace. There is more projected use of even electronic aircraft. In the future, hydrogen is being looked at as a fuel for aviation--not tomorrow and maybe not in 5 years, but certainly within the next 10 to 15 years.
Doing some of the early work in this field is very important, so the FAA administrator needs the authority and the freedom to do just that.
This amendment is pulling back on some of the innovation that we, frankly, can only look to the government to do, so that it builds a foundation for the private sector to build upon and sometimes in this industry to take off as well.
Mr. Chair, so I would ask Members to oppose this amendment. Let the administrator continue to administer the CLEEN Program but send a clear message that they need to be looking beyond the regular sort of entrants that they are getting into this program and look to the future of aviation when they look at the CLEEN Program.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, there is a race on. There is a race on aviation, a race to implement and use new fuels that are more efficient and that are also cleaner. There is a race on, and other countries and regions of the world are investing in that race, putting their companies at a competitive advantage over the U.S.-based companies. The CLEEN Program is one of our tools to participate in that race.
The CLEEN Program also helps us invest in fuel efficiency. The fuel efficiency of aviation has helped reduce aviation fuel burn in this country.
There is a direct relationship between the goodness of the taxpayer investment in the CLEEN Program to the new fuel-efficient airplanes that we see being used today and the fuel-efficient engines that we see being used today.
The next version of that, the next step of that race is sustainable aviation fuel. It is in electric propulsion, and in the future it is hydrogen propulsion. There is quite a bit of private-sector investment going on in the use of hydrogen as a fuel to move things, including airplanes.
Now, we are not quite there yet in this country in the private sector, but no one else is either. I want to win that race, and part of winning that race is ensuring that the Federal Government is a partner in winning that race. Winning that race in aviation is ensuring that FAA has tools like CLEEN to be sure that it is a partner with airlines, with entrepreneurs, and with innovators who want us to participate in this race.
Mr. Chair, I ask Members to oppose this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chairman, if going to the Moon in 1969 was viable at all, the private sector would have done it. It didn't. We did it. America did it, and America did it with investment.
I am not making a wild claim like going to the Moon is exactly this kind of race that we are faced with, but there is a clear role for the Federal Government to play in a partnership with innovators and entrepreneurs to ensure that the next generation of innovation and aviation happens in the United States and not elsewhere.
I ask folks to support the CLEEN program, to not limit its use, and to oppose this amendment.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source