FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, I am here to speak on the legislation that is pending before us. We all know this country faces big challenges. We face a declining infrastructure that is critical to our business. We need safe, reliable transportation if we are going to keep the flow of commerce moving. But as President Obama mentioned in his State of the Union Address, when American engineers took a look at our transportation infrastructure, they gave us a ``D'' grade. That is not quite failing, but it is certainly not very good.

Our declining infrastructure threatens not only our safety but also our global economic competitiveness. America is falling behind economic competitors such as Europe and China which are making significantly more robust investments in their infrastructure. In the United States, we currently spend about 2 percent of our GDP on infrastructure. That is a 50-percent decline since 1960. China and Europe, on the other hand, spend close to 9 percent for China and 5 percent for Europe of their GDP respectively on infrastructure. We need to make the kind of smart investments that will help keep America competitive.

That is why I am very glad we are moving forward with this bipartisan FAA reauthorization bill. It has been almost 4 years since Congress passed an FAA bill, and in that time our economic competitors have continued to invest in their 21st century aviation systems.

Airports are critical to commerce and economic activity in all of our States. The major airport in my home State of New Hampshire, Manchester Airport, generates over $1.2 billion in economic activity every year. Much of that comes from out-of-State residents and foreign travelers. Without that airport, without that air infrastructure, we would not be able to generate that kind of economic activity. The aviation industry in New Hampshire and across the country also provides good jobs for pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, air travel controllers, and so many others. Manchester Airport alone provides over 1,900 jobs.

The FAA legislation that is now before us will accomplish the long overdue task of upgrading one critical component of our aviation infrastructure, the air traffic control system. It will upgrade the system to an efficient 21st-century system called NextGen.

I do not think very many people realize that when they get into an airplane, the pilots and the air traffic controllers are using 20th-century technology to navigate the skies. I was just at a meeting of the High Tech Council in New Hampshire and having this conversation with them. They did not realize that that is the kind of aviation system we use to fly our planes.

So although our cell phones and cars have GPS systems, our multimillion-dollar airplanes use World War II era radar systems. The system we have now is inefficient. It wastes the time and money of everyone involved in the aviation industry. As Chairman Rockefeller has pointed out so many times, even Mongolia has a more advanced air traffic control system than we do.

That is unacceptable.

Not surprisingly, our outdated system is at capacity. According to the FAA, delays resulting from the constraints on the system cost the United States over $9 billion every year. That number is going to continue to rise if we do nothing.

We need to take action. The FAA forecasts that the aviation system will carry more than 1 billion airline passengers annually by 2023. We cannot afford to let such an important part of our 21st-century economy languish with 20th-century technology.

By investing in NextGen, our air traffic controllers will finally have the 21st-century technologies they need to make our system more efficient. Let me give an example of the progress NextGen would make. Right now, air traffic controllers give all of their commands to pilots over the radio. They tell them when and where they will be landing. Now, because all of the pilots in the area are listening, there is the potential for miscommunication sometimes. Our pilots and controllers are very professional. They do their jobs well. But sometimes people talk over each other and pilots hear the wrong information. This system we currently have wastes time, and it puts the flying public in jeopardy. Once NextGen is in place, controllers will be able to type a command and send it directly to the plane. To all of us who use e-mail, this sounds pretty basic, but it is an example of the kinds of upgrades that are needed to make our aviation system more efficient and safer.

By funding NextGen, this bill will bring our air traffic control system into the 21st century. NextGen will reduce congestion by allowing planes to fly more direct routes, it will conserve energy, and it will make flying safer for everyone.

Of course, some flight delays are unavoidable. We cannot control the weather, as we all know. But when delays cannot be avoided, we can make sure airlines are treating their customers fairly. That is another critical component of this legislation. That is why this bill includes the passengers' bill of rights.

I cosponsored the passengers' bill of rights after a businesswoman from Bedford, NH--a woman named Jennifer Shirkani--told me her stories of being stuck on tarmacs for hours without access to food or water. These experiences were so frustrating to Jennifer that she became a leader in the movement to get this legislation passed. Unfortunately, her stories have been all too common in recent years. According to the Department of Transportation, hundreds of thousands of passengers have been stuck on a tarmac for more than 3 hours. This bill will codify protections put in place last year by the Department of Transportation so we will not go back to the days when airlines left travelers on the tarmac.

I wish to commend Chairman Rockefeller and Ranking Member Hutchison for producing a strong bill, and I look forward to being able to support this legislation with all of my colleagues and pass it very soon so we can upgrade our transportation system to compete with the rest of the world.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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