Unanimous Consent Requests--H.R. 2553

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, we are facing a deadline tonight. At midnight, the current reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration expires. That expiration will mean that no funds can be collected or paid out of the airport and airway trust fund starting tomorrow, July 23. The trust fund provides the primary source of funding for the Federal Aviation Administration through excise taxes imposed on airline tickets, aviation fuel, and air cargo shipments.

We asked the Federal Aviation Administration and the Secretary of Transportation what would happen if the extension is not passed today in the Senate, and he said as follows: There will be a partial shutdown of Federal Aviation Administration operations. Approximately 4,000 nonessential FAA staff will be furloughed. Mr. President, 143 of these employees, incidentally, work in my State, mostly in Chicago.

The Airport Improvement Program, which provides construction project grants to airports, will be shut down and unable to obligate grants for projects. Projects already obligated will be able to continue--for example, the O'Hare Airport, Quad City's runways in Illinois--but obligating funds for new projects will be suspended. If the extension continues for a period of time, there may be reimbursement issues with projects that are underway.

There is an unresolved question as to whether this failure to extend the FAA authorization will have an impact on the fees we collect, the aviation taxes and fees we collect from airlines for their operations. It is not clear yet whether we will lose that revenue or whether we can capture it if we reach an agreement at a later time.

Majority Leader Reid and Chairman Jay Rockefeller have told House leaders that a shutdown is likely unless a clean extension can be passed.

The Senate is hotlining a clean extension today, which I will go to next. There are no objections to this clean extension on the Democratic side, but we do expect an objection from the Republican side.

I want to tell you the request I make for this extension, this clean extension, is in the name of chairman Jay Rockefeller from your State of West Virginia. This is a sad commentary on the political state of affairs in Congress today. This is the 21st extension of this authorization. How could we possibly explain to America that we have been unable so many times to extend this authorization for something so critical to our commerce and our economy? But now we are facing the most serious challenge we ever had when it comes to this extension, and that is the expiration of it this evening. It will have a direct impact on the people who work for the FAA and a direct impact on their operations.

Now, I might add, very quickly, to give peace of mind to people, this will not have an impact on air traffic control or the safety of our airlines. Not at all. But the orderly operation of the FAA is at risk.

What is this all about? It is a battle over a program called Essential Air Service. Essential Air Service, if I am not mistaken, was initiated by your predecessor, Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia. At the time of deregulation of airlines a decision was made that the smaller communities across America needed a helping hand to maintain air service. We have it in Illinois. Over the years we have reconsidered it, amended it, changed it. It is a shadow of what it started out to be. It is a very small program by standards of the original program.

There is a battle going on between the House and the Senate now, between Republicans in the House and the Democratic leadership in the Senate, about the future of this program. I just want to say in all fairness and all honesty, for goodness' sake, to both sides, save that battle for another day. Let us not jeopardize the operations of the Federal Aviation Administration because of a squabble over an important but relatively small program, and that is what is going to happen. What we are going to hear after I make this request is an objection on the Republican side to extending this authorization of the Aviation Administration with a clean extension, making no statement about changing policy. It just says don't jeopardize the operations of the FAA. Let's keep them in business. Let's fight this out next week or the week after on the Essential Air Service issue, but let's move forward and let the FAA do its business with a clean bill that does not take sides over who is right and who is wrong on Essential Air Service.

What I am offering is neutrality, political neutrality, a clean extension, but I am afraid what I will get back is an insistence if you don't take the House Republican proposal, we will shut it down. I don't think that is a good choice for America. Let us, as politicians, do our battles. Let's never do them at the expense of ordinary people across America who are trying to do good work to improve our airports and make sure we have the safest runways and safest air operations in the world. That should be our highest priority.

So I am going to make this request for a clean extension without getting into this political squabble at all. I hope the Republicans will not object. I hope we can extend this authorization for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 109, H.R. 2553, that a Rockefeller-Hutchison substitute amendment which is at the desk be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

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