September 29, 2010 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E1793 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS HONORING AID WORKERS KILLED contributions to our nation’s transportation tigate and conduct enforcement activities. The IN AFGHANISTAN safety each year. potential for the NTSB to obtain evidence vol- In 1967, Congress formed the NTSB as an untarily from the parties involved in an incident SPEECH OF independent agency to investigate civil avia- may limit the evidence available to the modal HON. BOB GOODLATTE tion accidents and significant transportation agencies in the pursuit of an enforcement ac- OF VIRGINIA accidents in the surface modes—railroad, tion. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES highway, marine, and pipeline—as well as as- We also remain concerned about the impact Tuesday, September 28, 2010 sisting victims of fatal accidents. of a provision prohibiting the disclosure of in- Since its creation in 1967, the NTSB has in- formation by party representatives during an Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I rise vestigated more than 132,000 aviation acci- investigation. While the intent of the provision today to honor the 10 courageous men and dents and more than 10,000 accidents in other is sincere, its impact may severely harm the women whose lives were brutally cut short in transportation modes. As a result of these in- party representative system, a system that has Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, on August 5th, vestigations, the Board has issued a total of served the Nation well over the years. 2010. These individuals devoted their lives to almost 13,000 safety recommendations and We would like to work with the Chairman helping others, and unfortunately, paid the ulti- over 82 percent of those have been adopted. and Rep. CARNAHAN to ensure the provision mate price. In making safety improvement recommenda- achieves its intended result without unintended In particular, I would like to recognize and tions based on world-class investigations, hun- consequences. honor Brian Carderelli, a constituent of mine dreds of NTSB professionals as well as the Finally, we would like to thank the Chairman from Harrisonburg, Virginia. Mr. Carderelli was Federal Aviation Administration and the avia- for trying to address the concerns raised at a recent graduate from James Madison Uni- tion industry have helped create the safest markup regarding the language in the bill on versity and was working to chronicle the work aviation system in the world. With its current interim recommendations. of the aid workers by recording them in photo- resources, NTSB continues to do a tremen- Unfortunately, despite these changes to the graphs and video. Unlike many new college dous service to this Nation and the traveling bill, we are still concerned that there may be graduates, Mr. Carderelli chose to pursue a public in all modes of transportation. some confusion with the issuance of both in- career in a challenging foreign environment, H.R. 4714, as amended, provides for a four- terim safety recommendations and final rec- where his dedication to improving the lives of year reauthorization—fiscal years 2011 ommendations. Again, we hope the Chairman others took priority. His work with the Inter- through 2014. will continue to work with us to address these national Assistance Mission and the Inter- Given the size of the federal deficit and the concerns as this bill moves forward. national School of Kabul are a testament to improvement in aviation safety resulting in While these are several issues that we that dedication. fewer aviation accidents requiring NTSB’s at- would like to continue working on in a bipar- Though the work of Mr. Carderelli and the tention, we are concerned with the level of tisan manner, we do support H.R. 4714 and International Assistance Mission team was funding authorized in this bill. look forward to working together to improve certainly valued by those they helped, unfortu- We believe that a better starting point for the bill. nately not everyone appreciated their efforts. the NTSB’s funding levels is $100.4 million, I thank the Chairman as well as my other For several years, the Taliban ruled Afghani- the amount requested in the fiscal year 2011 colleagues for their work on this bipartisan bill. stan with brutality and terror. Intolerance for President’s budget. The NTSB both supports other religions and ignorance of human rights and is comfortable with the President’s budget f was standard. While the situation for the citi- Request. zens of Afghanistan has improved since the Despite the state of the federal budget, as HARVARD PILGRIM CANCELS rule of the Taliban, their presence has not introduced, H.R. 4714 would have authorized MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLAN, been eliminated, and their brutal tactics per- a twenty percent increase over current levels SADLY A SIGN OF MORE TO sist. from 2010 to 2011. COME The work of Brian Carderelli and his nine Even a ten percent increase in authorization fellow workers is the work that will ultimately levels, as included in the amended version of HON. KENNY MARCHANT erode support for the Taliban and end that H.R. 4714, raises concerns due to the Federal chapter in the country’s history for good. Their OF TEXAS deficit. H.R. 4714, as amended, would author- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES efforts were selfless and humble, and are an ize a total of a 27 percent increase in funding inspiration to us all. These dedicated individ- over 4 years. Wednesday, September 29, 2010 uals will be missed, but the untold impact that We remain concerned with the authorization Mr. MARCHANT. Madam Speaker, sadly each one of them had on the lives that they levels contained in the bill and look forward to what we said would happen to the popular touched will certainly not be forgotten. continuing to work with our colleagues on this Medicare Advantage program when Congress f issue should H.R. 4714 go to conference. enacted Obamacare is starting to come true. NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION This bill also expands the NTSB’s authority Harvard Pilgrim recently notified 22,000 New SAFETY BOARD REAUTHORIZA- to investigate ‘‘incidents’’ in all modes of trans- England seniors that it would be canceling TION ACT OF 2010 portation. The bill directs the NTSB to define their Medicare Advantage plans at the end of the term ‘‘incidents’’ in a rulemaking. It is our the year. The decision to cancel their partici- SPEECH OF understanding that the Department of Trans- pation in the program was made because of HON. THOMAS E. PETRI portation will be given the opportunity to com- the newly enacted freeze in federal reimburse- ment on and influence the NTSB’s rulemaking. ments and their concerns regarding the long- OF WISCONSIN This bill would also require the formulation of term viability of Medicare Advantage. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with I am very afraid that Harvard Pilgrim is just Tuesday, September 28, 2010 each appropriate modal agency to describe the tip of the iceberg. Other Medicare Advan- Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, while there are and reach understanding on the roles and re- tage providers will probably reach the same several issues that we would like to continue sponsibilities of each party in the event of an decision to cancel their participation. Health working on as this bill moves forward, I want NTSB incident investigation. care reform was supposed to allow those indi- to voice my support for H.R. 4714, the ‘‘Na- We believe that the inclusion of ‘‘incidents’’ viduals who liked their health care insurance tional Transportation Safety Board Reauthor- in the definition of ‘‘accidents’’ will require to be able to keep it. Sadly these 22,000 New ization Act of 2010.’’ close oversight by Congress to ensure that England seniors are now searching for new The NTSB is a small, but important, part of there are no negative impacts on the ability of coverage in 2011. We must restore Medicare the federal government and makes critical each modal transportation agency to inves- Advantage for our seniors that depend on it. ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. VerDate Mar 15 2010 05:59 Oct 01, 2010 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0626 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A29SE8.038 E29SEPT2 tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with REMARKS E1794 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks September 29, 2010 REGARDING THE IMPORTANCE OF more importantly, Mr. Speaker, they save lives The Soldiers of 2nd Plt., B Co. returned fire NON-PROLIFERATION EFFORTS in Afghanistan. and moved their trucks forward out of the AND IRANIAN SANCTIONS The Franklin facility produces what is called ambush. From their new position, the Sol- ‘‘net armor’’ to protect a wide range of vehi- diers continued to fire, forcing the enemy to break off the attack and flee. What amazed cles that transport our soldiers on missions in HON. JAMES R. LANGEVIN the Soldiers, and the leaders, was the trucks Afghanistan. This net design was developed OF RHODE ISLAND had taken three direct hits by insurgent jointly by QNA, DARPA and ONR. Easy to RPGs and none had penetrated the trucks. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES use, these QNA nets provide many types of ‘‘The worst effect of the insurgents’ RPG Wednesday, September 29, 2010 vehicles with 360-degree protection, including fire was that I got my bell rung a bit,’’ said overhead, from rocket-propelled grenades U.S. Army Pfc. Joseph Sweat from Smith- Mr. LANGEVIN. Madam Speaker, I rise (RPGs). This ultra-lightweight, low-cost and ville, Tennessee.