E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 106 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 145 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1999 No. 133 Senate The Senate met at 9:30 a.m. and was SCHEDULE If Congress does not reauthorize the called to order by the President pro Mr. MCCAIN. Mr. President, today Airport Improvement Program (AIP), tempore [Mr. THURMOND]. the Senate will resume consideration the Federal Aviation Administration of the pending amendments to the FAA (FAA) will be prohibited from issuing PRAYER bill. Senators should be aware that much needed grants to airports in every state, regardless of whether or The Chaplain, Dr. Lloyd John rollcall votes are possible today prior not funds have been appropriated. We Ogilvie, offered the following prayer: to the 12:30 recess in an attempt to have now entered fiscal year 2000, and Lord of all life, our prayer is like complete action on the bill by the end we cannot put off reauthorization of breathing. We breathe in Your Spirit of the day. As a reminder, first-degree the AIP. The program lapsed as of last and breathe out praise to You. Help us amendments to the bill must be filed to take a deep breath of Your love, Friday. Every day that goes by without by 10 a.m. today. As a further re- an AIP authorization is another day peace, and joy so that we will be re- minder, debate on three judicial nomi- freshed and ready for the day. that important projects cannot move nations took place last night and by ahead. Throughout the day, if we grow weary, previous consent there will be three If we fail to reauthorize this pro- give us a runner's second wind of re- stacked votes on those nominations at gram, we may do significant harm to newed strength. What oxygen is to the 2:15 p.m. today. Following the comple- the transportation infrastructure of lungs, Your Spirit is to our souls. tion of the FAA bill, the Senate will re- our country. AIP grants play a critical Grant the Senators the rhythm of re- sume consideration of the Labor-HHS part of airport development. Without ceiving Your Spirit and leading with appropriations bill. these grants, important safety, secu- supernatural wisdom. In this quiet mo- I thank my colleagues for their at- rity, and capacity projects will be put ment, we join with them in asking You tention. at risk throughout the country. The to match the inflow of Your power with f types of safety projects that airports the outflow of energy for the pressures use AIP grants to fund include instru- of the day. So much depends on in- AIR TRANSPORTATION ment landing systems, runway light- spired leadership from the Senators at IMPROVEMENT ACT ing, and extensions of runway safety this strategic time. Grant each one The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under areas. what he or she needs to serve coura- the previous order, the Senate will re- But the bill does more than provide geously today. Thank You for a great sume consideration of the pending money. It also takes specific, proactive day lived for Your glory. You are our steps to improve aviation safety. For amendments to the FAA bill. Lord and Savior. Amen. example, S. 82 would require that cargo Pending: aircraft be equipped with instruments f Gorton Amendment No. 1892, to consoli- that warn of impending midair colli- date and revise provisions relating to slot rules for certain airports. sions. Passenger aircraft are already PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Gorton (for Rockefeller/Gorton) Amend- equipped with collision avoidance equipment, which gives pilots ample The Honorable GEORGE ment No. 1893, to improve the efficiency of time to make evasive maneuvers. The VOINOVICH, a Senator from the State the air traffic control system. Baucus Amendment No. 1898, to require the need for these devices was highlighted of Ohio, led the Pledge of Allegiance, reporting of the reasons for delays or can- a few months ago by a near-collision as follows: cellations in air flights. between two cargo aircraft over Kan- I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the Mr. MCCAIN. Mr. President, I am sas. Unfortunately, that was not an United States of America, and to the Repub- sorry that I was not here yesterday isolated incident. lic for which it stands, one nation under God, when the debate began. Nevertheless, I On the aviation safety front, the bill indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. rise in support of S. 82, the Air Trans- also: provides explicit AIP funding eli- f portation Improvement Act. As every- gibility for the installation of inte- one should be aware, this is ``must- grated inpavement lighting systems, pass'' legislation that includes numer- and other runway incursion prevention RECOGNITION OF THE ACTING ous provisions to maintain and im- devices, requires more types of fixed- MAJORITY LEADER prove the safety, security and capacity wing aircraft in air commerce to be The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. of our nation's airports and airways. equipped with emergency locator VOINOVICH). The Senator from Arizona Furthermore, this bill would make transmitters by 2002, provides broader is recognized. great strides in enhancing competition authority to the FAA to determine Mr. MCCAIN. I thank the Chair. in the airline industry. what circumstances warrant a criminal · This ``bullet'' symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S11891 . S11892 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð SENATE October 5, 1999 history record check for persons per- including data captured by flight data low. Airfares at these airports continue forming security screening of pas- recorders. Information about errors is to be consistently higher than other sengers and cargo, reauthorizes the shared to focus on situations in which airports of comparable size. aviation insurance program, also hardware, air traffic control proce- It does not take a trained economist known as war risk insurance. This pro- dures, or company practices create haz- to figure that out. If you restrict the gram provides insurance for commer- ardous situations. number of flights, then obviously the cial aircraft that are operating in high It requires the FAA to study and pro- cost of those flights will go up. risk areas, such as countries at war or mote improved training in the human Additionally, the federal permimeter on the verge of war. Commercial insur- factors arena, including the develop- rule continues to prevent airlines based ers usually will not provide coverage ment of specific training curricula. outside the perimeter from gaining for such operations, which are often re- It provides FAA whistleblowers who competitive access to Reagan National. quired to advance U.S. foreign policy uncover safety risks with the ability to This GAO report reinforces my view or to support our overseas national se- seek redress if they are subject to re- that the perimeter rule is a restrictive curity operations. The program expired taliation for their actions. and anti-competitive Federal regula- on August 6, 1999, and cannot be ex- The legislation provides employees of tion that prohibits airlines from flying tended without this authorization, airlines, and employees of airline con- the routes sought by their customers. gives the FAA the authority to fine un- tractors and subcontractors, with stat- According to testimony presented to ruly airline passengers who interfere utory whistleblower protections to fa- the Commerce Committee by the De- with the operation or safety of a civil cilitate their providing air safety infor- partment of Transportation, the perim- flight, up to $10,000 per violation, au- mation. eter rule is not needed for safety or thorizes $450,000 to address the problem These provisions will be critical in operational reasons. For that matter, of bird ingestions into aircraft engines, the continuing effort to enhance safety neither are slot controls. Therefore, authorizes $9.1 million over three years and reduce the accident rate. these restrictions simply are not war- for a safety and security management Of all the bills that the Senate may ranted. program to provide training for avia- consider this year, the Air Transpor- So long as the Federal Government tion safety personnel. The program tation Improvement Act should be maintains outdated unneeded restric- would concentrate on personnel from easy. This bill is substantially the tions, which favor established airlines countries that are not in compliance same as the Wendell H. Ford National over new entrants, deregulation will with international safety standards, Air Transportation System Improve- not be complete. Slot controls and the authorizes at least $30 million annually ment Act, which this body approved perimeter rule are Federal interference for the FAA to purchase precision in- last September by a vote of 92±1. If with the market's ability to reflect strument landing systems (ILS) anything, this bill is better than last consumer preferences. We should not through its ILS inventory program, au- year's. There is no rational reason why be in the position of choosing sides in thorizes at least $5 million for the FAA we can't take care of this quickly. the marketplace. to carry out at least one project to test Because S. 82 is so similar to last With respect to Reagan National, I and evaluate innovative airport secu- year's FAA reauthorization bill, I will would like to make one final point. rity systems and related technologies, skip a lengthy description of every pro- Just last month, the GAO came out including explosive detection systems vision, particularly those that have not with another study confirming that the in an airport environment, requires the changed.