E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 110 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 154 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2008 No. 69 Senate The Senate met at 10 a.m. and was ROBERT C. BYRD, FAA REAUTHORIZATION called to order by the Honorable ROB- President pro tempore. Mr. REID. Mr. President, the bill we ERT P. CASEY, Jr., a Senator from the Mr. CASEY of Pennsylvania there- hope to start legislating on after the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. upon assumed the chair as Acting caucuses today is an important piece of President pro tempore. legislation, FAA reauthorization. PRAYER f Last Thursday, I met in my office The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- with representatives of various unions fered the following prayer: RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY LEADER that deal with the airline industry— Let us pray. flight attendants, mechanics, and air Eternal God, Lord in all seasons and The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- traffic controllers. They had some for all reasons, help us to live lives pore. The majority leader is recog- opinions as to what was going on. An that give You glory. Give us strength nized. hour or two later, I met with the chief to do our duty, to stand for right and f executive officers of the major airlines to give thanks at the remembrance of SCHEDULE in our country today. They were ter- Your holiness. Help us to seek to serve ribly concerned about what goes on. Mr. REID. Mr. President, following rather than to be served and to treat The fuel costs for these airlines is now my remarks and those of Senator others as we desire them to treat us. approaching 50 percent of their overall MCCONNELL, if he decides to make Give wisdom and discernment to our cost. I may be a few cents wrong in my some remarks today, we will proceed to Senators. Help them to find ways to illustration, but they said: We can’t a period of morning business, with Sen- lift people from vicious cycles of pov- compete. We pay $1.20 for a gallon of ators allowed to speak for up to 10 min- erty, discovering the correct balance aviation fuel. In Europe they pay 70 utes each. between personal responsibility and cents. You cannot compete because the governmental intervention. And Lord, ORDER OF PROCEDURE dollar has become so low in value we pray today for our troops in harm’s I ask unanimous consent the morn- around the world. way and we pray this prayer in Your ing business hour be extended to 12:30 This is an extremely important bill. strong Name. today, with the time to be equally di- If there were ever a time we had to Amen. vided. work in a bipartisan basis in order to f The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- approve legislation necessary to give PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE pore. Without objection, it is so or- the airline industry a chance to sur- dered. vive, then we must do it on this piece The Honorable ROBERT P. CASEY, Jr., Mr. REID. Mr. President, if I could of legislation. led the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: say to the Chair through my distin- I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the I will work with my Republican United States of America, and to the Repub- guished friend, I asked consent that we counterpart to see if we can see a way lic for which it stands, one nation under God, be in morning business until 12:30 to of each side offering amendments. I do indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. complete our conversations with our not want to have to fill the so-called f caucuses because of the bill that is legislative tree. We have to be very coming up. careful. This is a tax bill. So I will have APPOINTMENT OF ACTING Mr. President, I ask you approve that a conversation with my colleague this PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE consent request. morning before our caucus to see if we The PRESIDING OFFICER. The The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- can come up with a way to proceed on clerk will please read a communication pore. Without objection, it is so or- this legislation. It is very important to the Senate. dered. legislation. The bill clerk read the following let- Mr. REID. Following morning busi- We have so many other things to do. ter: ness, the Senate will resume consider- We have the farm bill that is com- U.S. SENATE, ation of the motion to proceed to H.R. pleted, basically, I understand. We are PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, 2881, the Federal Aviation Administra- going to have to go to that soon be- Washington, DC, April 29, 2008. tion Reauthorization. cause it expires the end of this week. To the Senate: As a reminder, at 11 a.m. tomorrow, We have the Consumer Products Safety Under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby there will be a joint meeting of the Conference. That should be completed appoint the Honorable ROBERT P. CASEY, Jr., Congress in the Hall of the House of hopefully by the end of next week. We a Senator from the Commonwealth of Penn- Representatives with the Prime Min- have the budget, our budget that we sylvania, to perform the duties of the Chair. ister of Ireland, Bertie Ahern. have to complete. Fortunately, on ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S3459 . VerDate Aug 31 2005 02:00 Apr 30, 2008 Jkt 069060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A29AP6.000 S29APPT1 CCOLEMAN on PRODPC75 with SENATE S3460 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE April 29, 2008 that, we have a statutory time to work receive it overnight and will now re- linois, you are going to hear about— toward its conclusion. view it before proceeding. We can talk whether you are going to shop in a gro- Whether we want it, there is going to again after the respective policy cery store in Springfield, as I did over have to be a discussion about fuel lunches, at midday today, about that. the weekend, or back home in church— prices, what is going on. That is the It is my expectation when we do get on and it is gas prices. It is understand- No. 1 issue facing America today. It is the bill that we, indeed, allow amend- able because this is an economic issue more important now than the housing ments. The majority leader has indi- which hits you right between the eyes market, which is so in a state of dis- cated that is his intention. Many on every time you drive down the street tress. our side would like to offer amend- and hits you right in the pocketbook So we have much to do in the next ments and there will be debate on this when you go to pay for gasoline. You few weeks, not the least of which—the bill. know what is happening with the price House is going to pass, next week, the I would also like to point out that of that commodity. You also know supplemental appropriations bill deal- while the FAA is an important agency, when something is obviously very ing with the funding of the wars in Iraq the No. 1 issue for Americans right wrong. and Afghanistan. It is no easy venture now, and their greater concern, is the In my State, the average consumer is to complete that because, as you know, price of gas at the pump. The price of paying a record $3.71 a gallon for gaso- there are certain things the President gasoline has jumped by more than $1.25 line. There are many States paying wants to have on that bill that he has a gallon since the beginning of the cur- more. Diesel fuels are even worse. The told us, in addition to the funding for rent Congress. The cost of oil has near- Illinois average now is $4.30 a gallon, the wars. ly tripled to $120 a barrel now. Accord- but in some parts of America, diesel We have had a lot of opportunity in ing to the AAA, the average price of a fuel costs as much as $5 a gallon. recent months to point fingers at each gallon of gas in Kentucky is $3.58, the Think about the trucker. Many of other. Hopefully, the next 4 weeks, highest ever. I was happy to read the them have to live on a very slight mar- until the Memorial Day recess, we can majority has tasked their chairman to gin, filling up the tank of that truck start pointing fingers to a way to com- come up with ideas to work on this they are taking down the highway and plete some of this legislation because issue, but I fear the answer that comes putting out over $900, sometimes $1,000, it is extremely important we do that. back will be the same two-word pre- to do it. For many of them, it means For example, we had to file cloture on scription that has been offered in the work extra hours, extra days, an extra this bill. I told my leadership team I past—higher taxes. week, to try to make enough to get by. met with this morning, we cannot But higher taxes will only raise the Fuel costs are approximately 21⁄2 blame that one on the Republicans be- price at the pump, not lower it.