Wendell Ford

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. FORD. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, we have no objections on this side and look forward to passing the amendment.

Mr. FORD. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 3642 (Purpose: To require the Secretary of Transportation to promulgate regulations to improve notification to consumers of air transportation from an air carrier of the corporate identity of the transporting air carrier)

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, we are agreeable with this amendment on this side.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I understand that this is acceptable on both sides.

Mr. FORD. You could prime it.

Mr. FORD. At twice the price.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, let me say to my friend from North Dakota, no one has worked any harder or had a deeper interest in trying to accommodate his constituency. He has been typical Henry Clay in this operation; he has been willing to compromise. As Henry Clay said, compromise is negotiated hurt. So he has given up something that hurt, and others have, too. I am very pleased we have gotten to this point. If I have any ability to help the Senator in conference, I promise him I certainly will.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, this side has no objection to this amendment. It is long overdue. It is directed at enforcement of certificates for pilots. We think it is needed; therefore, this side approves it.

Mr. FORD. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 3633 (Purpose: To provide for criminal penalties for pilots operating in air transportation without an airman's certificate)

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I have no objection on this side. This side has no objection. We are perfectly willing to let the amendment go forward.

Mr. FORD. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 3632 (Purpose: To express the sense of the Senate that the Secretary of Transportation should ensure the enforcement of the rights of the United States under the air service agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom known as the ``Bermuda II Agreement'')

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I thank the Senator, and I particularly thank Senator Dorgan for allowing us to move this amendment along. Amendment No. 3628

Mr. FORD. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. FORD. We have worked out Senator Reed's amendment. I know the Senator does not want to lose his train of thought here, but Senator Reed has an important engagement, and I know Senator Dorgan does, too. This one will take about 2 minutes. I ask unanimous consent that this amendment be set aside and that we recognize Senator Reed, and that at the end of Senator Reed's amendment we return, then, to Senator Dorgan's amendment.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, will the Senator yield for just one moment.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, if the Senator will yield, as we go through these amendments that we have worked out, with the Senator's agreement, as amendments on my side come, I will offer those and get them done so we can move on when we come to 6 o'clock tonight and try to get a final vote on this piece of legislation so that we will not be kept here after 6 o'clock.

Mr. FORD. Reserving the right to object, do we have Senators who want to offer amendments?

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Glenn), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Hollings), and the Senator from Illinois (Ms. Moseley-Braun) are necessarily absent. I also announce that the Senator from Minnesota (Mr. Wellstone) is attending a funeral. I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from Minnesota (Mr. Wellstone) would vote ``no.''

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, it is always painful to be against an amendment by one of your colleagues, and particularly a friend. But I think under the circumstances it is a little premature to go with this when the Environment Committee has asked that this come through their committee and not be offered on the floor. But attacking noise is a difficult problem that requires a coordinated effort involving research, airport grant money, flight paths, and phaseout of noisy aircraft. The FAA has been successful in its efforts to reduce airplane noise. In fact, the FAA has spent in the last few years $2 billion for sound insulation and property purchase around our U.S. airports. And duplicating the expertise of the FAA within the EPA and costing the taxpayers some $21 million would be wasteful, in my opinion, of government resources. It would complicate and confuse efforts to deal with and better understand community noise concerns. And it would, Mr. President, create a judicial ambiguity that could have real problems as we reduce aircraft noise worldwide. Since 1993, the Federal Interagency Committee on Aircraft Noise has worked successfully to advance cooperative noise research among the various Federal agencies with an interest in this area. The participants of this interagency committee on noise includes the National Park Service; EPA is a part of this, FAA, NASA, HUD housing, Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, and others. And the participating agencies have and continue to address all of the responsibilities envisioned in the Quiet Communities Act through their cooperative research work, and EPA is, has been, and will remain an active participant in this process. Mr. President, there is no need to change their current structure. I want to reiterate:--There does not appear to be any substantive reason to expend $21 million and add needless jurisdictional confusion to the ongoing efforts to deal effectively with community aircraft noise. I go back to the struggle we had to eliminate Stage 2 aircraft engines. There were 4.5 million, as my friend from Arizona said, people that were subjected to noise as it relates to aircraft. We have been quite successful. We have reduced that now by 90 percent. We are down to a mere 10 percent. And by January 1, 2000, all aircraft will have to be Stage 3. So the noise is going to be reduced even further. I understand the problems. But we have been working on it for some time. I hope that our colleagues will leave the authority with FAA and let them continue with all the groups in the Federal Government, such as NASA, Housing, Defense, National Institutes of Health, and EPA that are working together. I am going to join with my friend in endorsing his motion to table. I yield the floor. Mr. President, the proponent of this amendment, Senator Torricelli, wanted at least 2 minutes. I don't believe Senator McCain and I have any time left. I will suggest the absence of a quorum and ask that the time be charged equally to both sides up to no more than 2 minutes.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President.