Wendell Ford

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Dan Alpert and Walter Dunn, fellows in the office of Senator Bingaman, be granted the privilege of the floor during consideration of S. 2279.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I do not mean to end this, but we are getting to the point where we have amendments up. And apparently no one wants to vote tonight, but we would like to get our amendments up. And Senator Akaka has remarks as it relates to the legislation itself. I do not want to prevent----

Mr. FORD. Fine.

Mr. FORD. We are trying to move this legislation forward. And I did not want to cut the Senator from Oklahoma off either.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I associate myself with the remarks of the distinguished chairman, and thank my friend from Hawaii for his kind remarks about me personally. It seems that more of these remarks are coming as the days near the end, and maybe I won't want the days to end, but I do thank my friend from Hawaii very much. Amendment No. 3620

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I join my chairman in his remarks. I thought they were excellent and to the point. I agree with Senator McCain that we ought to work with the Senator from Oklahoma to see if we can get something in the bill that will at least recognize the problem that he has brought forth here this afternoon. As of now, I will join with my colleague and oppose Senator Inhofe's amendment. It is my understanding that GAO, FAA, and the Department of Transportation IG have all looked at FAA's use of its emergency authority. There are only a few cases where the FAA has been reversed. GAO found that FAA used its authority in only 3 percent of its enforcement cases from 1990 to 1997. It shows a great deal of restraint that they only use it in cases where they think it is an emergency. And, as my friend from Arizona has said, most of those cases have been upheld. So FAA must have the authority--must have the authority--to revoke certificates on an emergency basis. The National Transportation Safety Board, FAA, and GAO all oppose any change. Beyond that, I think I will join with my friend from Arizona in trying to work out something that might be satisfactory, rather than just to look at it a little closer than we have been looking at it. We can all find one or two horror stories. I don't know how many certificates were revoked. I don't know how many charges were presented to the FAA. Those figures are not here. But in all cases, the percentage that Senator McCain represented--2 percent or 1 percent--and then only 3 percent, from 1990 to 1997, of its enforcement cases have they revoked certificates. So I think it indicates that there is a concern on the part of FAA that they not do anything irrational, but that they look at the cases thoroughly and then make a judgment as it relates to emergency authority only. So I hope that the Senator from Oklahoma will give us an opportunity to sit down and work with him. I hate to be in opposition to all the amendments that are brought, but this is one that I will have to be opposed to and would encourage my colleagues to vote against if the Senator insists that we go on. He stops in my hometown on occasion, I say to my friend from Arizona, and buys gasoline from the chairman of the Republican Party in my county. He is keeping the Republican Party going. I want him to continue to fly over the Owensboro stop and fill up with gasoline and keep our economy going. I would not want him to not stop in Owensboro. I gave you a hometown reason for us to try to help the Senator from Oklahoma to work something out. I look forward to him agreeing to that. If not, I could not agree to a vote tonight. I am sure the Senator would not want one either. We would have to wait and set a time certain for tomorrow because I understand that his side has a little shindig tonight that they would like to get to. We will accommodate him as they accommodated us last night. We ought to reciprocate, under the circumstances. I yield the floor.

Mr. FORD. We also have mighty fine barbecue there, too.

Mr. FORD. See, he is neutral.

Mr. FORD. There we go. We are working together again.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, we are about----

Mr. FORD. I have no objection.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, we are trying to wrap up the aviation bill.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I have no objections and support the three amendments of the Senator from Maine, Ms. Snowe.

Mr. FORD. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 3626 (Purpose: To make technical corrections in the managers' amendment)

Mr. FORD. The Senator is correct. And I am more than willing to work out whatever time is agreeable to the two leaders. I agree with my friend that we need to move on. We are down to just very few votes on this piece of legislation. We have worked awfully hard on our side. We have been able to clear up two or three that we worked on pretty hard. The Snowe amendments we have agreed to, the technical corrections amendment we agreed to, and those have been taken care of. So we are moving on, even though it does not appear there is much action on the floor. Once the legislation is before the Senate, a vacuum is created. I learned that a long time ago. You may not have everything put together, but once you get started it creates a vacuum, and I think we are on our way to being able to pass this piece of legislation sometime tomorrow.

Mr. FORD. That has been taken care of.

Mr. FORD. McCain-Ford managers' amendment.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I have no disagreement with the unanimous consent proposal, particularly retaining the relevancy that is in effect now. There is only one question I might have. There is a Torricelli-Lautenberg Quiet Communities Act amendment that should be for both, I think. And just so long as that is understood that it is not two amendments; it is only one.

Mr. FORD. One amendment rather than two. If we could cut an amendment off now, we ought to do it instead of waiting until tomorrow. So I agree with my colleague, we have an opportunity to finish this bill tomorrow. And it is one of those ``must-pass'' bills. And I am very hopeful that we can do it. We are here. Our staff is available. We are very amenable right now and probably more so tomorrow; but toward noon and a little after we may get intolerable. So let's hope we can do things early in the morning after our first vote. I thank the Chair and thank my colleague.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Glenn) is necessarily absent.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Glenn) is necessarily absent.

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Glenn) is necessarily absent.

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Glenn) is necessarily absent.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Glenn) is necessarily absent.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Hollings) is necessarily absent.