William Lipinski

Mr. LIPINSKI

Mr. LIPINSKI. And the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson) has 6\1/ 2\ minutes remaining.

Mr. LIPINSKI. And what does the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) have remaining?

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to yield the 20 minutes that is designated to me to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson), who is a true opponent of this legislation.

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to give the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson) an additional 10 minutes, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) an additional 10 minutes, which his 10 minutes will be split with 5 minutes for himself, 5 minutes for my side.

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis). (Mr. DAVIS of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire about the amount of time everyone has left here?

Mr. LIPINSKI. How much time do I have?

Mr. LIPINSKI. That is not right, Mr. Speaker. If I may say, before my 10 minutes was used at all, my request was for an additional 10 minutes for the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson), an additional 10 minutes for the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica), which he would yield 5 minutes to me, thereby giving me 15 minutes. To the best of my recollection, I gave 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky), 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis), and 5 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar). That is 10 minutes, which means I have 5 minutes remaining.

Mr. LIPINSKI. Correct.

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, could I have a breakdown on how much time everybody has left?

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2\1/2\ minutes. First of all I would like to submit my printed statement for the Record, and then I would like to go into a couple of points that have been raised here on the floor. LAX. That was a wonderful speech by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters), but it has nothing to do with this situation whatsoever. The State of Illinois is the only State in the Union where the Governor has veto power over the construction of a new airport or a new runway. The Illinois channeling laws have strictly to do with the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Governor, as the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) has stated, appoints all the people in charge of the Illinois Department of Transportation. So the LAX situation has nothing to do with, and it is not precedent-setting whatsoever as far as this legislation we have here. The gentleman from Illinois (Congressman Hyde) has asked me a number of times why the City of Chicago did not ask the Illinois Department of Transportation for a certificate of approval. I now have the answer for the congresswoman. In order to get a certificate for the Illinois Department of Transportation, it takes over a year. Unfortunately Governor Ryan would no longer be in office at the end of that time. A new governor could simply take that report because he has the arbitrary veto power and chuck it out the window and say we are going to keep the gridlock in the Midwest in aviation. The gentleman from Illinois (Congressman Jackson) talks about Peotone. There is nothing in whatsoever in this legislation that stops Peotone from being built. What this legislation does not do, though, it does not reach out from Washington, D.C. and say we have to build Peotone. It is entirely left up to the State of Illinois. And it does not give high priority to Peotone because if we did that, every airport in the country would be rushing here to get exactly the same status. We do not even do that for O'Hare Airport in this legislation. O'Hare has to be improved in its modernization and expansion by the FAA before it becomes Federal law. Mr. Speaker, I thought my time might have expired. I will be back shortly.

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, is that the ruling of the Chair?

Mr. LIPINSKI. Could I inquire to have a Parliamentary inquiry on why, since I have part of the gentleman from Florida's (Mr. Mica) time, I should not be able to come just before he closes?

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Let us see something else that has been brought up here. Competition. The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) talked about the competition. We are going to have more gates at new modernized O'Hare Airport. In the agreement, Delta Airlines, Northwest Airlines, a number of airlines that now utilize O'Hare but feel that they are restricted because of the size of O'Hare will have a much greater opportunity to get gates, to get landing slots so that there will be significantly more competition at O'Hare. Another point I would like to bring up is that this is really a very bipartisan piece of legislation. Not only do we have support from the Republican side and the Democratic side, but beyond this Chamber, five secretaries of Transportation enthusiastically support this legislation, and these are appointees both on the Democratic side and from the Republican side. Two of them that I could name right here, Secretary Slater, Secretary Skinner. People support this not only because it is necessary to break the gridlock at O'Hare for benefit of the American aviation flying public, but it will also create 195,000 jobs, and those jobs are not going to just go to people on the northwest side of the city of Chicago. They are going to go to people within the city of Chicago, within Cook County, within the counties that surround Cook County. This is job creation. This is economic development at the highest possible level, and on top of all that, once again I say to you there is nothing in this legislation that stops the State, rural county, or anyone else from building Peotone.

Mr. LIPINSKI

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I just want to conclude by saying that I compliment the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) on the very spirited, articulate presentation of their cause. They are both my friends. I have the greatest respect for them. Unfortunately, we disagree on this.

Mr. LIPINSKI

Mr. LIPINSKI. No, Mr. Speaker, I am not.

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strongest possible support for H.R. 3479, the National Aviation Capacity Expansion Act of 2002. This measure will help end over 20 years of aviation gridlock at the most important crossroads of American aviation by modifying and codifying a historic agreement between Republican Governor George Ryan of Illinois and Democratic Mayor of Chicago Rich Daley that would expand and modernize O'Hare International Airport. In December 2000, I spoke to Speaker Hastert, Governor Ryan and Mayor Daley, asking them for their help in solving this national and international aviation capacity crisis. I am very happy to say that all these men have helped in moving this legislation forward. Chicago O'Hare is a vital economic engine in Chicago, the State of Illinois, the Midwest and the entire Nation. It serves as the only major dual hub with United and American Airlines basing significant equipment, employees and assets at the facility. O'Hare serves more than 190,000 travelers per day, nearly 73 million in the year 2000. It is the world's busiest airport in the number of passengers. Forty-seven States have direct access to O'Hare. But O'Hare needs to be redesigned to meet the demands of today's marketplace. Designed in the 1950s, this airport has intersecting runways and a layout designed for smaller aircraft. By simply reconfiguring the airport layout, many weather-related delays could be avoided. By replacing old runways with safer, parallel configurations, delays and cancellations would be greatly reduced, eliminating delays that often ripple through the entire Nation. Ninety percent of O'Hare's modernization will be paid by airline and airport-generated funds, including passenger facility charges, landing fees, concessions and bonds. The rest of these funds will come through the regular, and I repeat, regular FAA process for airport construction, and this legislation is very clear on that point. The Governor-Mayor agreement also includes a south suburban airport near Peotone. This legislation will ask the FAA to give full consideration to Peotone. Just as expanding O'Hare does not eliminate the need for a third airport, building Peotone will not replace O'Hare modernization. They are not mutually exclusive. Both are needed to address serious aviation capacity problems in the region and the Nation. Simply put, just as the city wants to move ahead with using its own funds to expand its own airport, this agreement allows the State to do the same for Peotone. While expanding O'Hare and building Peotone are needed to address the region and the Nation's aviation capacity, forward thinkers will agree that even more capacity will be needed. That is why this measure includes full consideration of commercial airports at Gary, Indiana and Rockford, Illinois. This legislation also addresses traffic congestion along O'Hare's Northwest Corridor, including western airport access, and maintains the quality of life for residents near these airports. We have carefully crafted clean air and environmental language that is acceptable to all parties involved, including 15 environmental groups and the Sierra Club. In addition, the new runway configuration will reduce by half the number of people impacted by noise, and this agreement also includes $450 million in funds for soundproofing. Some might call this legislation unprecedented, but it is clear that the Chicago situation is unprecedented and unique. When the Subcommittee on Aviation held a hearing on this issue in August of 2001, no other similar situation could be found where a State has veto power over a city's airport project. In closing, Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) and the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) for their great help with this legislation. I would also like to thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) for his efforts in working with me on this legislation. I agree with him that it is important that we craft a measure that is good not only for the Chicago region, but for the Nation as a whole. It is my hope that we can pass this legislation out of the House today, because I firmly believe that this bill will do more to end the aviation gridlock that plagues the American flying public than any other measure this Congress could pass. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky). (Mr. VISCLOSKY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), the ranking member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and the former chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation.

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to speak on one point. It has been mentioned here on the floor that the Governor is not in favor of this legislation. I spoke to the Governor Friday afternoon, and he is still in favor of this legislation. Now, if he changed his mind over the weekend, I cannot attest to that; but as of last Friday, he was in favor of this particular piece of legislation. I have read nothing in the newspaper, saw nothing on television, or heard nothing on the radio that he has changed his position.

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I would like to make that 5 minutes for each side.

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk) will have an additional 5 minutes?

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar).

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, how much time remains?