James Oberstar

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings).

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. I thank the gentleman from Illinois, Chair of the Subcommittee on Aviation, for the splendid job he has done, for the diligent, time-consuming, engaged work that he has dedicated to bringing this bill to the House floor today; and to our colleague, Mr. Petri, a senior member on the Aviation Subcommittee on the Republican side who has also contributed an enormous amount of time and energy and work. We appreciate the kind words of Mr. Duncan and Mr. Mica, my ranking member and counterpart, and to the congressional delegation of Members whose constituents included those lost lives in this tragic crash. It is so often the case that tragedy brings us to the House floor to right a wrong and correct gaps in safety in aviation, in railroad, in trucking, in passenger rail service, transit systems. We should be ahead of the game. We should be prescriptive rather than reactive. This legislation will do that for us. It will make us prescriptive in the field of aviation. This bill, when enacted into law, will be the most significant improvement in raising the standards of pilot qualifications since 1958, when the FAA was established. There has been a great deal of concentration of public interest in the number of hours required to serve in the flight deck, in the left-hand or the right-hand seat. This bill is much more than hours served. We have a current standard that a pilot need only a commercial pilot's certificate, 250 hours, in some cases only 190 hours. Well, to fly an aircraft you need a lot more experience, a lot more flight experience. You need more aeronautical knowledge. You need weather training. You need training in crew resource management in the flight deck so that you have a plan, as in the case of Galaxy Airlines when a sound was heard in the flight deck and all three personnel in the flight deck began troubleshooting and no one was flying the aircraft. You need a flight management plan. And in that case, the aircraft crashed and 93 people died. We raised the standards for the airline transport pilot certification. The pilot must have flight training, academic training, and operational experience to function effectively and efficiently in an operational environment. You have to be part meteorologist to understand weather conditions. You need training for how to cope with icing, high-altitude operations, multipilot crew, and operating an aircraft under difficult conditions, say, when the autopilot is off. Those are the raised standards that we include in this legislation, including a number of recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board; remedial training, stall and upset recovery training. You can't get that just on the ground in a simulator. You need that training at six and seven miles in the air, when there is no curb to pull over and look under the hood or call for help. That training has to be instilled in the pilot, in the captain in command and the first officer, before they get in the flight deck. We also create an air carrier safety and pilot training task force to identify the best practices in the industry for pilot training, professional standards, intercarrier information-sharing and mentoring. All of these are important. But not just to have those standards. We require them to report to the Congress every 180 days, and I thank Mr. Costello for insisting on that and for the oversight he has conducted. We are going to stay on top of this thing. This full committee and this subcommittee are not going to just fold our hands after the bill passes and say ``job well done.'' ``Job just begun'' is our method and is our standard. For pilot fatigue, we require new flight and duty time rules within a year. You know, it took 14 years to get flight and duty time for flight attendants. So these and a whole host of others are wrapped up with a directive to the General Accounting Office to do an evaluation of flight schools upon enactment of this legislation and report back to Congress. That is a complete package: new standards, higher standards, more requirements, more oversight, reporting to the Congress and keeping our hands on to make sure there are no more Colgan tragedies.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation, H. Con. Res. 138, introduced by the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson- Lee), which recognizes the 40th anniversary of the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, and congratulates officials of the airport and the City of Houston for the airport's service to Houston citizens and the national air transportation system. I thank Representative Jackson-Lee for her leadership on this measure. Houston Intercontinental Airport is the eighth largest airport in the United States, serving over 43 million passengers in 2008. The airport offers 109 domestic and 65 nonstop international destinations in over 32 countries by 30 airlines. More than 700 million passengers have travelled through the airport since it opened in 1969. Furthermore, the airport contributes more than 151,000 jobs and $24 billion in economic benefits to the Houston region. For air cargo, the airport is a regional and world leader in processing, consolidation, and distribution. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Con. Res. 138.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation, H. Res. 719, introduced by the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Tiahrt), which commends Russell W. Meyer, Jr. for his induction into the National Aviation Hall of Fame, and for his many contributions to general aviation. Russ Meyer is an accomplished individual. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and a law degree from Harvard University. From 1955-1961, Meyer served as a fighter pilot in both the Air Force and the Marine Corps Reserves. Later, Meyer was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cessna Aircraft Company from 1975 to 2003. In this role, Meyer won two Collier Trophies for expanding the Cessna's Citation line of business jets. Meyer was an advocate for the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994, which placed fair and reasonable limitations on the time period during which a manufacturer would be legally liable for aircraft defects. He also contributed to thousands of new pilots taking flight in the United States with the ``Be a Pilot Program.'' This program helped to reduce the cost of flight schools for new pilots. To assist athletes traveling to the Special Olympics National Games, Meyer founded the Citation Special Olympics Airlift, which coordinates transportation to the games on Cessna owners' aircraft. In 1995, he won the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy for this important work. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Res. 719.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2651, the ``Maritime Workforce Development Act''. H.R. 2651 directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish a maritime career training and loan program. I thank the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) for working on this important piece of legislation. The maritime industry anticipates a continuing shortage of qualified merchant mariners. Due to projected increases in commercial maritime traffic and a maritime workforce that is approaching retirement age, a maritime training program is needed to help ensure that our nation will continue to have skilled and experienced U.S. citizen merchant mariners. Such a program can begin in high schools by creating maritime training curriculum for students to obtain the basic knowledge of the maritime industry and skills to gain an entry-level job. H.R. 2651 also creates a maritime loan program that meets the needs and training requirements of mariners, which they may not get through a traditional two- or four-year educational institution. Mariners have certification courses that can last from two weeks to several months and their courses are typically taken between voyages. When mariners seek to enhance their credentials, they need a loan program that helps them with expenses while they are taking the time off to pursue certifications or licenses. H.R. 2651 creates a loan program to help mariners pay for their books, tuition, fees, room and board, and travel to and from their training facilities. In these tough economic times with high unemployment rates, it is critical for there to be a mechanism to aid people interested in a maritime career, whether they are recent high school graduates or if they graduated from high school 10 or 20 years ago. There is a shortage of maritime workers and a high percentage of mariners are approaching retirement age. Something must be done now to fill the gap and help sustain an adequate number of qualified mariners. To that end, H.R. 2651 authorizes $10 million for each of fiscal years 2010 to 2015 to fund the education of mariners, and sustain our vital maritime industry. H.R. 2651 also requires the Secretary of Transportation to establish a maritime recruitment, training, and retention grant program. The Secretary is directed to consult with representatives of the maritime industry, labor organizations, other governmental entities and maritime industry interests. This program will be imperative to the maritime industry in recruiting new mariners, keeping current mariners, and assisting them with training and upgrading their licenses. H.R. 2651 authorizes $10 million for each of fiscal years 2010 to 2015 to fund grants to support this program. The nation's maritime cargo volumes are expected to double by 2020. As waterborne commerce expands in the United States, there is a great need to meet the labor demands that the continued growth in the maritime industry is expected to create. H.R. 2651 creates mechanisms to ensure that our nation will be well equipped to handle the welcomed maritime growth. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2651.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2423, as amended, a bill to designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 1300 Victoria Street in Laredo, Texas as the ``George P. Kazen Federal Building and United States Courthouse''. The Federal building and U.S. Courthouse designation will become effective when Judge George P. Kazen retires and is no longer serving as a federal judge. The bill was introduced by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar) and has bipartisan support. George P. Kazen was born in Laredo, Texas, in 1940. In 1960, he earned a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Texas. He later earned his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1961. Kazen began his professional career as a Briefing Attorney for the Texas Supreme Court in 1961 and 1962. From 1962 to 1965, he was a U.S. Air Force Captain in the JAG Corps. Following his military service, Kazen worked in a private practice in Laredo until 1979. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter nominated George P. Kazen as a U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Texas. Judge Kazen has served on the bench for more than 30 years, including as Chief Judge from 1996 to 2003. On May 31, 2009, he assumed senior status on the court. During his tenure on the bench, Judge Kazen considered a wide variety of cases. In Luna v. Van Zandt, a 1982 case, he invalidated a Texas statute that allowed for the detaining of individuals perceived as mentally ill for up to 14 days without a commitment hearing. In addition, Judge Kazen has testified before Congress and written several articles on issues of Federalism and the courts. Outside of the courtroom, Judge Kazen is a stalwart of his community, serving on numerous civic organizations in South Texas. Given Judge George P. Kazen's exemplary public service, it is fitting to designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 1300 Victoria Street in Laredo, Texas, as the ``George P. Kazen Federal Building and United States Courthouse''. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2423.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1700, as amended, a bill to direct the Administrator of the General Services Administration to sell, at fair market value, real property in southwest Washington, DC, commonly known as the ``Cotton Annex'' site, to the National Women's History Museum, Inc., NWHM, a District of Columbia nonprofit corporation, for the purpose of establishing a museum dedicated to women's history. The site is bounded by 12th Street SW., Independence Ave., the James Forrestal Building, and C Street SW. The NWHM is a nonpartisan, educational institution with a mission of highlighting and celebrating the historic contributions of women in the United States. The bill was introduced by the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) and has bipartisan support. H.R. 1700 requires that fair market value of the property be determined by highest and best use, as determined by an independent appraisal commissioned by the Administrator of the General Services Administration, GSA, and paid for by the museum. The National Women's History Museum will have 5 years to raise funds to construct the museum. If, after 5 years, the fundraising effort has not been successful, the property will revert back to the Federal Government. The Federal Government is further protected by limiting use of the parcel as a site for the National Women's History Museum for 99 years. It is with great pleasure and satisfaction that I support H.R. 1700, as amended. The committee has worked with staff from the Women's Museum for almost 10 years to find a suitable site, determine an appropriate disposal method, and identify terms and conditions that were acceptable to GSA. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 1700.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 465, recognizing the 10th anniversary of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association. The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (Waterway) runs from Norfolk, Virginia, to Key West, Florida, and has been in existence for more than seventy years. The once distinct channels and rivers that now make up the Waterway were brought together to create a continuous waterborne transportation network along the southeastern coast of the Atlantic. The Waterway has enriched the lives of those in the southeast and served the greater United States by allowing for the safe and efficient transportation of commercial goods along the coast. This resolution recognizes the importance of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway to the quality of life of the citizens in the United States, and to the thousands of recreational, commercial, and military vessels that use the system annually. The resolution also acknowledges the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association on the occasion of its 10th anniversary. This association has worked tirelessly over the last decade to keep the Waterway open and safe for navigation. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Res. 465.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3607) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the funding and expenditure authority of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, to amend title 49, United States Code, to extend authorizations for the airport improvement program, and for other purposes.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the bill, H.R. 3607.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. We passed a bill to extend the programs of FAA to make wide-sweeping changes and improvements and increase the investment in the next- generation aviation technology in the previous Congress. We passed it again this year. But, regrettably, the other body has not acted on that legislation. We therefore are required to come to the floor with a bill to extend and keep in place existing programs, and that's really unfortunate that we have to do it this way. The gentleman from Illinois who is the Chair of the Aviation Subcommittee, the gentleman from Wisconsin, the ranking member, have put an enormous amount of time, dozens and dozens of hours of hearings and time spent deliberating with committee staff on the provisions of the bill. We've worked out a truly bipartisan piece of legislation that represents the biggest investment in aviation in the history of the program. In 1958 when the Federal Aviation Administration was created and President Eisenhower signed into law the legislation moving it from the old Civil Aeronautics Authority to the Federal Aviation Administration, the investment was under a billion dollars in aviation. Earlier this year we brought to the floor a bill to invest over $50 billion in the next 4 years in the Nation's aviation programs, in the construction of runways and taxiways on the hard side of airports, to improve terminals, to extend and increase the passenger facility charge so that airport authorities will have means by which to serve air travelers more efficiently, more effectively, with greater comfort and expediency than they're doing now. And on the technology side to make long-range investments, sustainable investments, in the future of air traffic control in the domestic airspace. Goodness, a billion people traveled by air worldwide last year; 750 million of those traveled in the U.S. airspace. We have a responsibility to improve the speed with which air traffic controllers and the accuracy with which they communicate with aircraft and move aircraft in this vast airspace of ours. In addition to which, the United States has responsibility of over 3 million square miles of the Atlantic airspace and 18 million square miles of the Pacific airspace, both of which are fast-growing international air travel markets. The transatlantic airspace is a $35 billion market for us, and the Pacific airspace is a $25 billion to $28 billion, growing at 5 to 7 percent a year. But to make it effective and to support our carriers as well as carriers from other countries, we need to advance the oceanic guidance system for aircraft above 39,000 feet. We can't do that unless we provide the funding for the FAA to improve these technologies. Until the other body moves on this legislation, we have to proceed with this short-term extension. I hope that our action will encourage the other body to move ahead. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Illinois, the chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. Costello, with authority to allocate time.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 765) expressing condolences to the families of the individuals killed during unusual storms and floods in the State of Georgia between September 18 and 21, 2009, and expressing gratitude to all of the emergency personnel who continue to work with unyielding determination to meet the needs of Georgia's residents.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 765.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of H. Res. 765. We have come to this floor many times over the past 2\1/2\ years with resolutions to express our condolences for victims of the ravages of nature, to the first responders, to the families of the victims, and we are here again in the wake of unprecedented flooding in Georgia following on an extraordinary period of drought in that State. This tragic disaster, the complete toll for which has yet to be calculated, is a reminder that amidst all of our concern for homeland security, as my good friend, former chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Don Young said many times, we face that tragedy every year with disasters in the form of nature's ravages upon our countryside, and we are here and we meet again today to thank the men and women who serve the Nation, serve the State of Georgia and the people of that State as police officers, firefighters, emergency managers, emergency medical personnel, who every day place themselves in danger to save the lives of their fellow citizens. Not only in Georgia but all over this country, we all see it, each of us in our districts. When tragedy comes calling, whether an emergency medical problem facing a neighbor or large-scale natural disaster, the Nation's emergency responders, our charitable organizations, are the first ones on the scene to provide their professional help and their comfort and their support. They are well-trained, highly skilled people on the front lines within this country responding to the needs of people and also responding to mitigate the damage and the ravage of natural disasters. This is also National Preparedness Month, and while the devastation in Georgia and surrounding States is tragic, this is an opportunity for us to think in a broader context of all of the types of disasters, whether fire on the west coast in California or flood on the east coast, are constantly a threat to our fellow citizens. Mr. Speaker, at this point I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) such time as he may consume.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, although our Speaker is in line to address us, she has graciously agreed to yield to the gentleman from Georgia. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott).

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), our distinguished Speaker of the House.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Johnson), whose district also covers a great portion of the area ravaged by the floods.

Mr. OBERSTAR. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3617) to provide an extension of Federal-aid highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit, and other programs funded out of the Highway Trust Fund pending enactment of a multiyear law reauthorizing such programs.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on the bill, H.R. 3617, and to include extraneous material therein.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. We gather here, I guess I would say in my view, reluctantly to ask for a vote in support of extending the current surface transportation programs that are included in existing law, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, to extend it for 3 months. I expected that we would have put in place by now a 6-year extension of current law, a new transformational surface transportation program. But along the way, there has been a failure of political will in various quarters. Not on this committee, not on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. We have done our work under the vigorous leadership of the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio), Chair of the Surface Transportation Subcommittee, in partnership with Mr. Duncan on the Republican side; and in the full committee Mr. Mica and I have worked together for the past 2\1/2\ years to craft a transformation of the Department of Transportation, of the Federal Highway Administration, of the Federal Transit Administration, of our safety programs into a coherent new vision and a new program with which to address the Nation's transportation needs, new partnerships with the States and with the cities and with the metropolitan planning organizations. And we've done that. We moved a bill out of subcommittee. But along the way, there was a stumbling down the street from here at the White House that resulted in asking for an 18-month extension of current law, and then the other body fell in line with a request for an extension of 18 months. That's not what we need in America. Eighteen months from now, we will be back here at the same place on the House floor decrying the lack of investment, decrying the falloff of funding, decrying the lack of investment in our transit systems while America chokes evermore in congestion; while rural America is not able to move its goods to market; while our traffic corridors for freight goods movement continue to move slowly; while businesses, enterprises like United Parcel Service spent $100 million dollars a year for every 5-minute delay their trucks experience. General Mills in Minnesota loses $2 million for every mile an hour their trucks travel below the speed limit because they have to pay overtime charges and late delivery fees. That's not the kind of transportation we need in America to keep this economy moving, to keep our society mobile. We need a robust investment. Two national transportation policy commissions have reviewed the current structure of law and the current financing of law and said this is not good enough; we need to invest vastly more than we are doing at all levels of government. And both recommended an investment level in the range of $450 billion over 6 years. That's what our bill does. But since we have not been able to reach an agreement to bring that bill to the floor within the timeframe that we envisioned, we are here to ask for a 3-month extension to carry all programs to ensure continuity of existing investment in our surface transportation needs. That is what this bill will do: continue programs for 3 additional months, which will give us an opportunity to continue working out the issues of how we deliver services, we deliver transportation investments in a more efficient, effective way to lead America into this 21st century. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. OBERSTAR. I yield myself 2 minutes. In the consideration of the current law, SAFETEA in 2004 and 2005, there were 12 extensions of the previous TEA-21 Act. Five of those bills were considered under unanimous consent; unanimous consent with our concurrence on the Democratic side or else it couldn't have passed by unanimous consent. Four were agreed to by voice vote. Three were passed by recorded vote. At least two of those were requested by the Republican majority. The first was 410-0, the second was 418-0, and the third recorded vote was 409-8. We didn't ask for a rule to take up the extension of current law. We partnered with the majority Republicans to keep existing law in place and keep working on the replacement bill, which came to be SAFETEA. I don't understand the appeal now for a rule to take up--something I suggested when I learned from my good friend who had to be the messenger bearing bad news that the Republican leadership in the House said they would not support the bill under suspension. I said, well, we will take it up under a rule. Then I thought further about this and found there is a great deal of support on both sides of the aisle for a 3-month extension. Then I started thinking further, we didn't do that when we were in the minority. We had a partnership. We wanted to see good policy achieved.

Mr. OBERSTAR. I yield myself an additional minute. I say to the gentleman from Florida, who has been a straightforward partner, we have candidly talked through issues. Mr. DeFazio and Mr. Duncan have candidly discussed issues. Staffs have worked vigorously in crafting this transformational bill. There was no need for this disruption. We need an additional 3 months to continue working straightforward on the bill. Now, there was a statement put out by the leader's office that the leader on the Republican side and the Republican National Committee chairman join with President Obama in supporting an 18-month extension of current law. That is the most unusual partnership I have ever seen. The Republican National Committee Chair and the Democratic President of the United States in a most unusual alliance. It is for the good of the country.