Don Young

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Do not shake your head, Mr. Speaker. I am also a Member, just as you are.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I am amazed. You are a little slow.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I thought he did that.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I understand that.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I appreciate the gentleman's comments.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, the ranking member on the committee, for yielding. Mr. Speaker, on September 11, 2001, the FAA grounded every air carrier in this country within a 2-hour period. This is absolutely necessary for the safety and protection of our country and our people. Remember, September 11, this tragic incident, but the aviation industry immediately and cooperatively obeyed the order, without any resistance or debate. As private industries, they put the welfare of the American people above their own profit and their own welfare. Unfortunately, we are now facing a serious crisis that may result in a severe reduction in our air transportation system. We will be, in the very near future, facing layoffs of the airline industry, reductions in flights. And those in Texas will not fly; may you walk and may you die in the desert. There will be reduced capacity and other significant effects, because the air industry in this Nation is one of the most important parts of our commercial fleet. The ripple effect on our economy will be enormous. We are an economy built on the ability to move goods and people at a reasonable cost. The purpose of H.R. 2891 is to keep our U.S. air transportation system alive and able to serve its important functions for our country, because we shut down the industry. The bill will provide an immediate ability to the President to provide loans and other assistance to U.S. air carriers, and also to compensate those carriers who can document direct losses because of the actions of our government to protect our national security. This authority would only be for 6 months. For 6 months, ride your horses. It is to provide short-term assistance. Any claim for losses has to be documented and proven. The current crisis requires this action be taken as quickly as possible to preserve not only the financial viability of the airlines, but also to protect the general public welfare. May I suggest, those that may object to this, understand one thing: rail, road, ship and air. I am the chairman of the Committee on Transportation, and if my colleagues decide not to support this bill, then my colleagues suffer the facts, because my colleagues will not be able to fly. And I said, ride your horses, paddle your canoes, and go where you think you may go. But the airline industry, and I am the chairman of this committee, is in serious, serious trouble. Not because of today, necessarily, not because of the past, but because this tragedy was not their doing. And to have someone object to this means that they say no longer is air transportation important. And let me tell my colleagues, those that want to fly, fly; but do not do it just with wings from the airplanes, fly with yourself. Try flapping your arms; you are not going to get there. You are not going to get there. And that includes the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young). My colleagues have to understand what I am saying. That is not about corporations, it is not about Social Security, it is not about the financial institutions, it is about the economy of this country. I studied this, and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) studied it in his time.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is correct. You prevailed.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I want to say for those who are out of order, and they are out of order, this has been going on for 3 days. Do not tell me 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The ranking member and I have been working. We have tried to figure it out. We know the danger. We know what is going to happen. So do not anybody stand in the audience and blurt out like somebody at a circus and say in fact it started at 4 o'clock this afternoon.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I do not have a letter in my hand right now. We started this at 4 o'clock this afternoon.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Unfortunately, the trap lines today are a little bit fogged and a little bit cluttered with other things in our minds, but my information as they were sitting in our meeting with members of the leadership, the White House was there, and they had no objection at the time, and they in fact said we believe this is a go.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar). The administration was in the meeting. They have no objection to this legislation. That has been made clear to me. They were very cognizant of the problem we have facing us today.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. You have got that.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Momentarily I withdraw it, if the Speaker asks me to. You are the Speaker.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Ways and Means be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 2891) to preserve the continued viability of the United States air transportation system, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Chairman, I want to remind my colleagues this area 1002 is not ANWR. This area was set aside in 1980 for oil exploration by Senator Jackson, Congressman Udall, Senator Stephens, and Senator Bennett. It was supposed to be drilled, explored for the American people. This is a charade from that side of the aisle. This amendment will deprive ourselves of, in fact, the oil that we must have for this Nation. It is a very small area. I support the Sununu amendment. Two thousand acres is what we are talking about. I will give an example. After the previous speaker talked about a huge disturbance, this picture shows the alpine field right next to the so-called 1002 area. This is what it looks like in the winter. This looks very intrusive. This picture shows what it looks like at the end of the exploration development, and this well right now is producing over 100,000 barrels of oil a year. This is less than the size of this small area from which we speak tonight, from the podiums which we have. The misinformation on this issue by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) and the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. Johnson) is so repugnant to me because it is really not the truth of the facts. This oil we have must have for this Nation. It is 1 million barrels of oil a day for the 100 years so that Saddam Hussein cannot control the market, cannot drive the gasoline prices up. I was remarkably interested in hearing the people argue against this whole bill. If we fail to adopt this bill in total tonight, I can guarantee the public and the people on this House floor that the price of fuel will go up in 2 months' time because they have control of us. How anybody can take and send money abroad to Saddam Hussein and not develop our own oil, I cannot understand that mentality. The mentality to say we are sending our dollars overseas so they can buy weapons of mass destruction, weapons against citizens of other countries, when we have oil in Alaska. Seventy-five percent of the people in Alaska want to drill. We are asking to have a national energy policy, as well as the President is asking. Those people tonight who spoke on this issue against my position have never been to Alaska. I do not understand how Members can stand here and talk about the pristine area when they do not know what they are talking about. This is an area that is very hostile; but also this area has people who live there that support this. This is not a pristine area. We must have this area to produce oil for this Nation. Would Members have oil drilling off the coast of Florida or the Great Lakes or North Carolina? We want to do it. It is right for this Nation and for the people. It is right for my people in the State of Alaska. It is the best thing we have going, and how dare Members talk about something when they have never been there. Shame on them.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1140) to modernize the financing of the railroad retirement system and to provide enhanced benefits to employees and beneficiaries, as amended.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, on that, I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to compliment everybody who has spoken tonight. I would just suggest again that this is tier 2; it is their money, they want to reinvest it. Yes, it is in government bonds, but it came from the workers. I thought this body was trying to set up a system where we did not take money from the workers to spend on other things. This is our retirement system. This is the railroad retirement system. It only affects tier 2. For those people who are not on the floor tonight, I urge people watching the show to vote for this legislation. Keep in mind, this had 371 cosponsors. I expect 380 votes on this. It is the right thing to do for our railroads and our railroad workers.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito), a member of the committee.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to my good friend and new colleague, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster).

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 1140, the bill just passed.