Date: 2003-10-30
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. let me express my appreciation for the kind of camaraderie we have on the committee. This is out of character for us to be on the floor discussing something in these tones. However. when we do not follow the rules and do not allow people to participate. this is what we get. That is why other committees are like that. I hope we do not continue this. because we have not had this in the past. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to express my extreme disappointment that this FAA reauthorization bill does not include language to protect the operations and certification functions performed in our air traffic control system. Recommitting this bill was absolutely necessary to fix a fatally flawed conference report that risked the safety of the flying public. Unfortunately. Republican conferees decided not to listen to the will of Congress and excluded language that would protect our Nations air traffic control system from privatization. There are two critical functions of the air traffic control system that keep the system safe: certification and operations. Much of the debate on this bill has centered on prohibiting privatization of the operation functions performed by air traffic controllers and employees of 69 VFR towers.. Operation of the air traffic control system. however. is only one part of the air traffic control system. In order for our system to remain safe and efficient in this area where we still have a great deal of fear. there must be language included in the bill to protect the certification functions performed by FAA systems specialists. There are approximately 6.100 FAA systems specialists and technicians who install. repair. maintain. and certify over 50.000 systems and equipment that make up the air traffic control system. The certification functions performed by the systems specialists are critical to the safety and efficiency of the air traffic control system and. therefore. must be protected from privatization. Certification is the process that systems specialists and technicians use to ensure that the systems used to separate and control aircraft are working properly and interface correctly with the other 50.000 systems and equipment in the NAS. Only the U.S. government. through its employees. is empowered to certify the air traffic control system. As a resuit. only FAA personnel with sufficient knowledge of the entire NAS may perform certification. An example of the important functions that systems specialist perform is the work they did for the Department of Defense after the terrorist attacks of September 11. 2001. In the months after September 11th. the DoD realized that they did not have radar capabilities to see or hear air traffic activity within the U.S. borders. FAA systems specialists worked with the DoD to provide additional radar surveillance as well as data and voice communication capability to the military. Whats really remarkable about this is that the bulk of the work was completed in only four months. The flexibility of the systems specialist workforce. their extensive knowledge of how the entire air traffic control system works as well as their ability to respond quickly to a problem would be lost if the work is contracted out. Safety should be the FAAs number one priority. The only way to ensure that this happens is to enact legislation that protects the most safety critical functions from privatization. This means that we must protect all of the functions relating to the control and separation of air trafficfunctions performed by systems specialists and air traffic controllers.