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May 24, 2005: NORTON'S LONG CAMPAIGN FOR CHARTER SERVICE RESUMPTION TO BEAR FRUIT IN 90 DAYS

January 10, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 24, 2005

NORTON'S LONG CAMPAIGN FOR CHARTER SERVICE RESUMPTION TO BEAR FRUIT IN 90 DAYS
Objects to Cumbersome Restrictions

Washington, DC--Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today spoke with Rear Admiral David Stone, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, about the resumption of general aviation and chartered flights to Reagan National Airport to begin as early as within 90 days. Norton, the only regional member of the Aviation Subcommittee, has been trying for almost four years to get Reagan open to small planes and said she was grateful for the tremendous support she has gotten from the Transportation Committee leadership, including Chairman Don Young and Ranking Member Jim Oberstar as well as Aviation Subcommittee Chairman John Mica and Ranking Member Jerry Costello. “Our committee has been as outraged as I that Reagan has been the only airport that has had no general aviation traffic since 9-11,” Norton said. “We have created the false impression that we can’t even protect our own nation’s capital.” General aviation in New York City, where the 9-11 disaster occurred was up and running shortly after the catastrophe.

Norton said, however, that this must be regarded as only a first step because of the “needlessly cumbersome restrictions” imposed. She said that apparently only corporate aviation would be allowed and that even these planes would have to stop at regional hubs and take on an air traffic marshal before coming to Reagan. Flights to Reagan will pass through 12 gateway airports using regular TSA screeners. “The most important lesson we have learned since 9-11 is that the most effective measures must be taken on the ground before the plane takes off. A stop before arriving at Reagan may well increase, not reduce, security risks,” Norton said. “We must not let these unnecessary restrictions become permanent.”

Norton said a great deal of the credit for reopening must go to Chairman Young, who warned Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials in April at the markup of a bill mandating the reopening that he would hold them in contempt if officials did not respond to the statutory mandate to reopen Reagan. She said that she particularly appreciates the work of Chairman Mica, who last year held a hearing at the Reagan hangar where small planes are housed. In addition to the Transportation Committee bill mandating reopening, a similar bill is pending in the Government Reform Committee, on which Norton also serves. She is a sponsor of both bills. Norton got the first bill for reopening passed as part of the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization in the last Congress. Her bill required a plan for reopening.