Speeches and Floor Statements

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), who represents a Northern Virginia district that includes DCA, just delivered remarks staunchly opposing an amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill that would add new beyond-perimeter flights to the airport. Beyer is leading unified opposition from the regional delegation to the measure in the House, which is also opposed by members of both party from across the country. The amendment is expected to get a vote later tonight.

Beyer remarks as prepared (remarks as delivered will be here shortly):

“I rise in strong opposition to this amendment which has been falsely advertised as a ‘compromise.’ To be clear, no one asked our regional delegation about this, and we are unified against adding more air traffic at DCA.

We all know that DCA is over capacity.

20% of flights at DCA are already delayed for over an hour on average, and adding more flights would make it worse.

Given our congested, complex airspace it would also worsen existing safety concerns.

And the claim that this amendment would lower ticket prices for flights at DCA is simply not true. In fact, when out-of-perimeter slots were last added to DCA, prices for domestic long-haul flights at DCA and Dulles both went up. 

Finally, no Member of Congress appreciates other representatives meddling with their district without consultation, especially on a change that would increase airplane noise for their constituents.

No one here would stand for that if we were talking about your home airport. 

I urge you to vote NO on this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.”