mr. costello: i yield to mr. rahall. mr. rahall: it's clear the other body would not accept this amendment if the bill goes with this in it, the president of the united states would not accept this amendment, this bill with the current language, he's already said veto it so i guess the proponents of this particular provision are wanting to continue to pass extension after extension, threatening airport improvement, threatening to halt airport construction and threatening to shut down our goth. this is not about unions, it's about fairness and what's right for the american worker. that's all we're talking about in this particular amendment. i would yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from california, mr. miller. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for 45 seconds. mr. miller: i rise in strong support of this amendment. this amendment really restores democracy to the american workplace and it restores the american principles of majority vote and majority rule. the decision by the national mediation board to begin r

mr. costello who we worked very closely with. i serve as the ranking member on the transportation and security committee and i can't imagine a more perfect fit on the question of safety and security for our traveling public. i thank the chairman of the full committee and others associated with this legislation. however disappointed i am and having to come to the floor and raise questions about our next step. and i am particularly devastated about the cuts in the f.a.a.'s next generation air traffic system, the nextgen. whenever you think of air traffic controllers i want you to think of first responders as i'll discuss an amendment regarding the issue of ensuring the kind of staffing needs necessary to engage in security. farther, since i have the largest airports in the country, bush intercontinental airport, which we were proud to name, i'm disappointed that the

mr. costello. there have been serious efforts to work in a bipartisan way, but i fully realize that on the majority's side a lot of these decisions, a lot of these funding levels are not necessarily made by the chairman of the full committee and the ranking -- the chairman of the subcommittee. we read about other forces that are out there on the majority's side. i also recognize that a lot of these decisions are made at levels higher than the chairman's, at levels higher than which airplanes fly. and so this is not all necessarily the chairman's fault. i think it would be fair to warn the body that the administration has issued their position on this legislation and they say that if funding were appropriated at levels proposed in the bill, it would be degraded today and in the future. and more importantly, the administration has reiterated its opposition to the poison pill labor provisions in this bill. if the president is presented with the bill that will not safeguard the ability of airport and r