Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this bill which contains many excellent provisions. But I would like to thank Chairman Oberstar and Subcommittee Chairman Costello, in particular, for including in the manager's amendment two provisions that are particularly important to me.

The first requires the FAA to conduct a study to determine if temperature standards are necessary to protect crew members and passengers from excessive heat on board aircraft. We've all heard the news reports about passengers on planes grounded for hours sometimes in the heat without fresh air and necessary supplies.

The Association of Flight Attendants reports that many crew members have had to work in dangerously high temperatures during ground operations for long periods of time with no ability to obtain relief.

Now, this is not just a matter of discomfort. Heat-related illness can be severe, can even lead to death, particularly for sensitive populations.

My first inclination was to require that the temperature in the aircraft must not exceed 80 degrees during ground operations, but various operational issues make it clear that such a requirement would be premature. I hope that this study will inform Congress of what options are available to us and that it will force the FAA to take seriously this serious problem.

The second provision would mandate the FAA to complete a study of the cabin air quality that we required in the last FAA reauthorization bill passed in 2003. Aircraft in the current commercial fleet are equipped with air circulation systems that bleed air off the engines and are subject to contamination of the air by engine oil and hydraulic fluids. We continue to hear reports from crew members and passengers who have developed long-term neurological problems after documented exposure to oil smoke in the cabin or on the flight deck. In the last reauthorization bill, we included a study to sample and analyze the air on board the cabin aircraft. Unfortunately, the FAA never completed the study.

My preference, again, would be to set standards for cabin air quality now or to require that aircraft use certain filters that can clean the outside air more efficiently. But every time we raise this issue, we hear that the problem has not been properly documented. It is time, and this bill requires that the FAA complete this research.

I would like to thank Mr. Oberstar and Mr. Costello for their support of these provisions and for including them in the manager's amendment. I look forward to working with my colleagues to advance these critical workplace and consumer protections, so that people can breathe the air and not faint from the heat. And I urge support for this bill.