Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 106 Part 6.djvu/316

 106 STAT. 4874 PUBLIC LAW 102-581—OCT. 31, 1992 tinue to move treifllc safely and efficiently and the necessary development and procurement of capital equipment will cost at least $18,000,000,000 over the next decade; (10) the modernization of the air traffic control system will result in productivity and safety benefits of $257,000,000,000 over the life of the equipment purchased; these benefits include the value of time saved by airline passengers, reductions in edrline operating costs, and reduced government expenditures and benefits from increased safety; (11) there will need to be a continuing increase in staffing for the air traffic control system to enable controllers to handle, safely and efficiently, the increased workload which will arise as air transportation grows over the next decade; (12) the Federal Government must play a major role in developing our aviation system; full use must be made of the more than $5,000,000,000 which aviation users contribute to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund each year and the $7,400,000,000 surplus which has accumulated in the Trust Fund; (13) although survival of a strong and competitive airline industry is essential to our Nation's economic future—the Nation's airlines are in a financial and competitive crisis which threatens our entire aviation system and our Nation's ability to move people; major airlines have lost more than $6,000,000,000 over the past 2 years; many airlines have merged or discontinued operations; and new entry into the industry has ceased; (14) the opportunities for new entrants and financially weak airlines to compete successfully can be maximized by the development of new airport capacity, particularly terminal facilities and gates, which will facilitate the ability of new airlines to compete against the airlines which now dominate the facilities at major hub airports; (15) investment in the aviation transportation infrastructure of the United States will pay immediate and long-term dividends in jobs and economic productivity and provide the foundation for the Nation's continued leadership in the global economic competition of the 21st century; (16) infrastructure investment differs significantly from other forms of government spending because it creates new wealth for the Nation; (17) the wealth and economic strength of the United States is in the Nation's infrastructure which provides the foundation for all aspects of life; (18) failure to invest in the transportation infrastructure, including aviation, has placed the United States in danger of becoming a service-oriented economy, rather than having a strong and independent manufacturing-based economy; (19) the creation of a national intermodal transportation system is central to the transportation issues of the coming decades and will create the new wealth of the Nation to provide the funds for the Nation to meet the challenges of the 21st century; (20) our Nation should devote greater efforts to integrating the aviation system with highway and mass transit facilities providing access to airports;

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