REMARKS FOR
THE HONORABLE
NORMAN Y. MINETA
SECRETARY OF
TRANSPORTATION
FORT SMITH
REGIONAL AIRPORT DEDICATION WITH SENATOR TIM HUTCHINSON
FORT SMITH,
ARKANSAS
WEDNESDAY,
AUGUST 28
5:00 PM
Thank you for that warm introduction Senator Hutchinson.
What a distinguished audience we have here today!
I’m happy to be here in the Land of Opportunity, in the
Industrial Capital of Arkansas, with Senator Hutchinson, a man who, we know,
works hard to create opportunities for economic growth.
Welcome Representative John Boozman and my former
colleague, Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt.
Congressman Hammerschmidt and I served on the Public Works Committee some
years ago, and I can tell you that he is passionate about his home state of
Arkansas and about transportation.
While I am mentioning our friends from the Hill, I would
like to wish Senator Blanche Lincoln a speedy recovery.
Her new office will be located right here in this building.
Greetings to Arkansas’ First Lady, Janet Huckabee, and to
the Mayor of Fort Smith, Ray Baker. It’s
great to see you.
To National Transportation Safety Board members John Arthur
Hammerschmidt and John Goglia, Airport Commission Chairman Mark Horn, and
Airport Manager Bob Johnson, thanks for your continued commitment to
transportation issues.
And to all of our other state and local transportation and
government officials, thanks for coming today.
I am delighted to join you as you dedicate this new
terminal. And I would like to
convey the best of wishes from President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
As you can see from today’s dedication, good things are
happening, and Life is worth living in Fort Smith.
Thanks to the collaboration and consensus building of the
leaders in this community, about 100,000 passengers per year fly in and out of
Fort Smith Airport, which offers commuter flights to two major cities, with
another in the works. This airport
is on its way to becoming one of the fastest growing airports in the state.
The 20 million dollars spent on this new terminal should
stimulate new job opportunities and economic growth through expanded travel, as
well as better cargo shipment and increased business investment.
We in the Bush Administration are proud to have been your partners in making these improvements possible.
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but the fact remains:
the economy takes off from here. Ever
since I served as mayor in my hometown of San Jose, California, I have
considered transportation to be the engine that drives our economy.
That’s true here in Fort Smith, and it’s true across
the Nation.
I want the people of this state to know that we, at the
federal level, recognize that a safe, secure, reliable and efficient
transportation system plays a key role in ensuring that Arkansas continues to
thrive.
President Bush and Vice President Cheney strongly support
investment in aviation. We see the
results of this investment here today.
And, we will continue to invest in rebuilding our national
transportation system, a system that was used as a weapon against us in the
terrorist attacks of last September 11th.
We will invest wisely in our people and our infrastructure,
and work will harder in this new era of transportation to provide a safe and
secure system.
We are not alone in this task. Our agency is working with state and local law enforcement
officials, airports and airline managers, and other stakeholders to ensure that
the people of Arkansas, as well as all travelers, are as safe and secure as
possible. Our goal is world-class
security balanced with world-class customer service.
With new technologies and a well-trained workforce, we can
restore and maintain our transportation system without sacrificing efficiency.
Over the past few months, the Transportation Security
Administration has been deploying federal passenger screeners at terminals
throughout America’s airports. Soon,
airports within the state of Arkansas will receive screeners as well.
What this means is that, once federal screeners are in
place, TSA will be responsible for the security measures within your airports.
The result will be much better training, superior standards and tighter,
more consistent security overall.
So far, we have hired 137 new Federal Security Directors in
352 airports. We have conducted 81
job fairs, and we have over a million applicants for the new job of federal
passenger and baggage screener. We
have already hired more than 21,750 federal passenger screeners, nearly
two-thirds of the number we will need to meet the November 19th
deadline, and by the end of the year, we will have filled between 52,000
to 54,000 positions. So we
are making tremendous progress.
Leading our efforts here at the Fort Smith Municipal
Airport, as well as Little Rock National Airport and Northwest Arkansas Regional
Airport, is Federal Security Director Jerry Henderson.
Also, I want to acknowledge Michael Boren, our Federal
Security Director for Texarkana Regional Airport, as well as the airports in
Longview, and Tyler – Pounds, Texas.
In addition, I would to commend Mark Cox, the local TSA
representative who helped to make this day a success.
I want to thank all of you here, and all the other folks at
the Transportation Security Administration, as well as staff of the airports and
the airlines serving Arkansas, for your support in this mission.
As I stated before, we have made progress in these past
months, but there is still much to do.
As the Transportation Secretary of the United States, I look forward to working with each of you to ensure that our Nation continues to enjoy the benefits of a safe, secure, and reliable transportation system. Thank you for inviting me to join you in taking the next step toward that vision with the dedication of this terminal. Good Luck and God bless America.
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