[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 171 (Thursday, October 1, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H5188-H5189]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FRIENDLY AIRPORTS FOR MOTHERS IMPROVEMENT ACT
Mr. CARBAJAL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (S. 2638) to amend title 49, United States Code, to require small
hub airports to construct areas for nursing mothers, and for other
purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
S. 2638
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Friendly Airports for
Mothers Improvement Act''.
SEC. 2. MOTHERS' ROOMS.
Section 47107(w) of title 49, United States Code, is
amended--
(1) in paragraph (1) by striking ``In fiscal year 2021''
and all that follows through ``the Secretary of
Transportation'' and inserting ``The Secretary of
Transportation'';
(2) in paragraph (1)(B) by striking ``one men's and one
women's'' and inserting ``at least one men's and at least one
women's'';
(3) by striking paragraph (2)(A) and inserting the
following:
``(A) Airport size.--
``(i) In general.--The requirements in paragraph (1) shall
only apply to applications submitted by the airport sponsor
of--
``(I) a medium or large hub airport in fiscal year 2021 and
each fiscal year thereafter; and
``(II) an applicable small hub airport in fiscal year 2023
and each fiscal year thereafter.
``(ii) Applicable small hub airport defined.--In clause
(i)(II), the term `applicable small hub airport' means an
airport designated as a small hub airport during--
``(I) the 3-year period consisting of 2020, 2021, and 2022;
or
``(II) any consecutive 3-year period beginning after
2020.'';
(4) in paragraph (2)(B) by striking ``the date of enactment
of this Act complies with the requirement in paragraph (1)''
and inserting ``October 5, 2018, complies with the
requirement in paragraph (1)(A)''; and
(5) in paragraph (2)(C) by striking ``paragraph (1)'' and
inserting ``paragraph (1)(A)''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Carbajal) and the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs.
Miller) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.
[[Page H5189]]
General Leave
Mr. CARBAJAL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on S. 2638.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. CARBAJAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume,
and I rise in support of S. 2638, the Friendly Airports for Mothers
Improvement Act.
Introduced in the Senate by Senator Tammy Duckworth from Illinois,
this is a commonsense bill that requires small hub airports to maintain
lactation areas for nursing mothers and a baby-changing table in men's
and women's restrooms.
As a result of this legislation, small hub airports will begin to
come in line with the medium and large hub airports, which were charged
with meeting the same requirements as the result of the FAA
Reauthorization Act of 2018.
Similar legislation was introduced in the House by Representative
Carol Miller and passed in this Chamber December 2019.
I want to thank both Senator Duckworth and Representative Miller for
their leadership on this issue and urge my colleagues to vote in favor
of S. 2638.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. MILLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 2638, the Friendly
Airports for Mothers Improvement Act.
Traveling with infants is often stressful on new mothers and new
fathers. I think back to when I was a young mom traveling with my sons,
Chris and Sam, and now traveling with their wives, who just blessed us
with our sixth grandchild, and to all moms and dads across the country
who face the distinct challenges of traveling with their babies, let
alone babies plus a sibling who could be a toddler, which is often the
case.
This bill helps to lessen anxiety when traveling and allows mothers
to have a quiet private space to care for their young ones. I
introduced similar legislation, H.R. 3362, earlier this year to help
accomplish this goal, and I am pleased to see this issue brought to a
vote today.
As air travel continues to be one of the most preferred and popular
means of transportation, we need to make sure that airport
infrastructure is properly updated to fit the needs of American mothers
and fathers and American families.
S. 2638 would require small hub airports to construct mothers' rooms,
which are areas where mothers can nurse their children in privacy,
rather than a restroom. Think how disgusting that would be. Moms know
that there is nothing comforting or nurturing about nursing a baby in
an unsanitary condition of an airport bathroom.
The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 required all large and medium hub
airports to construct mothers' rooms by 2021. This bill would help fill
the remaining gap and similarly require small hub airports to install
mothers' rooms, extending the coverage to 97 percent of all travelers.
With the pandemic, travel has become even more difficult, so the
timing of this bill couldn't be more appropriate because it emphasizes
the need for Congress to come together to pass bipartisan support in
the COVID crisis, without which our airports may continue to be empty.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support S. 2638, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CARBAJAL. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. MILLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Louisiana (Mr. Graves), the ranking member of the Aviation
Subcommittee.
Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from
West Virginia.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman DeFazio and Ranking Member Sam
Graves for their work on this legislation.
Once again, Mr. Speaker, this is a demonstration of bipartisan
cooperation, what we were sent here to do, as opposed to the politics
that we have all seen that have hijacked our government in recent
months. The reality is that they are real needs of the American public,
and this is an example of that.
This legislation is very simple. Airports are not like traditional
roadways. You have a runway that is usually, at most airports, one
runway, and that is it. So when that runway goes down, that airport
can't function. You can't have flights come in. You can't have
commercial or general aviation operations. So this legislation, very
simply, allows for incentive-based contracting, where you can reduce
the amount of time that it takes you to do your construction project.
It diminishes delays on vacations, family visits, business travel, and
all the important things that are facilitated by our aviation
infrastructure by airports.
Again, it simply allows us to more quickly address safety issues,
capacity issues, and expansion issues in airports. The bottom line is
this ultimately is a saver for taxpayers, because if we can resume
operations, it allows the traveling public to advance and the economy
to flow, and it allows aviation taxes to also continue flowing.
Mr. Speaker, again, I want to thank Mr. DeFazio, Congressman Larsen,
Congressman Sam Graves, and all those who worked together on this
important legislation, and I urge adoption.
Mrs. MILLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, as stated, the aim of this bill, ensuring that mothers
and families with young children have proper facilities while
traveling, is a need that is long overdue, and it is high time that we
fix it.
I have a personal story. In the 1980s, I was traveling with my
husband and my two sons. One was in diapers, and one was a toddler. I
handed the one in diapers to my husband when I realized that the baby
needed to be changed. He took the baby and the paraphernalia with him
to the men's restroom to take care of the baby.
When he comes back, he hands me a child who is crying, looks at his
mommy, and reaches out. My husband goes: I did the best I could with
what I had.
Well, he went into a bathroom that had sinks lined up on the wall, so
he had to place the baby on top of two sinks to take care of business.
I will leave the rest up to you, but we did do the best we could.
Thank the Lord, we are now going to be in modern times and take care
of families the way they should be, having the appropriate things in
both bathrooms.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this bill, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
Mr. CARBAJAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, affording women lactation stations is something that I
was very proud to have done, as we are now doing with small airports.
We did it for all county facilities in county government when I was a
county supervisor.
I am really glad to see this bipartisan bill is moving forward. Mr.
Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from California (Mr. Carbajal) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, S. 2638.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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