Statement on Signing the Extension of the Airport Improvement Program Act

I am pleased to sign S. 1637, the "Extension of the Airport Improvement Program Act," releasing the final $290 million of FY99 funds for the Federal Aviation Administration's Airport Improvement Program (AIP). These funds will help communities across the country finance critical projects to enhance airport safety and capacity and reduce noise. Some $71 million of the AIP funds will go to help lessen the growing problem of airport-related noise, by insulating nearby schools and residential neighborhoods and other noise mitigation efforts. These and other efforts by the Federal Government will mean that, by next year, only 600,000 Americans will be adversely affected by aircraft noise, compared to the 2.3 million Americans who faced that problem in 1995. A significant portion of the funds released today will go to help smaller airports, which have fewer financial resources and are more dependent on Federal assistance to meet their capital requirements than are larger airports.