Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4056, which is entitled the Commercial Aviation MANPADS Defense Act. Again, MANPADS stands for man-portable air defense systems. It is also an acronym for shoulder-launched missiles.

There are two significant threats to commercial aviation today: first of all, there is the threat of explosives carried on board a civil aviation aircraft; and then there is the second significant threat which is shoulder-fired missiles. The legislation before us tonight addresses one of those issues, the growing terrorist MANPADS threat. It addresses four different problems that we face with this threat.

First of all, most of the Members may be aware that the administration has launched, with Congress' urging, an extensive research and development program, and that program has been expedited to develop a shoulder-launched missile defensive system to put on our commercial aircraft.

But the number one problem that we face even if we finish the research and development of that system today, the defensive system, is putting that system on an aircraft and getting it certified. So the first front and first problem that this bill addresses is an expedited FAA certification of an antimissile system that is currently being developed. The second part of this comprehensive piece of legislation deals with increasing multinational treaties and agreements to stem MANPADS and shoulder-launched missile proliferation.

We know and we have been told even with the conflict in the Middle East that there are a great number of MANPADS available on the world market. We must do everything possible to stop the proliferation of them, and this encourages multinational treaties and agreements.

And, third, encouraging MANPADS market acquisition. This is a buy-back program. This legislation also requests the administration and those involved in buy-back programs to continue and expand those programs. And then the fourth part about this is that we know that these defensive systems that we can put on aircraft are a good step forward, we know that multilateral agreements and cooperation will bring MANPADS out of the market and we know that the buy-back program will work, but we still are at risk and we know that these systems even when fully developed do not cover us for all types of attack and the fourth part of this legislation promotes ground-based systems. So we look at another protective layer in the threat that we face.

While it may be difficult to attack domestic aviation in light of the current security measures that we have put in place, the availability of MANPADS weapons of terror is still a great cause for concern. This has been demonstrated repeatedly, most recently by the November 2002 attack in Kenya, by the 2003 attack on the DHL plane in Baghdad, and also most recently in August of 2003 by the arrest in New York City of three men accused in a plot to smuggle shoulder-fired missiles into the United States.

Last year at the direction of Congress, DHS began an aggressive research and development program to assess the viability of an antimissile technology for use in commercial aviation passenger aircraft. The administration's current $100 million research and development program and efforts to work through issues unique to our commercial aviation system and our commercial aircraft, I am pleased, are making very significant progress. We expect to have a recommendation on the viability, feasibility, and costs associated with these systems sometime next year. After that, these systems will need to be expeditiously FAA-certified for installation on our commercial aircraft.

It is also necessary, I have said, that we keep these destructive weapons out of the hands of terrorists. Other alternatives to protect our airlines and our airports must also be explored. That is why I, along with the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Israel), introduced H.R. 4056. This bill now is an interim solution and an interim measure addressing, again, problems that we face with this threat. It encourages continued actions to reduce the number of these weapons that are available to those who would do us harm.

We have worked closely with the Committee on International Relations and the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde) to strengthen and clarify the provisions in the legislation dealing with international cooperative efforts. This bill makes clear that the administration must take additional steps to reduce the security risks created by shoulder-launched missile systems. It also encourages strong international diplomatic and cooperative efforts to limit the proliferation of these MANPADS as well as the continuation of our programs, as I have said, that would help us reduce the number of shoulder-launched missiles worldwide. The bill also requires the FAA to expedite their airworthiness certification of the missile defense systems for our commercial aircraft.
Finally, H.R. 4056 requires the Department of Homeland Security to report back to Congress within a year on the vulnerability assessment reports they are conducting at our airports throughout the United States and on how they are responding to the General Accounting Office's recommendations to prevent the proliferation of MANPADS.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) and also the gentleman from New York (Mr. Israel) for their hard work on this bill. I also want to thank Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman DON YOUNG and International Relations Chairman HENRY HYDE for their cooperation and work.

This measure takes several important steps in dealing with the MANPADS terrorist threat. It is a good bill, it is a bipartisan bill; and therefore I urge passage and adoption of H.R. 4056, as amended.