mr. speaker , i thank my distinguished friend from new york for yielding me this time . 
mr. speaker , i rise against this rule . 
i am very disappointed that my bipartisan amendment to restore funding for shoulder-fired missile protections was not permitted by this rule . 
the president of the united states requested $ 110 million for shoulder-fired missile research and development . 
the bill that we are going to vote on later today reduces it to $ 10 million . 
over the past several years , the gentleman from florida ( mr. mica ) xz4002730 , republican chairman of the aviation subcommittee , and i have been working on this issue . 
but it is not just the gentleman from florida ( mr. mica ) xz4002730 and i. it is the state department which released a report saying that shoulder-fired missiles are the leading cause of loss of life in commercial aviation around the world . 
they were used in december of 2003 against an israeli jetliner in kenya . 
they were used a year later against a dhl carrier . 
we now know that the internet is teaching terrorists how to buy shoulder-fired missiles , set them up , and fire them . 
there are hundreds of thousands of these systems available around the world in the hands of 27 separate terrorist groups including al qaeda . 
everyone who has studied this issue , the president , the department of homeland security , the state department , the fbi , the cia , the aviation subcommittee , the committee on appropriations , agrees that this threat needs to be addressed . 
and what does this bill do ? 
ignores the threat . 
if a single shoulder-fired missile is fired at an american aircraft , mr. speaker , we are not going to be worried about $ 115 million in this bill . 
we are going to be worried about the end of the aviation industry as we know it and devastating consequences to our economy and the american people will look at what we did on this floor today and ask why we turned our backs on the president 's request , the state department 's urgency , the committee on appropriations , the aviation subcommittee , republicans and democrats , and , most importantly , the flying public . 
mr. speaker , i oppose this rule . 
this was a commonsense bipartisan amendment . 
i will vote for the bill , but i am hopeful that we can work together on the basis of common sense and proceed to protect the american flying public . 
