FORT LAUDERDALE-HOLLYWOOD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, FLA. (WSVN) – Some of South Florida’s war heroes were honored with a touching trip to the nation’s capital.
Veterans who served during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War returned home Saturday night after spending the day in Washington, D.C., where they visited memorials built in their honor.
The trip is a one-day mission that allows them to reflect.
“Just coming through that line, and the gratitude and all the love and emotion that I felt coming through there, if we had just experienced that those many years ago when we came back from Vietnam, it would have been tremendous,” said Vietnam War veteran Irvin Raveneau. “But that’s in the past. What’s happening today, what just happened in there, it’s just fantastic”
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Honor Flight South Florida covered the cost of the flights, meals and special transportation that included police escorts in Washington.
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WASHINGTON (7News) — It’s Friday, and we’re rounding out the week noticeably cooler with cloudy skies and chances for showers. The afternoon temperature will reach a high of 66 degrees.
Showers will taper off before midnight with skies mostly cloudy during the overnight hours as temps drop down to the mid-40s.
It will be noticeably cooler Saturday morning with temperatures in the 40s in many neighborhoods. Cooler than average temperatures are expected with highs only in the mid to upper 60s. Expect sunshine to start the day with increasing clouds late in the day. Areas of rain are possible during the evening hours, so have the rain gear for your Saturday night plans.
Sunday is Mother’s Day and it will be another chilly/cool morning with afternoon highs back into the 60s. While there will be the chance for a passing shower or storm, there will be a lot of dry time for your plans.
The Senate passed a major aviation bill on Thursday, marking an end to a monthslong fight over whether to add more flights to the nation’s busiest runway.
Last month, negotiators in both chambers unveiled a compromise bill that would reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration for another five years, but a provision to add 10 slots at Reagan National Airport prompted outrage from Washington, D.C.-area senators, who warned the flights would cause delays and a risk to public safety.
The four senators, from Maryland and Virginia, held up passage for days, demanding a vote to strip out the slots, but they ultimately relented with the Friday expiration of the law looming.
The measure passed in an 88-4 vote, with Sens. Ben Cardin (D-MD), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Mark Warner (D-VA) opposed.
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“After months of painstaking work, the FAA reauthorization has passed in the Senate today,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said ahead of the final vote. “Aviation safety has been front of mind for millions of Americans recently, and passing this FAA bill is the best thing Congress can do to give Americans the peace of mind they deserve.”
The House departed for the week on Wednesday, meaning the soonest it can get through Congress and to President Joe Biden’s desk is Tuesday, but the lower chamber passed a one-week extension to avoid a temporary lapse before it left.
That extension cleared the upper chamber by voice vote less than an hour after the flagship bill.
Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), left, and Mark Warner (D-VA) arrive as the Senate holds a procedural vote on a package of wartime funding for Ukraine, Israel, and other U.S. allies, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Feb. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The fight over DCA slots was not the only holdup on the FAA bill. Negotiators tweaked the legislation at the last minute to resolve a dispute over the Biden administration’s airline refund policy.
Meanwhile, senators saw the reauthorization, one of the final must-pass bills of the current Congress, as a chance to attach unrelated provisions. More than a hundred amendments were filed, but none were ultimately granted a vote.
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The Senate operates by unanimous consent, so any one senator could have dragged the process out further. As recently as Thursday afternoon, members from Maryland and Virginia were promising to use every “procedural right” they had to force a vote on the flights.
But they agreed to drop their holds with a simple gesture from Schumer. He brought forward a compromise amendment that would have allowed the flights if the transportation secretary certifies they do not pose a safety hazard.
The amendment was quickly blocked by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the top Republican on the Commerce Committee, who objected to a vote from the Senate floor.
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The one-week extension faced some controversy of its own. Senators delayed the bill briefly as they worked to get a commitment for future votes on unrelated legislation. Two online safety bills were the subject of negotiations, according to Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the chairwoman of the Commerce Committee, as was an expiring affordable internet program.
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“Everybody said, ‘I want my time on the floor!’” she said, noting that a hotline went out to gauge support but that any member could object.
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