Senate Wrangling Derails US Air Traffic Overhaul Bill
Airwise.com, 5/7/2008 (excerpted)
A bill to modernize the US air traffic system, increase safety oversight and improve customer service was derailed on Tuesday by US Senate wrangling over attempts to include unrelated measures.
The massive multi-year blueprint authorizing Federal Aviation Administration programs was undercut by partisan disagreement, and Democratic leaders failed to win a procedural motion that would have brought the bill to a final vote.
Some industry and congressional insiders said it was possible, but not likely, that proponents could reintroduce the package in the future, stripped of contentious and unrelated tax, pension, labor, and transit financing issues.
"Frustrated, perplexed and deeply disappointed are just some of the words that I would use to describe the Senate's inability to move forward on this bill," said John Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat and chairman of the Senate aviation subcommittee. "I remain hopeful that we can work things out."
The House has already approved a similar measure.
But the Senate bill included updated provisions to tighten oversight of airline safety practices in response to questions this spring about FAA oversight.
Hundreds of commercial aircraft were grounded and thousands of flights were canceled in the United States in March and April because of missed safety inspections.
The Senate bill also included proposals to force airlines to improve customer service during long delays, partly the result of worsening air traffic congestion.
To help finance the billions of dollars needed to upgrade the air traffic network in the United States, the Senate had proposed increasing the tax on jet fuel used by private aircraft owners to 36 cents a gallon from 21.8 cents to raise USD$240 million annually.
Taxes and fees paid by airline passengers would not go up, a partial concession to the industry now struggling under the weight of record fuel prices.
(Reuters)