A Civil War Erupts Over FAA's New Funding Proposal in Washington
Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe, a longtime GA enthusiast, has estimated about 88 percent of small-plane pilots would stop flying under the new system; Bolen's organization emphasizes that 70 percent of fliers using GA for business purposes own tiny turboprop or piston aircraft, "not fancy business jets, like FAA would have you believe."
So far it looks as if such arguments are resonating. In the House, Rep. Jim Oberstar, chairman of the House committee handling the proposal, said last week he hoped to give the proposal "a proper burial." One Republican on his committee, Rep. Vernon Ehlers of Michigan, called the FAA's scheme "dead on arrival" at its first hearing.
"I'm not even convinced that the current funding system isn't sufficient to fund the [air-traffic upgrades]," says Rep. Jerry Costello, who chairs the House's aviation subcommittee. Government Accountability Office reports, he adds, indicate that for the first year at least, the FAA would actually get $600 million less under the new plan than the current one. From fiscal years 2009 to 2012, the GAO estimates the FAA would get $900 million less. Blakey denies the proposal would short-shrift the FAA.
Members of Congress are also skeptical of a new 13-member outside advisory board that would advise the FAA on fees. That board could raise some of the rates based on the FAA's needs or to reduce some congestion. Critics say it makes the agency less accountable to Congress–and possibly less worried about possible cost overruns during modernization.
Some outsiders argue, however, that the strong rejection of the FAA's idea is helped along by the enormous influence the GA and business aviation communities wield on Capitol Hill. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, which represents more than 410,000 hobby fliers, is lobbying aggressively against the idea. It contributed more than $1.8 million to election campaigns in the 2006 cycle alone, including $10,000 each to Oberstar, Costello, and Ehlers. AOPA has also spent more than $11 million on lobbying since January 2005.
The FAA, meanwhile, isn't giving up easily. Blakey says she believes the proposal "absolutely does have a very high probability of becoming law." And there are some signs the Senate is a bit more open to the user-fee idea. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who is working on a funding bill, has said he's "not offended" by the concept of user fees and knows "that the status quo [funding scheme] is not good enough." Rockefeller is expected to propose an FAA bill by the end of April. If a law isn't passed by the end of September, the current ticket-tax system expires with nothing to replace it, meaning FAA funding shortfalls.
"We all agree that we need more money, and you all are saying, 'No, not me!'" Sen. Trent Lott, who's working with Rockefeller, told a group of GA and commercial-aviation leaders recently. "That's just not the way it's going to happen." Bluster, sniping, and lobbying, be damned.
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