Association Expresses Appreciation For Member's Support Of
GA
More than 100 Members of the U.S.
House of Representatives on Tuesday urged President Barack Obama to
reject user fees as a way to fund the FAA, and instead retain the
efficient fuel excise and ticket taxes currently used to fund the
Airport and Airway Trust Fund. In supporting documents sent to
Congress with the Fiscal Year 2010 budget proposal, the White House
indicated its intention to raise some $9 billion through "direct
user charges" in the FY 2011 budget.
In the letter, 118 Members - representing more than a quarter of
the entire House of Representatives - told President Obama, "[T]he
House has opposed this approach in legislation to reauthorize the
FAA in both the 110th and 111th Congresses. Therefore, proposing
user fees to finance the FAA would be a non-starter in the
House."
"The message from the House of Representatives to the White
House in this truly bipartisan letter is unmistakable, and we
appreciate the Members' staking out their position so
unequivocally," said AOPA President and CEO Craig L. Fuller. "They
have heard not only general aviation's concerns, but also the
assurances of both the Government Accountability Office and the
Department of Transportation's Inspector General that the current
funding mechanism is more than adequate to pay for both day-to-day
operations and development of NextGen."
In their letter, 55 Democrats and
63 Republicans call the current funding system, "a stable and
efficient source of funding," and say they believe a user
fee-funded system, "will place an undue administrative burden, and
associated costs, on system users - particularly small businesses
and general aviation users."
They go on to say that if the President includes a user fee
proposal in the FY 2011 budget, it will be, "a major distraction
from the number one priority, the Next Generation Air
Transportation System."
The most recent funding authorization bill for the FAA expired
on Sept. 30, 2007. Since then, the agency has been paid for using a
series of continuing resolutions - stopgap measures. In both the
110th and the current 111th Congress, the House passed
reauthorization bills that raised fuel excise taxes for general
aviation - a provision AOPA supported both times - while leaving
taxes on the airlines and their passengers alone, and provided for
the FAA without the use of user fees. U.S. Senate committees
reached agreement on similar legislation, but were unable to bring
a bill to the floor before the 110th Congress adjourned. Some
involved in the Senate remain optimistic that the Senate will be
able to reach agreement on its own reauthorization bill before the
end of the year.
"I sincerely hope that President Obama and his administration
carefully weigh the well informed and carefully considered views
expressed by the Members of the Congress signing this letter as
next year's budget proposals are developed," concluded Fuller.