Cites "Inability To Compromise" During Hearing
Some people just don't get it. West Virginia Senator John D.
Rockefeller says it's unlikely there will be an FAA funding
reauthorization bill passed at all in 2008, period... and he says
the general aviation community is to blame.
In comments during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Thursday,
Rockefeller made his declaration of failure "based on the GA
community's inability to compromise" on agreeing to a
$25-per-flight user fee for most turbine aircraft flying under IFR
flight plans, as called for under the Senate reauthorization bill
S.1300.
The senator says the fee is necessary to pay for modernizing the
air traffic control system... and Rockefeller believes GA doesn't
want to pay its fair share. "I blame it on them because we
can’t work it out," Rockefeller added, reports the Aircraft
Owners and Pilots Association.
Rockefeller's bombast is nothing new. As ANN reported last July,
Rockefeller joined then-fellow Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) in
slamming GA for its reluctance to adopt the fee -- which isn't
included in the House reauthorization bill, H.R.2881 -- and
threatened the GA community outright if it didn't step in line.
"If we don't restore
equity, then as chairman of this aviation subcommittee, I will
address the equity issue by looking for ways to limit general
aviation access to congested airspace," the West Virginia democrat
(right) said. "There are ways to do that, and we will find those
ways."
New Hampshire Senator John Sununu doesn't agree with his
colleague from across the aisle, calling Rockefeller's assertion GA
opposition has doomed an FAA reauthorization bill this year "a bit
of an unfair statement," and noted GA has supported bills that
"bring us to a much more equitable and proportionate sharing of the
costs."
Sununu says he -- and others on the Commerce Committee -- oppose
tacking on the $25 turbine fee because it would require significant
administrative and logistical costs to implement and oversee.
"We have a system in place for collecting revenues to support
this modernization and that is an aviation fuel tax," Sununu said.
"And the proposals put in place...significantly increase fuel taxes
on general aviation."
Sununu asserts the Finance Committee’s tax bill (S.2345)
and the House bill call for enough money to be raised for ATC
modernization -- and both do a better job of equitably apportioning
costs throughout the network.