Statements On Introduced Bills And Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - March 20, 2007)

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By Mr. THUNE (for himself, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Specter, and Mr. Casey):

S. 922. A bill to extend the existing provisions regarding the eligibility for essential air service subsidies through fiscal year 2012; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill that will sustain important air service--in South Dakota and other rural States across the country. The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 allowed airlines to provide air service to domestic markets as they saw fit. But Congress had the foresight to create the Essential Air Service (EAS) Program to ensure a minimal level of scheduled air service in small communities. Without the EAS program, these small communities might have otherwise seen the airlines pull up stakes and only focus on larger, more profitable markets.

Essential Air Service is especially important to rural States like my home State of South Dakota. We have four communities that participate in the EAS program: Brookings, Huron, Pierre, and Watertown. Ensuring air passengers have access in and out of these smaller communities makes our entire commercial airline network more valuable.

The bill I am introducing today is very simple. It extends a provision, Section 409, passed by Congress and signed into law by the President in the 2002 Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization, commonly referred to as Vision 100. This provision ensures that certain mileage calculations that determine EAS program eligibility are not simply measured by some bureaucrat in Washington, but are in fact certified by States' Governors. There are, of course, budgetary strains on the EAS program. Congress and the Administration should focus on strengthening the program and examine the air service it is supporting to make sure it is truly essential, but we should not allow bureaucrats behind a desk in Washington to surreptitiously use mileage determinations to cut the costs of the program and reduce air service in the process.

Brookings is a community in my home State that would have more than likely lost its commercial air service if this provision was not in place five years ago. We should keep it in place for the next five years to make sure Brookings and other communities like it do not end up the cutting room floor of the EAS program.

I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Commerce Committee to begin the process of reauthorizing FAA programs again this year. Aviation is a crucial element of our economy. I hope that this legislation, or at least the concept behind it, is considered during the reauthorization debate.

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