 Update 11-15-03 The miracle of the law-making process in our country goes on. If you get involved in watching all of this there is a sort of sick fascination involved that is a bit like driving by a terrible car accident; you don't really want to see some of the horrible sights, but you just can't help yourself. The problem here is worse because how they handle this "accident", and many of the other ones,has far reaching effects upon you, your job and livelihood, and the safety and integrity of our airspace sytem. With apologies to Yakov Shmirnof (sp) I gotta say, "What a country!" Don't get me wrong. The system is flawed, but I believe it is the least flawed of all other examples I see throughout the world. Even so, it can be a difficult circus to perform in. Trent Lott, the Republican Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, with others, attempted this week to broker a deal with Oberstar and Lautenberg to break the stalemate over FAA reauthorization. The deal was basically a one year moratorium on ATC privatization which was tentatively accepted by our allies to at least push the fight off to next year. But a funny thing happened, once again, on the way to a compromise. The White House shot it down. Three times! Not only did they shoot this seeminly inocuous compromise down they did it with gusto and position akin to "no prohibition on privatizing these folks will be considered or allowed in any form or for any length of time". Whoa! Our Republican strategists who work closely with the White House all the time, and the Senate leadership were fairly united in their observations that they have never ... ever ... experienced that sort of absolute hardlining from this administration on any issue before. And all this to retain the flexibility to do something that they supposedly have no plans of doing? We find that deeply disturbing and can't help but wonder what plans cannot wait even a year. So now the situation circles back to what it was last week. The Senate leadership has announced they will bring the bill up on Monday for cloture, which is a vote to limit debate on the bill and effectively defeat a fillibuster attempt. The catch is still that a three-fifths majority (60 votes if everyone is present) is needed which they still do not have . The feeling here, and the reason for the attempted compromise, is that a fillibuster would be both embarassing, especially in light of last weeks fillibuster/marathon involving judicial appointees, and it would draw unwelcome media attention to the air traffic issue which would work on our behalf. Their ace in the hole is that they could still attach FAA Reauthorization on to a big omnibus bill which would be a straight up-down vote which we could not defend against. For strategic reasons, the opposition is loathe to do that. What is still occurring with great intensity is lobbying on both sides to sway votes. The threat of an omnibus tends to discourage weaker allies but the need to keep up pressure for us is there since the other side really doesn't want to do that. It is therefore still necessary to continue calling (yes the 1-866-I-FLY-SAFE number is still good), faxing and communicating with All Senators to keep them from swaying in their positions, or if they are against us, maybe even muting or changing their opposition. Please call today, next week, wherever and whenever you can. This government is not run by the people' but is run by the people who get involved in the process. On another front, I think we see tremendous victories for us in the Transportation Appropriations conference report which should also be voted on next week. The attempted undermining and undue slanting of the fair competition playing field for federal employees and the slap in the face to our value to this country are both dealt severe blows in this legislation. The bill alters the so called streamlined rules for competitions and contains new and more in depth reporting requirements for agencies on contracting costs. And most immediately it includes the average 4.1% raise for next year. John should have other tidbits and news articles in this update concerning all this. If you need help or have questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.
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