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Politico...
FAA bill full of
politics as usual
By Shira Toeplitz
February 7, 2011
Earmarks might be on the outs in Washington, but the first bill on the
Senate floor since Democrats reluctantly embraced an earmark ban is
still chock-full of expensive aviation pet projects that lawmakers are
eager to defend for their voters back home.
Tucked inside a current draft of a bill to fund Federal Aviation
Administration programs are legislative line items that would direct
money to state-specific projects and programs, including $12 million to
subsidize flights to 44 rural communities in Alaska, a land transfer
for a new airport in Nevada and new airspace testing sites likely in
Oregon.
While the line items don’t fit the strict definition of appropriations
earmarks, the FAA bill shows how the deft use of legislative language
by senators can accomplish the same thing — making sure their home
states are taken care of with special projects. Critics call these
backdoor earmarks, while defenders say they’re not violating the rules
of the ban and are doing an important part of a senator’s job.
Last week, the Senate barred earmarks from spending bills that wind
through the Appropriations Committee, but the scramble to keep sending
money home raises the question of what is — and isn’t — an earmark.
“The earmark ban is only, as I understand, for the appropriations
bills,” Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) told POLITICO. “There are probably,
I haven’t looked, there are half a dozen earmarks in this [FAA] bill
that we’re on now.”
Longtime earmark critic Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) filed an amendment
to the aviation bill that would cut a $200 million fund that covers the
$12 million subsidy for 44 Alaska airports.
“The amendment would save $200 million or more by ending subsidies to
airlines that serve small airports when there isn’t the market need or
volume of consumers,” said McCain spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan.
In a letter to McCain, Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) urged him to
withdraw his proposal, saying the funds are necessary for poor
communities that are reachable only by airplane.
“Debating project-specific funding is healthy and necessary,” said
Julie Hasquet, a spokeswoman for Begich. “But a program like [Essential
Air Service] — which is part of a lifeline in many parts of Alaska —
needs to be preserved.”
There’s even a nice benefit in the aviation bill for Nevada, Majority
Leader Harry Reid’s home state. The bill includes a federal land
transfer around the construction site of a second airport near Las
Vegas.
Read the complete article at Politico
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