Committee Vote on User Fees

I got this from AOPA tonight. The Nelson-Sununu amendment to kill the
$25 per flight for turbine-powered aircraft was killed 12-11.

All the usual suspects voted against it:

"We lost a close vote by a margin of 12 to 11 on the Nelson/Sununu
amendment that would have struck the $25 air traffic modernization
?surcharge" from the Senate FAA funding bill. By early evening last
night, the after-hours Senate office voicemails were filled to capacity
by many of the more than 135,000 AOPA members who heeded our call to
action. Late yesterday afternoon, I was actually waiting to see a senator
in his office and watching and listening while his administrative staff
was answering your calls.

Eleven members of the Commerce Committee deserve special recognition from
pilots for their tremendous work in supporting the fight against user
fees."

The Good Guys:

"First of all, Sens.
Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and John Sununu (R-N.H.) did
excellent work in stepping forward to sponsor the amendment.
Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.),
Mark Pryor (D-Ark.),
Tom Carper (D-Del.),
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas),
Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine),
Gordon Smith (R-Ore.),
John Ensign (R-Nev.),
Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), and
David Vitter (R-La.)
all supported the amendment."

The Bad Guys:

"On the other side, there were 12 senators who supported user fees:
Sens. John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.),
Trent Lott (R-Miss.),
Ted Stevens
(R-Alaska),
Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii),
John F. Kerry (D-Mass.),
Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.),
Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.),
Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.),
Claire C. McCaskill (D-Mo.),
Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.),
John McCain (R-Ariz.), and
John Thune (R-S.D.)."


Remember them at election time!