[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 145 (Monday, September 18, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13707-S13708]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     INDEPENDENT STATUS FOR THE FAA

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, last month I introduced a bill that would 
give the FAA independent status. As a matter of fact, when I introduced 
it, I read a speech as if I were giving it. It was really a speech that 
was given 20 years ago by Barry Goldwater, and Barry Goldwater's speech 
was a lengthy one, one that outlined the problems in 1975 that had 
occurred since the FAA had gone under the Department of Transportation 
back in 1967. He talked about the procurement problems and the 
personnel problems that are very unique to the FAA.
  Oddly enough, it was 20 years ago that Barry Goldwater made that 
speech, and I talked to him the other day and he said, ``I hope we will 
be able to do it now.''
  I am talking about a life-and-death issue as a commercial pilot, I 
guess the last active commercial pilot in Congress. I have experienced 
having our lives in the hands of those controllers down there, and it 
is very significant that we do give them the independent status that 
Barry Goldwater was seeking back in 1975.
  I really believe if we could do that, we could effect enough savings 
to actually prevent having to raise fees and having to raise taxes as 
is being considered right now in another bill, and as also is being 
suggested by the President.
  On August 9, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee made a 
statement in the Chamber, and he said, ``The FAA tells us if they could 
have this kind of operational flexibility''--now we are talking about 
independent status, free from the bureaucracy of the DOT, free from the 
procurement guidelines and the personnel guidelines--``they believe 
they could cut as much as 20 percent out of the procurement budget'' 
from what they are spending today.
  Now, this is significant because that happens to be approximately the 
amount that historically has been contributed to the FAA for operations 
from the general revenues. And I suggest to you that my bill does not 
give 

[[Page S 13708]]
the FAA the power to increase fees indiscriminately. I suggest, if we 
do that such as is suggested in the McCain bill, instead of 
streamlining their bureaucracy, they would merely raise fees.
  I will read from the McCain bill the portion I am talking about. It 
says, ``to establish a program of incentive-based fees for services to 
improve the air traffic management system performance and to establish 
appropriate levels of cost accountability for air traffic management 
services provided by the FAA.''
  So, Mr. President, I have a lot of respect for Mr. Hinson, David 
Hinson, who is the Administrator of the FAA. I think he is one of the 
few real good appointments that this President has made. And I think 
that if anyone could streamline his bureaucracy, it would be David 
Hinson. But I suggest to you that the words that I recall that Ronald 
Reagan made way back in 1965 when he said, ``There is nothing closer to 
immortality on the face of this Earth than a Government program once 
devised,'' that is exactly what we are faced with now. A bureaucracy 
never, as long as it has the ability to raise funds, is going to 
streamline their operation.
  So I hope that we will be able to consider my bill very seriously. 
And I suggest there are about several million pilots out there that are 
concerned about this also. I think it would be very difficult to go out 
right now and tell the pilots, who are paying an average of about 
$2,320 in various costs each year--for a small four-passenger airplane 
in addition to that, they are paying the gas tax--to go out and tell 
these pilots that in 1990 we raised your gas tax and we raised it again 
in 1993, and now we are going to start raising your fees.
  So, Mr. President, this can be done without increasing fees and 
taxes. My bill will do that. I am going to be urging the passage of 
this legislation.

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