[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 48 (Tuesday, March 20, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3356-S3357]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      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

[[Page S3357]]

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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