[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 91 (Thursday, June 7, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7344-S7345]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. SNOWE (for herself, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. Hagel, and Mr. 
        Nelson of Nebraska):
  S. 1571. A bill to reform the essential air service program, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today to join my colleagues, 
Senators Bingaman, Hagel, and Nelson of Nebraska to introduce the 
bipartisan Rural Aviation Improvement Act. I am proud to join my 
colleagues, each one a steadfast and resolute guardian of commercial 
aviation service to all communities, particularly rural areas that 
would otherwise be deprived of any air service.
  I have always believed that reliable air service in our Nation's 
rural areas is not simply a luxury or a convenience. It is an 
imperative. All of us who come from rural States know how critical 
aviation is to economic development, vital to move people and goods to 
and from areas that may otherwise have dramatically limited 
transportation options. Quite frankly, I have long held serious 
concerns about the impact deregulation of the airline industry has had 
on small and medium size cities in rural areas, like Maine. That fact 
is, since deregulation, many small and medium-size communities, in 
Maine and elsewhere, have experienced a decrease in flights and size of 
aircraft while seeing an increase in fares. More than 300 have lost air 
service altogether.
  This legislation will serve to improve the Essential Air Service 
program. Additional resources will augment the resources available to 
the program, reducing the impact on the general fund while providing 
small communities with a greater degree of certainty when planning 
future improvements to their airports. The bill also gives those same 
communities a greater role in retaining and determining the sort of air 
service which they receive.
  Increasingly, the Essential Air Service program has been plagued with 
a decline in the number of airlines willing to provide this critical 
link to the national transportation network. A few ``bad actors'' have 
jeopardized commercial aviation for entire regions by submitting low-
ball contracts to the Department of Transportation and then reneging on 
their commitment to the extent and quality of their service. Our bill 
will not only establish a system of minimum requirements for contracts 
to protect these small cities that rely on EAS, but it will also extend 
those contracts to 4 years from the current 2. This gives a heightened 
degree of stability in terms of air service, rather than having 
communities negotiating new contracts or receiving service from 
entirely new carriers every 18 months.
  In closing, the truth is, everyone benefits when our Nation is at its 
strongest economically. Most importantly in this case, greater 
prosperity everywhere, including in rural America, will, in the long 
run, mean more passengers for the airlines. Therefore, it is very much 
in our national interests to ensure that every region has reasonable 
access to air service. That is why I strongly believe the Federal 
Government has an obligation to fulfill the commitment it made to these 
communities in 1978; to safeguard their ability to continue commercial 
air service.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I wish today to join with my colleague, 
Senator Snowe to introduce the bipartisan Rural Aviation Improvement 
Act. Senator Snowe has been a longtime champion of commercial air 
service in rural areas, and I applaud her continued leadership on this 
important legislation.
  One of the goals of our bill is to preserve and improve the Essential 
Air Service Program. Congress established the Essential Air Service 
Program in 1978 to ensure that communities that had commercial air 
service before airline deregulation would continue to receive scheduled 
service. The Essential Air Service Program currently ensures commercial 
air service to over 100 communities in 35 States. EAS supports an 
additional 39 communities in Alaska. Without EAS, many rural 
communities would have no commercial air service at all. I believe our 
bill makes a number of important improvements to EAS to ensure rural 
communities continue to have the commercial air service that is so 
vital to their futures.
  Our bill also extends through 2011 the Department of Transportation's 
authority to provide grants to cities under the Small Community Air 
Service Development Program, which was first established in 2000. The 
program helps rural communities establish new air service or to promote 
and improve their existing air service. Since it was first enacted, a 
number of New Mexico communities have won grants, including most 
recently Gallup in 2006.
  All across America, small communities face ever-increasing hurdles to 
promoting their economic growth and development. Today, many rural 
areas lack access to interstate or even four-lane highways, railroads, 
or broadband

[[Page S7345]]

telecommunications. Business development in rural areas frequently 
hinges on the availability of scheduled air service. For small 
communities, commercial air service provides a critical link to the 
national and international transportation system. I do believe Congress 
must help ensure that affordable, reliable, and safe air service 
remains available in rural America.
  The Senate Commerce Committee and its Aviation Subcommittee are well 
along in developing a reauthorization of aviation programs this year. I 
look forward to working with my colleagues Chairmen Inouye and 
Rockefeller and Ranking Members Stevens and Lott to improve commercial 
air service programs for rural areas. I believe our bill is one 
important step in that process.
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