[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 24070-24071]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     ESSENTIAL AIR SERVICE PROGRAM

  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of the 
statement and efforts of my colleague from New Mexico, Senator 
Bingaman, on behalf of the Essential Air Service, EAS, program.
  Throughout my time in Congress, I have been a strong supporter of 
EAS, which provides subsidized air service to 125 small communities in 
the country, including four in Maine--Augusta, Rockland, Bar Harbor and 
Presque Isle--that would otherwise be cut off from the nation's air 
transportation network. As approved in May by the Senate Commerce 
Committee, the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill 
reauthorized and flat-funded the program for 3 years, and includes 
certain changes to the program, which are drastically scaled back from 
what the Administration proposed earlier this year for EAS ``reform.'' 
The Administration had called for EAS towns to provide up to 25 percent 
matching contributions to keep their air service.
  The Commerce Committee bill creates a number of new programs to help 
EAS communities grow their ridership, including a marketing incentive 
program that would financially reward EAS towns for achieving ridership 
goals. With regard to local cost-sharing--the centerpiece of the 
Administration's EAS proposal--the Commerce bill would create a pilot 
program to allow for a 10 percent annual community match at no more 
than 10 airports within 100 miles of a large airport.
  While the cost-sharing provisions in the committee bill are much less 
strict than the Administration proposal, and could only be applied to a 
EAS community under certain specific conditions, I remain concerned 
about the concept of requiring EAS towns--some of which are cash-
strapped and economically depressed--from kicking in hundreds of 
thousands of dollars annually to keep their air service. For example, 
if Augusta or Rockland, ME, were to be chosen for the cost-sharing 
pilot program, they would have to come up with more than $120,000 
annually to retain their air service.
  As such, on the floor I supported Senator Bingaman's amendment to 
strike the cost-sharing section from the bill

[[Page 24071]]

and was pleased when it was approved unanimously by the full Senate. 
The House adopted an identical amendment offered by Representative 
Peterson. And I felt so strongly about this issue that in late July I 
circulated a letter to the FAA conferees, signed by 15 other Senators, 
expressing strong opposition to having mandatory EAS cost-sharing 
language in the final legislative package. As such, I was extremely 
disappointed when that same language found itself into the FAA 
conference report issued on July 25.
  Mr. President, the EAS program is not perfect, and Congress certainly 
needs to do all we can to keep the costs and subsidy levels associated 
with the program as low as possible. I look forward to working with 
members of the Commerce Committee and the Senate on the issue, but I 
continue to believe that requiring cost-sharing in today's economy and 
today's aviation environment is clearly a wrong-headed approach.
  I also wanted to take this opportunity to address the larger issue of 
the importance of air service to America's small communities. As we 
work to address the vital aviation issues facing the country, we cannot 
forget the challenges that small communities in Maine, and throughout 
the Nation, face in attracting and retaining air service. I have always 
believed that adequate, reliable air service in our Nation's rural 
areas is not simply a luxury or a convenience. It is an imperative. And 
quite frankly, I have serious concerns about the impact deregulation of 
the airline industry has had on small- and medium-sized cities in rural 
areas, like Maine. The fact is, since deregulation, many of these 
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.
  Many air carriers are experiencing an unprecedented financial crisis, 
and the first routes on the chopping block will be those to small- and 
medium-sized communities. This will only increase demand for the two 
existing Federal forms of assistance, EAS and the Small Community Air 
Service Grant Program.
  In short, when considering this legislation, I believe that we need 
to do all we can to help small communities maintain their access to the 
national transportation system during these difficult times. Mandatory 
EAS cost-sharing would have the opposite effect, and I hope that the 
conferees strip it out should the bill be recommitted to conference.

                          ____________________