Regional Aviation News
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McCain, Lott Ask White HouseTo Consider Airline Help

 

March 20 , 2003

 

As House colleagues unveiled an airline aid bill, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and aviation subcommittee Chair Trent Lott (R-Miss.) yesterday asked President Bush to consider helping the airline industry. In a letter to the White House, McCain and Lott said they wanted to “inquire whether the Administration has considered the industry’s proposals for assistance.” The senators also wanted to know whether the White House had decided the airlines’ financial woes are now bad enough “that the Administration will seek congressional or other action to provide relief to the industry and, if so, what types of reasonable relief it might recommend to address the many looming problems described

by the industry.” 

 

There were unconfirmed rumors on Capitol Hill yesterday that the President’s war budget supplemental would contain aid to the airline industry. A spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) said the staff had not yet seen the supplemental and could not say whether it did help the airlines, while a spokesman for Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said it was “definitely a rumor that’s out there.” DOT Secretary Norman Mineta told an FAA Forecast Conference Tuesday that “President Bush and his Administration are in daily contact with the industry and are carefully considering all options. And while I will not go into specifics regarding any legislative proposals under review in Congress at this time, we will be ready to move quickly if the need arises.” -DM

 

Source:  Aviation Daily, March 20, 2003

 

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