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House compromise makes it crucial for pilots to write Congress to unlock the aviation trust fund, says AOPA

Mar 29 — The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association is urging all pilots to write Congress to support legislation that would “unlock” the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. A recent compromise in the U.S. House of Representatives makes pilot letters more important than ever.

“The time to act is now,” said AOPA President Phil Boyer. “This congressional compromise shows there is now a real chance to unlock the aviation trust fund surplus and spend aviation taxes on aviation programs.

“Pilots should write their representatives and ask them to cosponsor H.R. 111, the “Truth in Budgeting Act.”

The encouraging development, according to Boyer, was a recent compromise between House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Penn.) and the House leadership.

Shuster is leading a bipartisan effort to assure that aviation excise taxes paid by aviation users, including the fuel tax General Aviation pilots pay, is spent promptly for aviation purposes instead of languishing in the trust fund.

To accomplish that, Shuster (with the support of the Committee’s top Democrat, James Oberstar of Minnesota) had sought to amend the Fiscal Year 2000 budget resolution — the blueprint for spending and tax laws this year. Shuster’s amendment would have set aside a place in the budget for either increased aviation spending or a cut in aviation excise taxes.

AOPA supported the amendment, noting in a letter to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and others that the amendment “is based on a straightforward principle: taxes paid into the aviation trust fund should either be used for the intended purpose of infrastructure and air traffic control modernization, or they should be reduced.”

But House leaders feared the amendment would upset the delicate balance covering the entire proposed federal budget. A compromise set aside Shuster’s amendment in exchange for a pledge to bring Shuster’s Truth in Budgeting Act to a floor vote, probably in May.

The compromise shifts the entire battle over unlocking the trust fund to the floor vote. Boyer called on pilots to redouble their efforts to back that vote.

“This landmark legislation will determine the future of General Aviation into the next century,” said Boyer. “Unlocking the trust fund would free funds for aviation and eliminate the need for new user fees. The chance to pass it may not come again. Pilots must act now.”

Pilots should ask their representative to cosponsor H.R. 111 and to support any other legislation to permit all aviation taxes to be spent on aviation. Complete information on how to write Congress is available on AOPA Online at http://www.aopa.org/prez/unlock/.

The 345,000-member Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association is the world’s largest civil aviation organization. More than one-half of the nation’s pilots are AOPA members.

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