WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Rules, today said that any attempt to impede the Federal Aviation Administration’s ability to protect passengers and address the issue of pilot fatigue was dangerous.
Today in the House Rules Committee, a harmful amendment was offered to the FAA Reauthorization Bill. The amendment, offered by Congressman Bill Shuster, a Republican from Pennsylvania, would open the door to weakening regulations currently being crafted following the tragic crash of Colgan Flight 3407 in February 2009.
Over the past two years, the families of Flight 3407 victims and Western New York lawmakers including Slaughter lead the charge to pass H.R. 5900, which directed the FAA to regulate issues of pilot fatigue and other safety concerns.
As Ranking Member, Slaughter is the most powerful Democrat on the Rules Committee. Today she proposed striking the harmful amendment.
In the Rules Committee, Slaughter today said:
“I would like to recommend that we strike amendment 24 [the Shuster Amendment], on the grounds that we have worked very hard, the families have worked very hard, through pain and anguish. We have benefited through their hard work so that community may fly safely, benefiting every one of us. I’ve never seen people working as unselfishly as they have to make sure this came to fruition. This is an insult to them to say that you can relax the anti-fatigue measure. I think we owe it all pilots. This was hard won and so I’d like to move that we strike #24.”
Following her proposal, the Republican-lead Rules Committee instead voted to allow the amendment to go forward.
“This is an attempt to sabotage critical FAA safety rules and I am tremendously worried about the precedent this sets,” said Slaughter. “We are opening a door that would undo 2 years worth of work protecting airline passengers and pilots and honoring the victims of the crash in Clarence. I stand with the 3407 families and all concerned airline passengers and will continue to fight any attempts to weaken the important provisions put into place to protect us all.”
The full bill, H.R. 658, will be on the House floor tomorrow.
Video of her statement is available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImXbA-PAV4A
Related posts:
