Says The Bill Fails To Make Meaningful Reforms In The FAA

An economic analyst says that the FAA reauthorization bill currently under consideration in the U.S. Senate will not solve fundamental problems associated with government intrusion in the aviation industry.

Writing for the Heritage Foundation website, analyst Michael Sargent, a research associate for the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Studies, says that the bill perpetuates ineffective spending programs at the FAA. It maintains "burdensome" taxes on airline passengers and what he calls "inefficient" airport funding while maintaining the "wasteful" Essential Air Service program.

Sargent also holds that the bill as proposed in the Senate allows elected officials and federal workers to "micromanage virtually every aspect of the aviation industry."

He says the bill is "rife with regulatory mandates" that cover every aspect of aviation from airlines to GA to UAVs.

Sargent says that the bill makes no major reforms in ATC or the way NextGen is being implemented. He says instead, it appears Congress would prefer to tell private companies how to run their businesses than move towards "transformational changes required to improve the services that the government currently controls."

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