As Congress Begins To Take Sides

At that same meeting, Boyer played a videotaped message from U.S. Rep. Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), who sits on the Transportation Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. Tiahrt said he would oppose any effort by the FAA to impose user fees on general aviation. “That should be a pretty clear message to the Bush administration,” Boyer said, “because Rep. Tiahrt and his colleagues literally write the check for the FAA. If Congress says ‘no’ to user fees, as they have in the past, the fees won’t happen. Period.” User-fee proponents are going to have a fight in Congress, Boyer said. Rep. Tiahrt acknowledged in the videotape that budgets are tight, “but transportation funding remains an important priority.”