WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) and Ranking Member Thomas Petri (R-Wis.) sent a letter today with 118 signatures of bipartisan members of the House of Representatives to President Obama urging him to not ask for aviation user fees as he submits the budget for 2011.
Costello and Petri started circulating the letter two weeks ago. The two support maintaining the current system of fuel taxes. The letter warned the President that adding user fees could delay progress of the next generation air traffic control system (NextGen). In May, the House passed a reauthorization bill for the FAA that has no user fees. The Senate has failed to act.
“The large number of our colleagues supporting this underscores its message — that including user fees in the 2011 budget will not be received well in the House,” Costello said.
Petri added, “user fees would be a bureaucratic and administrative nightmare, which is why the House of Representative is opposed to them.”