The grunt work of government is not terribly exciting. But for those of you who have met Chuck Wiplinger, president of Wipaire, Inc., I bet you’ll join me in wishing he’d make his way to Washington D.C. more often to make our case for funding.
Chuck recently joined Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) Chairman John McKenna to testify before the House Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations.
At the conclusion of his five-minute testimony before the committee Chuck asked the subcommittee to continue allocating $750,000 to the U.S. Forest Service for maintenance of backcountry airstrips under the USFS purview. Chuck also asked for an additional $750,000 allocation in the Bureau of Land Management budget for maintenance of airstrips under their watch. In both case, the RAF will continue to partner with the controlling agency to make certain those precious budget dollars are spent wisely.
In total, that $1.5 million in budgetary allocation represents about $2.50 for every pilot in the United States. With a bit of levity, Chuck said he could think of only two pilots who would complain about their tax dollars being spent in such a way. Chuck promised to cover one and was certain John would happily cover the other.
Few of us truly know how the federal budgetary sausage is made. The five-minute video clip (above) sheds a bit of light on the process. Thank you to both Chuck and John for your ongoing efforts.
