Air safety legislation is competing for time with health care
Flight 3407 agenda faces possible delay in Congress
WASHINGTON — Airline safety remains a priority in Congress, following the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in Clarence Center, but an obstacle stands in its way: health care reform.
While that may seem nonsensical at first blush, both the health care bill and the legislation including those air safety measures must be approved by the Senate Finance Committee — which for months has been focused on trying to devise a bipartisan health care reform bill.
A Finance Committee staff member indicated last week that there's no reason for supporters of the air safety reforms to worry. But families and friends of the victims of Flight 3407 say they are concerned that the health care debate could delay, and maybe even derail, the safety improvements they've fought to achieve.
While the Flight 3407 families have met with lawmakers and key staff members on all the other relevant committees on both sides of Capitol Hill, they have been unable to get a meeting with either the Finance Committee chairman or his aides.
"Clearly, health care is a big deal," said Kevin Kuwik, whose girlfriend, Lorin Maurer, was a victim of the Flight 3407 crash, which claimed 50 lives.
But Kuwik said he is concerned that the health care debate will consume so much of the Finance Committee's attention that the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill — which includes the safety measures — will remain stalled.
"It's important that this not just get pushed to the side, because this is very important safety legislation," said Kuwik, who has been lobbying Congress for those safety measures in wake of the Feb. 12 crash of Flight 3407.
A Finance Committee aide said that staff members are working on the measure and that the committee will hold a hearing on the FAA bill soon, although no date has been set yet.
"We walk and chew gum at the same time here at the Finance Committee," the aide said.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer, the New York Democrat who serves on the Finance Committee, acknowledged that the health care legislation was delaying work on the aviation bill.
"Health care is sort of standing in the way," said Schumer, a strong advocate of both the health care and aviation safety legislation. "It's sucking the air out of everything else."
Schumer vowed to continue pressing the Finance Committee for quick action on the FAA reauthorization bill.
A version of that measure, loaded with safety provisions, passed the Senate Commerce Committee last month. That bill calls for an independent study of scientific research on pilot fatigue — and requires that the findings be included in the FAA's upcoming new flight-time and duty-time rules for pilots.
In addition, that bill would mandate that airlines adopt additional safety oversight programs and give airlines complete access to the flight records of potential pilots.
The House passed its version of the FAA reauthorization bill in May, leaving the safety issues from the Clarence crash to be dealt with in separate legislation.
That bill, which is expected to pass the House with overwhelming support once Congress returns to Washington after Labor Day, includes safety provisions that are even more stringent than those in the Senate bill.
The House bill would set up a database to make sure airlines could get a complete flying history of their prospective pilots before they are hired. In addition, it would mandate stringent training requirements to make sure pilots know how to operate stall recovery systems and would require airlines to develop fatigue risk-management systems for their pilots.
All of those measures stem from revelations about the crash of Flight 3407, which federal investigators found plunged from the sky after the pilot pulled back on the controls rather than push them forward, as he should have done.
The pilot, Capt. Marvin D. Renslow, had failed several test flights and had not had complete training in using the plane's stall recovery system.
The congressional safety measures are expected to be combined into the final version of the FAA reauthorization, a $34.5 billion measure that sets federal aviation policy and funds the agency for the next two years.
The Senate Finance Committee has to approve the FAA reauthorization before the full Senate votes on it because that panel has jurisdiction over the fees and other revenue sources that fund the agency's operations.
"But this is not just about funding the FAA," Kuwik noted. "There's a lot more at stake here."
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