OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

FAA Reauthorization Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

Date: May 21, 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Transportation Labor Unions

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to H.R. 915. The legislation before the House today detrimentally impacts American job creation, and will further exacerbate the federal deficit during an economic downturn. Both effects of the legislation are inexcusable while Americans strive to cope with difficult economic times, and I urge my colleagues to defeat the bill when it is considered later this afternoon.

The legislation includes two provisions that if adopted, will almost certainly lead to job loss and the prevention of economic expansion for successful American corporations. Primarily, H.R. 915 rewrites modern aviation labor law by requiring FedEx Express employees to organize under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) rather than the Railway Labor Act (RLA). Organization under the RLA allows for a symbiotic and prosperous relationship between FedEx Express management and its employees, and has been a successful organizing tool for both since 1971.

Amending current law to force FedEx Express employees under the auspices of the RLA will almost certainly disrupt the company's plans for economic expansion. According to FedEx, the change in law would threaten ``FedEx's ability to provide competitively priced shipping options and ready access to global markets.'' Both of these elements are critical to the company's growth over the past 38 years, and would be detrimentally altered by the legislation before the House today.

Furthermore, H.R. 915 would terminate airline code-share alliance agreements between airlines and the U.S. Government after three years. In so doing the legislation will disrupt antitrust protection that is considered critical by the airline industry, and threaten at least 15,000 domestic airline jobs.

Finally, the legislation authorizes an $84 billion outlay from a federal budget already stretched thin by trillions of dollars in deficit spending. This massive spending increase impacts both mandatory and discretionary spending, and will only add to the credit card tab mounting at an astonishing pace in only five months of unified Democrat leadership.

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