A Capitol View Continued from page 9 majority. While staving off loss of the chamber, the overall political climate appears to have prevented Republicans from more substantial gains given their party’s favorable election map. However, controlling more than a simple majority of seats means less reliance on key votes from Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) on issues split along party lines. Since Republicans have held on to their majority, Senate leadership will remain the same—Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will serve as Senate Majority Leader and Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will continue his role as Senate Minority Leader. Leader McConnell has promised to keep his own focus on confirming President Trump’s nominees and promoting an anti-regulatory agenda. However, under a divided Congress, many bills that a Democratic House may pass could run into strong opposition in the Senate, further stalling progress on issues that have momentum. Congressional leaders will work hard to find com- mon ground on the biggest issues in the pipeline—President Trump’s desire for a border wall and Democrats’ Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program—in hopes of setting the stage for success among other pieces of legislation in the queue, such as infrastructure. WHAT IT ALL MEANS FOR AVIATION Surprising losses and party restructuring means new leadership in key committees with jurisdiction over trans- portation. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) will step into the chairmanship position of the Senate Commerce Committee as current Chair John Thune (R-SD) has moved to a leadership position. Among Democrats, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) will head the Democratic minority on the committee since cur- rent Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-FL) lost his fight against Florida Governor Rick Scott for the position. In addition to infrastructure, Wicker must focus on a surface transportation bill in conjunction with his House counterparts and will en- sure rural air service subsidy programs—often among the first programs cut—are supported. In the House, at least four Republican members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee lost their seats—Barbara Comstock (VA), John Faso (NY), Jason Lewis (MN), and Jeff Denham (R-CA) with numerous others in very tight races—all proponents of air traffic control privatization. The current Democratic Ranking Member of the committee, Peter DeFazio (D-OR) will be the next full committee chair- man, with Representative Sam Graves (R-MO) to serve as Ranking Member. Both Congressmen are strong advocates of general aviation and will work with the industry to ensure the community’s best interests are represented. Beginning in January 2019, Chairman DeFazio will swing into action on infrastructure surface transportation reautho- rization, which expires in 2020. As the Chairman develops the bills, he will look for new funds to flow through existing programs to pay for the modernization of our transporta- tion modes. NATA will be on the front lines, fighting against any raise to the fuel tax. Also, the Association will work with Chairman DeFazio and other congressional committee leaders on both sides of the Capitol to ensure funds diverted from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund to the Highway Trust Fund are rightly returned to where they belong. The outcome of the elections has underscored that there is much to be done. NATA looks forward to working with party and committee leadership on both sides of the aisle to develop and pass legislation important to the general aviation commu- nity, as well as with new members on the value of our industry to their districts and states. Most importantly, we look for- ward to working with you, our members, to help us shape the policy that supports your success in the marketplace. Still using pen and paper for your Fuel QC records? The Safety 1st Fuel QC Management System is a cloud-based digital system that replaces the pen and paper approach to inspection and maintenance management. For more information, 10 email [email protected] Aviation Business Journal | 3rd Quarter 2018
