The Hill News

While I would have voted "Yes" on a clean FAA reauthorization, I was one of 157 Democrats and 12 Republicans who voted "No" on H.R. 658, the FAA Modernization and Reform Act.  Why?
 
First, language in the bill dates back to the Railway Labor Act (RLA) which was originally passed in 1926.  It was amended during FDR's New Deal in 1934 and 1936 and has governed the railroad and airline industries since - for the past 75 years. Not just the transportation unions, but a total of 19 unions opposed H.R. 658 because it set about to rather dramatically rewrite a labor law that has served the transportation companies, the unions and the country well. Why the sudden need to radically change the law without prior notice, without any apparent need to change it and without congressional hearings? If changes were needed, what was wrong with a more deliberative process that involved the affected parties?

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