We should be extremely proud of our AFA-CWA Legislative and Government Affairs Department for their relentless stand on this issue.
So many of our battles these days are bipartisan and the best way to support and protect our career is by making a small monthly contribution
to AFA’s Flight-PAC. With your help and the help of other flight attendants, we can make a difference and have our voices heard loud and clear in
the halls of Congress.
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From Shane Larson - AFA Legislative -
Congratulations everyone for your hard work letting Congress know that our airlines are not for sale to foreign investors or companies!
Not only did we win today on the Oberstar-LoBiondo amendment to the
Transportation Appropriations bill, we won in a landslide!! Over 2/3rd of the House of Representatives sent a loud message to the White House that they will not allow foreign control of US airlines.
The House approved the Oberstar-LoBiondo amendment on a vote of 291-137!! That's a great win!!
So, what does this mean. First, the amendment language prohibits the Department of Transportation from spending any money to implement or enforce the rules change allowing for greater foreign control of US airlines . This was just the first hurdle. To just take a step back and remember our Government Affairs 101 - for a bill to become law, it must pass both the House and Senate with the exact same language and get through a conference committee.
For this to become law, we must make sure that the Senate version of the Transportation Appropriations bill contains the same language. Unfortunately, the Senate has not even begun work on their version. But you can rest assured that we are going to do everything we can to make sure the Senate version contains this language.
We will then have to work to make sure that the language does not get eliminated in a conference committee (the committee that works out differences between the House and Senate versions). This is where we suffered our defeat last week when similar language was stripped out of the Iraq Waq - Hurricane Katrina supplemental spending bill.
The other obstacle we face is that this all takes time - Congressional time - which moves
slowly. The White House could still force through this change before the prohibition becomes law.
However, that move is less likely today with the overwhelming 2/3rd majority of the House of Representatives that stood up today and said NO WAY!! to foreign control of US airlines. A simple majority is a strong statement - a 2/3rds, veto proof majority is a loud shout that can't be ignored!
Let me just say, how once again this demonstrates the power AFA has as a union. We faced the full force of the best that United, Delta, FedEx and others could throw at us. But as we have in past victories, Congress heard us - the voters - loud and clear. We received reports that offices were flooded with phone calls from AFA members and that made the difference to them. Throughout the day when we heard of
Congress members that were trying to decide how to vote, it was your phone calls that helped sway them to do the right thing.
My heart felt thanks and appreciation for all of you and your hard work! YOU made this great victory happen. A STRONG message has been sent and once again AFA has been noticed. Thank you.
Shane
PS - I will provide everyone with an actual breakdown of the vote as soon as it becomes available online.
