8, 2003
Where
We Are Today
The
Flight Certification Act, H.R. 1889, was introduced
by
Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Congresswoman
Sue
Kelly (R-NY) on April 30. This legislation would
authorize
the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
to
issue a certificate to all new and existing cabin
crewmembers
after successful completion of an air carrier's
training
program. Flight Attendant Certification would
address
a long-standing disparity in the aviation industry.
Unlike
pilots, mechanics and other aviation safety
professionals,
Flight Attendants are not certified
even
though we are responsible for the safety and security
of
millions of passengers.
Congresswomen
Lowey and Kelly held a press conference
to
formally introduce the Flight Attendant Certification
Act
and were joined by Congressman Leonard Boswell
(D-IA),
Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald, AFA
International
President Pat Friend and about 40 AFA
members
Lobby Days participants.
The
Flight Attendant Certification Act has bipartisan
support
and now has 50 cosponsors but we need to build
our
support and co-sponsorship for this legislation
in
order to advance it through Congress.
Our
cosponsor list for H.R. 1889 includes: Abercrombie,
Boehlert,
Boswell, Capuano, Case, Conyers, Corrine
Brown,
Crowley, DeLauro, E.B. Johnson, Ford, Frost,
Holden,
Kelly, Kilpatrick, Kleckza, Levin, LoBiondo,
Michaud,
Millender-McDonald, Eleanor Holmes Norton,
Rick
Larsen, Solis, Weiner, Gordon, Costello, Roybal-Allard,
Sandlin,
Gutierrez, Honda, Hooley, Pallone, Thompson,
Carolyn
McCarthy, Lampson, Maloney, Cummings, Lantos,
Moran,
Schakowsky, Hinchey, Hinchey, LaTourette, Tauscher,
Kildee,
Markey, Eshoo, Grijalva.
Our
good friends Representatives Jim Oberstar (D-MN)
Ranking
Member House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee
and Peter DeFazio (D-OR) Ranking Member Aviation
Subcommittee
are not cosponsors because they will be
leading
the debate in support of this legislation.
EVERY
MEMBER OF THE U.S. CONGRESS NEEDS TO HEAR FROM
FLIGHT
ATTENDANTS IN SUPPORT OF THIS ISSUE.
Follow-up
is crucial in the lobbying process, whether
you
lobbied in person or through phone calls, e-mails
or
FAXES to Congressional offices: Our follow-up on
Flight
Attendant Certification will be extremely important.
We
need to get a firm commitment from the House offices,
who
support us, that they will cosponsor H.R. 1889.
If
you reach voice mail on your first try call again,
before
Wednesday May 14, to let the office know that
the
legislation is expected to me marked up on May
14
and that we look forward to their co-sponsorship
before
then.
If
you get a firm commitment from an office please
have
the staff person contact Ari Selman in Congresswoman
Nita
Lowey's office at 202-225-6506.
A
thank you note is appropriate when the offices you
have
contacted cosponsor the legislation.
The
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee,
Aviation
Subcommittee, has scheduled a mark up of the
FAA
Reauthorization Bill for Wednesday, April 14. A
mark
up is when a Congressional subcommittee holds
a
meeting to discuss a bill and make changes to it
such
as revising the language, adding amendments or
deleting
sections. At the conclusion of this deliberation
a
vote is taken to determine subcommittee action. The
subcommittee
may decide to report the bill favorably
to
the full committee, with or without amendments,
or
suggest that the bill be tabled.
We
hope that Flight Attendant Certification language
will
be included in the House FAA Reauthorization bill
when
it is voted out of committee. A number of Aviation
Subcommittee
members are cosponsors of H.R. 1889. But
this
will depend on the support we achieve between
now
and next week.
In
the Senate, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) introduced
Flight
Attendant Certification language when the Senate
Aviation
Subcommittee met to mark-up their version
of
FAA Reauthorization on May 1, 2003. The vote in
the
subcommittee was very close. Republican Senators
John
McCain (R-AZ) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) voted for
the
language and to maintain their support we should
let
them both know how much we appreciate their vote.
Senator
Conrad Burns (R-MT) has already stated his
intent
to introduce an amendment to strip Flight Attendant
Certification
from the FAA Reauthorization bill when
it
comes to the Senate floor for a vote. If you would
like
to call Senator Burns his office is 202-224-2644
and
ALL Flight Attendants from Montana should be encouraged
to
call Sen. Burns to let him know how important Flight
Attendant
certification is to us.
We
need a firm commitment from our Senators that they
will
support Flight Attendant Certification language
when
FAA Reauthorization is debated by the full Senate
and
their promise that they will vote against any attempt
to
strip this language from this bill.
Our
goal is to have Flight Attendant Certification
language
included in the final House and Senate versions
of
the must pass FAA Reauthorization Bill and to accomplish
this
we need to build our list of cosponsors in the
House,
to show that this bi-partisan legislation has
substantial
support. We also need to build our support
for
Flight Attendant certification in the Senate.
Flight
Attendant Certification has the support of ALL
Flight
Attendants Unions but we also have considerable
opposition
from the FAA and the Air Transport Association
and
the carriers.
