Rebuttal to 35-Senator Letter Pushing FAA Reauthorization Bill

[Quiet Rockland]

Dear Rockland County Citizens, Leaders and Friends,

Below is Quiet Rocklands rebuttal to the 35-Senator Letter pushing the FAA Reauthorization and NextGen.

 

Feel free to call on Senator Reid and Senator McConnell to share your views.

 

Senator Harry Reid

Phone: 202-224-3542
Fax: 202-224-7327

 

Senator Mitch McConnell

Phone: (202) 224-2541
Fax: (202) 224-2499 

 

Best Regards,

Thomas Sullivan

Quiet Rockland

 

 

 

Dear Senator Reid,
Please see the attached rebuttal to the 35-senator letter pushing for the FAA Reauthorization bill.

 

This bill will NOT stimulate the economy, it will only further wreck our nation's finances.  The bill will allow the FAA to waste 35 Billion dollars on projects that will provide little value other than spreading around unnecessary pork-barrel spending.

 

The FAA and NextGen in particular have come under fire from the several GAO Audits for mis-management.  NextGen needs have serious Congressional oversight and a independent cost-benefit analysis before committing this amount of our children's money.  Now the big news is that the airlines will not be able to afford to fit out their planes to comply with NextGen.  (Are they going to need another "stimulus" to comply?)

 

Yes, Americans are struggling, but giving a 35 billion dollar check to the FAA with no strings attached is not the way to help.  The entire country will NOT benefit from what this bill provides, it will only saddle our children and grandchildren with huge amounts of un-necessary debt with nothing to show for it.

 

Best Regards,
Quiet Rockland

 

Saturday, November 14, 2009

 

VIA FAX: 1- 202-224-7327, 1-202-224-2499, and U.S. MAIL

 

Honorable Senator Harry Reid	Honorable Senator Mitch McConnell
Majority Leader	Minority Leader
United States Senate	United States Senate
The Capitol, S-221	The Capitol, S-230
Washington, DC  20510  USA	Washington, DC  20510  USA

 

 

Dear Majority Leader Reid and Minority Leader McConnell:

 

I am forwarding this letter to you in rebuttal to the letter from the 35 Senators looking to fast-track and push the ill-conceived FAA Reauthorization Bill. (S. 1451).

 

With the national deficit running at record levels, this is no time to rush through a bill that gives a $35 billion check to an agency that has an awful track record.  FAA cannot continue to operate multi-billion-dollar “projects” without cost-benefit analysis, risk analysis, and benchmarks.  The scathing reports by the GAO and others of late only underscore the fact that this agency cannot be trusted to perform. These projects require much more stringent oversight by Congress.

 

Is this the time to write a $35 Billion dollar check with no strings attached?

 

No! It is time for Senate leadership to be sensible and ensure that safeguards are written into the legislation so that our precious tax dollars are not wasted.  It is time for a cost-benefit analysis of NextGen and the other questionable multi-million dollar projects that are proposed in the legislation.  FAA’s harmful NY/NJ/PHL Airspace Redesign must me stricken from the FAA agenda.

 

Perhaps the 35 Senators have written that letter for some altruistic purpose, or is it the many millions in pork-barrel spending that the FAA is promising?  This is no way to stimulate the economy.

 

Please do whatever is legally within your power to bring some common-sense to this process.  Spending this amount of money without proper debate and safeguards would be a reckless dereliction of Congress’s duty to Americans.

 

Very truly yours,

 

 Thomas Sullivan – Quiet Rockland

 

cc: ALL UNITED STATES SENATORS ON THE FINANCE COMMITTEE, ALL OTHER U.S. SENATORS, ALL U.S. REPRESENTATIVES, THE GAO, OTHER FEDERAL OFFICIALS, STATE OFFICIALS, COUNTY OFFICIALS, TOWN OFFICIALS, LAWYERS, CITIZENS, BUSINESSES, GROUPS, NEWS MEDIA, LAW ENFORCEMENT, CLERGY, EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS, OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES, WORLD MEDIA, AND USDOT, FAA, AND NASA PERSONNEL