1-May-2012 Source: HAI
The U.S. House of Representatives has now selected its conferees to iron out differences with the Senate over competing versions of the Highway Reauthorization Bill. Embedded in the Senate version, S. 1813, is language inserted by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) that usurps FAA authority to regulate air tour operators over national parks, and instead gives it to the National Park Service. HAI believes that the Alexander amendment is unacceptable and would dangerously marginalize the FAA’s statutory role in overseeing air safety.
Senator Alexander developed his amendment without the participation of the affected stakeholders and without any consultation from the air tour industry. This dangerous, precedent-setting amendment jeopardizes passenger safety and thousands of air tour-related jobs during a time of high unemployment, in addition to threatening the very existence of a vital tourism-based industry.
Anyone with an interest in the issue may contact the conference committee members (see the list below), but your help is particularly needed if you reside in a districtor state represented by one of the House conferees. Because you are one of their constituents, your help is especially critical in getting the message to the actual decision-makers in Washington.
Contact information for all U.S. Representatives may be found at www.house.gov.
The House conferees and their Washington, D.C., telephone numbers are:
Republicans:
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Democrats:
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Rob Bishop (Utah)
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(202) 225-0453
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Timothy Bishop (N.Y.)
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(202) 225-3826
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Larry Buschon (Ind.)
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(202) 225-4636
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Earl Blumenauer (Ore.)
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(202) 225-4811
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David Camp (Mich.)
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(202) 225-3561
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Leonard Boswell (Iowa)
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(202) 225-3806
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Chip Cravaack (Minn.)
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(202) 225-6211
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Corrine Brown (Fla.)
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(202) 225-0123
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Rick Crawford (Ark.)
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(202) 225-4076
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Jerry Costello (Ill.)
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(202) 225-5661
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John Duncan (Tenn.)
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(202) 225-5435
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Elijah Cummings (Md.)
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(202) 225-4741
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Ralph Hall (Tex.)
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(202) 255-6673
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Peter Defazio (Ore.)
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(202) 225-6416
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Richard Hanna (N.Y.)
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(202) 225-3665
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Eddie Bernice Johnson (Tex.)
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(202) 225-8885
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Doc Hastings (Wash.)
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(202) 225-5816
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Edward Markey (Mass.)
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(202) 225-2836
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Jamie Herrera Beutler (Wash.)
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(202) 225-3536
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Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.)
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(202) 225-5635
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James Lankford (Okla.)
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(202) 225-2132
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Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.)
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(202) 225-8050
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John Mica (Fla.)
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(202) 225-4035
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Nick Rahall (W.V.)
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(202) 225-3452
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Shelley Moore Capitol (W.V.)
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(202) 225-2711
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Henry Waxman (Calif.)
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(202) 225-3976
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Reid Ribble (Wisc.)
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(202) 225-5665
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Bill Schuster (Penn.)
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(202) 225-2431
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Steve Southerland (Fla.)
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(202) 225-5235
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Pat Tiberi (Ohio)
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(202) 225-5355
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Fred Upton (Mich.)
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(202) 225-3761
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Ed Whitfield (Ky.)
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(202) 225-3115
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Don Young (Alaska)
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(202) 225-5765
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Among the talking points you may wish to use in explaining the perils of allowing the Alexander amendment to remain in the final Highway Reauthorization Bill that will be signed into law: