Washington - The U.S. Senators from New York and New Jersey, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Charles E. Schumer, Frank Lautenberg, and Robert Menendez today decried the decision by the Bush Administration to go ahead with its scheme to auction off arrival and departure slots at the New York metropolitan region's airports despite a legal finding by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that such a move would be illegal. In a letter to President Bush, the four senators underscored their opposition to the plan and urged the administration to reverse course.

"This unlawful, untried and untested plan put forward by the USDOT will have drastic consequences for the travelers and residents of New Jersey and New York," the senators wrote to the President. "We are disappointed that instead of working with the Port Authority, the DOT has instead chosen to force clearly unwanted actions-such as this slot auction-onto our local airports, in what appears to be an economic experiment pushed by ideologues within your Administration. We ask that you immediately direct your Secretary of Transportation to cease any and all actions to implement an auction system at New York/New Jersey airports."

In a legal opinion released earlier this month, the GAO concluded that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), "lacks authority to auction arrival and departure slots, and thus also lacks authority to retain and use auction proceeds." GAO said it would challenge the FAA if it sought to proceed with the plan. The full legal opinion is available here: http://www.clinton.senate.gov/documents/news/09_31_08_GAO.pdf.

The New York and New Jersey senators have opposed the auction plan as counterproductive and potentially very costly to consumers. Instead, the senators have called on the FAA to modernize its equipment, adequately staff its control towers, and expedite new technology to increase airport capacity.
Last year the senators secured into law two measures to reduce flight delays and ease congestion in New York/New Jersey airspace. One provision required the federal government to provide a plan to Congress to reduce flight delays in the region, the nation's most densely congested airspace. The other measure required the GAO to investigate the FAA's Airspace Redesign Plan, as well as the effectiveness of a variety of approaches used nationwide to reduce flight delays, including the auction plan.
The text of the senators' letter to President Bush follows.

October 9, 2008

The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We are deeply concerned about the latest action by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), which has chosen to disregard the Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the rule of law to implement an auction system at New York area airports.

An auction system will lead to higher fares, as airlines paying for takeoff and landing rights through this non-traditional process will be forced to pass along any additional costs to consumers in the form of higher fares. Specifically, such a system will likely make flights at reasonable times during the day entirely too expensive for middle class families. Further, the decision by the USDOT is without authority from Congress. A recent report by the Government Accountability Office found USDOT to be lacking authority to conduct the auction plan. Congress did not give the USDOT unbridled property rights to our nation's air space, nor did Congress give the USDOT authority to assign flights by auction. This unlawful, untried and untested plan put forward by the USDOT will have drastic consequences for the travelers and residents of New Jersey and New York.

The USDOT's plan neglects entirely the regional planning undertaken by the bi-state Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, one of the world's largest transportation agencies. This agency has a long history of hands-on operations of four of the busiest airports in the entire country. Its coordinated planning processes reflect the local needs of our state and region and its management and experience should be embraced by the FAA, not dismissed. We are disappointed that instead of working with the Port Authority, the DOT has instead chosen to force clearly unwanted actions - such as this slot auction - onto our local airports, in what appears to be an economic experiment pushed by ideologues within your Administration.

In light of these concerns, we ask that you immediately direct your Secretary of Transportation to cease any and all actions to implement an auction system at New York/New Jersey airports. We request that you direct the Secretary to work with the Port Authority and other stakeholders to implement policies that will reduce flight delays and not unnecessarily raise airfares for travelers in our region.

Sincerely,

Hillary Rodham Clinton Charles E. Schumer

Frank Lautenberg Robert Menendez

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