[JYO] Elections keep many friends of GA in office

 
Elections keep many friends of GA in  office
President George W. Bush won his hard-fought battle for a second term in the  
White House. Bush, who flew F-102 fighters in the Texas Air National Guard, 
will  be returning to the Oval Office, ensuring that many familiar faces will 
remain  in place at the FAA and other regulatory agencies. 
So what do the presidential and congressional elections mean for general  
aviation? 
"Who controls the executive branch is important, of course, but over the long 
 term, it is Congress that sets the course for aviation through legislation 
and  control of the purse strings," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "AOPA's 
friends  and contacts remain in the top positions on the four congressional 
committees  key to general aviation — in the Senate, the Commerce and 
Appropriations  committees, and in the House, the Appropriations Committee and 
the  
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. 
"With AOPA's more than 400,000 members representing votes in nearly every  
congressional district, we are an organization that can't be easily  ignored." 
And AOPA has very good relationships with Congress. Fourteen pilots and AOPA  
members won reelection to Congress Tuesday. That means there will be 21 AOPA  
members serving in the House and Senate. 
"We expect that general aviation policy and funding will continue on  
essentially the same course," said Boyer, "but there is likely to be a change 
in  
emphasis in some areas. 
"With this election, we kept our strong allies in the battles against user  
fees and air traffic control privatization and continued support for general  
aviation airports."

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