Roll Call
About The Keyvote

The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), would strike section 451 of the bill, which authorizes the Essential Air Service (EAS). The original purpose of EAS was to be a small program dedicated to ensuring rural communities had access to some form of air service after the airline deregulation of the 1970s. However, it has since ballooned into a wasteful program that costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

Most of the money EAS spends subsidizes rural airports that service fewer than 30 passengers per day. This despite the fact that, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 99.95 percent of people live within 120 miles of an airport. The EAS is no longer serving its purpose and is wasting taxpayer money to fund an initiative for which there is no longer any legitimate demand. Repealing section 451 would save the taxpayers $1 billion over the next five years.