NAATS HEADQUARTERS
EMAIL UPDATE
Volume 3, #89
September 5, 2003
The House will take up FAA Reauthorization first, possibly
next Tuesday. We are working with NATCA and PASS to secure additional House
Republican signatures on a letter stating that the bill is flawed and, if not
corrected for inherently governmental ATC functions, they will vote against
it. It is not at all certain what will happen in the House but the Republican
leadership has indicated they will not call for a vote unless they feel they
can pass the bill.
On the Senate side -- yesterday NATCA, PASS and I met with Senator Lautenberg
and three other senators to discuss the Senate strategy in case the House
passes the bill. We have very strong support here to defeat this bill using
filibuster, if necessary. We�re working hard with key members at our
facilities to ensure we have the votes necessary to ensure success. I don�t
want to get much more specific than this because of the distribution of this
update but if we�re successful in defeating this bill then everything is back
on the table. This fight is far from over and many options are being
discussed.
On the FAA front -- thanks to ATS-1 Steve Brown we have resolved the issue of
A76 Representative Kate Breen�s detail and she will be extended. Unfortunately
I haven�t been able to get resolution on the other two PWS issues from ARA;
specifically (1) whether our PWS representatives will be allowed to
meaningfully participate and (2) extending the contract award (source
selection decision) date back to the original timeframe of July 2005. ACA has
taken the position that the PWS work is completed and that they and Grant
Thornton will finish data collection, write the requirements documents and the
quality assurance surveillance program (QASP). This position is inconsistent
with their earlier statements about maximizing employee involvement, OMB
guidance and our MOU. Next step is the Administrator and/or Deputy
Administrator.
On the other hand, I�m happy to say that the ATP MEO arrangements with ATS are
going very well. -- Wally Pike
Wally Pike
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