The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure approved a slate of measures during a committee markup on July 28. These include bipartisan legislation led by Chair Peter DeFazio (D-OR) to preclude new foreign airlines from operating to and from the United States that exploit “flags of convenience” to avoid the regulations of their home countries, or otherwise undermine labor standards. The legislation is now ready for consideration on the House floor.
“As Americans start to travel again after the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s more important than ever to make sure that any foreign airlines looking to serve U.S. markets play by the rules and don’t exploit the weaker labor laws of other countries to save money and unfairly get a leg up. I am proud that the committee passed my bipartisan bill—the Fair and Open Skies Act—to protect American jobs from predatory competition,” Chair DeFazio said. “The committee also approved several additional pieces of important legislation, including my bill to rename the Department of Transportation headquarters building in Washington, DC, after Secretary Norman Mineta, the longest serving Secretary of Transportation and a former Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, as well as legislation to make it easier for survivors to promptly access critical FEMA assistance after natural disasters. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get these bills signed into law.”
Other legislation approved by the committee included the Advanced Air Mobility Coordination and Leadership Act, which would establish an advanced air mobility (AAM) interagency working group at the U.S. Department of Transportation, comprised of federal departments and agencies, the public sector, civil aviation industry leaders, labor unions, and other relevant stakeholders to evaluate, plan, and coordinate efforts to help advance U.S. leadership in the emerging AAM industry.
Read more at the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
