December 4, 2008
Mr. Douglas Taylor
****Deleted****
Dear Mr. Taylor:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the potential auctioning of arrival and departure slots at Newark Liberty International Airport. I appreciate your sharing your thoughts with me.
As you know, on September 30, 2008, in response to a Congressional request, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lacked authority to auction arrival and departure slots, as well as retain and/or use any auction proceeds.
Specifically, the GAO said, "in our opinion, FAA lacks a legal basis to go forward with the Newark auction or any other auction, and if FAA were to go forward with auctioning slots without obtaining necessary authority and retained and used the proceeds, GAO would raise exceptions under its account settlement authority for violations of the 'purpose statute,' 31 U.S.C. 1301(a), and the Antideficiency Act, 31 U.S.C. 1341(a)(1)(A)." A full copy of GAO's report can be obtained online at:
http://www.gao.gov/decisions/other/316796.pdf.
As a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, please be assured that I will keep your views in mind should any related legislation come before the House.
In the meantime, if you would like to receive email updates about how I am working on behalf of Arizona's 5th Congressional District, I invite you to sign up for my newsletter at
http://www.mitchell.house.gov
Sincerely,
Harry E. Mitchell
Member of Congress
HEM/mw