TEA PARTY NATION: The Fruits of John Boehner’s surrender

Judson Phillips
August 13, 2011

A couple of weeks ago a standoff caused the shut down of the Federal Aviation administration. The standoff was over the issue of subsidies to small rural airports. The GOP picked this as a pork issue and the Party of Corruption simply wanted to keep this going to buy more votes.

Of course, Boehner surrendered after two weeks, accomplishing nothing except angering about 100,000 voters.

How about these flights to nowhere?

From AP:

On some days, the pilots with Great Lakes Airlines fire up a twin-engine Beechcraft 1900 at the Ely, Nev., airport and depart for Las Vegas without a single passenger on board. And the federal government pays them to do it.

Federal statistics reviewed by The Associated Press show that in 2010, just 227 passengers flew out of Ely while the airline got $1.8 million in subsidies. The travelers paid $70 to $90 for a one-way ticket. The cost to taxpayers for each ticket: $4,107.


Ely is one of 153 rural communities where airlines get subsidies through the $200 million Essential Air Service program, and one of 13 that critics say should be eliminated from it. Some call the spending a boondoggle, but others see it as a critical financial lifeline to ensure economic stability in rural areas.


Steve Smith, executive director of the Jackson, Tenn., airport authority, also has seen empty or near empty flights take off, since the airlines get paid per flight, not per passenger. The subsidy amounted to $244 for each of the 2,514 people who flew out of Smith's airport last year, though few if any passengers knew that.

"They fly the empty plane so they can still get the money," Smith said.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AVIATION_SHUTDOWN_RURAL_S...

Flying the plane empty so they can get the money?

Why is the government keeping this up? Jackson Tennessee is in Tennessee’s 8th Congressional District. Their Congressman, Steve Fincher, ran as one of the Tea Party candidates. Why does he keep this money coming?

Ely Nevada is the home turf of Harry Reid, Chief Thief in the Senate. We know why he keeps the subsidy flowing.

This is the kind of wasteful spending the GOP needs to be eliminating. Unfortunately, while John Boehner leads the House of Representatives that will never happen. Boehner only likes a fight so he can haul up his freshly laundered white flag of surrender.

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