FAA Funding - AA/CO Pensions Snag Bill

[WingNaPrayer]

Senate FAA Bill In Peril As Leaders Drop Pension Provision



By Martin Vaughan, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Senate leaders Wednesday sought to resolve a dispute over a bill to modernize aviation infrastructure by stripping out a pension provision opposed by American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (AMR) and Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL).

But they ran into another hurdle as Senate Republicans said they will oppose the bill, because GOP senators are not free to offer amendments. The bill is the Aviation Investment And Modernization Act Of 2008, which would provide the Federal Aviation Administration with its funding for the next four years.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. used a parliamentary technique known as "filling the tree" that ensures that only the amendments that he agrees to can come to the Senate floor to be considered.

"This makes it impossible to get enough cooperation on the minority side," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on the Senate floor late Wednesday.

FULL STORY


This whole things smacks of under the table payola!

 

[eolesen]

Nah, it's just more of the Democrat vs. Democrat infighting that's been making the Democrats look like the only political organization that's more dysfunctional than the TWU.

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

Nah, it's just more of the Democrat vs. Democrat infighting that's been making the Democrats look like the only political organization that's more dysfunctional than the TWU.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

eolesen,,

Boy,..........if your this annoyed over "this",......................I can't wait to HEAR from you on the First Wednesday (AM) in November ! :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

 

[xmarlin]

Senate FAA Bill In Peril As Leaders Drop Pension Provision



By Martin Vaughan, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Senate leaders Wednesday sought to resolve a dispute over a bill to modernize aviation infrastructure by stripping out a pension provision opposed by American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (AMR) and Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL).

But they ran into another hurdle as Senate Republicans said they will oppose the bill, because GOP senators are not free to offer amendments. The bill is the Aviation Investment And Modernization Act Of 2008, which would provide the Federal Aviation Administration with its funding for the next four years.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. used a parliamentary technique known as "filling the tree" that ensures that only the amendments that he agrees to can come to the Senate floor to be considered.

"This makes it impossible to get enough cooperation on the minority side," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on the Senate floor late Wednesday.

FULL STORY


This whole things smacks of under the table payola!


"This makes it impossible to get enough cooperation on the minority side," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on the Senate floor late Wednesday."



Typical republican hypocricy

 

[eolesen]

Boy,..........if your this annoyed over "this",......................I can't wait to HEAR from you on the First Wednesday (AM) in November !

Not annoyed, Bears, just enjoying yet another example of the D's infighting.

The independent pessimist in me sees November turning out a lot differently than you do...

What's going to happen after the convention next month if the supers vote in HRC? Do you see all the people HRC's campaign has alienated all of the sudden supporting her? Or all of the HRC people being alienated by the Obama campaign are going to turn around and sing kum-bay-yah with the guy they're labeling as a racist?...

The last two presidential elections have been so close that if you assume 25% for HRC, and 25% for Obama, it only takes a small percentage of HRC voters crossing over to McCain in order to swing things in McCain's favor.

Regardless of the politics at play, AA & CO are being singled out for actually living up to their pension obligations vs. the other guys who handed them over to the PBGC. The amendment had no business being in the FAA's funding bill to begin with.

Pork is yet another reason why I like McCain. He's not too popular in some corners of AZ because he doesn't bring home the bacon. Too bad more politicians weren't concerned with that.

 

[WingNaPrayer]

Regardless of the politics at play, AA & CO are being singled out for actually living up to their pension obligations vs. the other guys who handed them over to the PBGC. The amendment had no business being in the FAA's funding bill to begin with.

Disagree. AA/CO have nothing more than a special "go ahead" to screw with their pensions because they cried foul over having to do what they were legally obligated to do. Their reasoning? Well, other airlines filed bankruptcy and no longer have to pay pensions so we don't want to pay either!

They have a special concession that allows them to value their pension returns at much much higher rates than what is actually happening, allowing them to over-value what is actually in the pension funds. By doing this, AA gets to claim they paid a lot more into the pension fund than they actually pay. The people who this pension fund belongs to have the right to know actual valuation and actual return, not some made up figure the airlines get to use in order to not have to pay their legal obligation.

This free pass AA and CO have needs to be done away with immediately.

 

[ual777fan]

Pork is yet another reason why I like McCain. He's not too popular in some corners of AZ because he doesn't bring home the bacon. Too bad more politicians weren't concerned with that.

Ah McCain... Brings back all those old memories of the Savings and Loans scandal... Anyone else remember the Keating 5?

 

[FrequentFlierCA]

Stupid, stupid, stupid idea to impose more financial burdens on airlines at this moment in time. Why would they even consider this? Are they trying to kill the industry? Or just AA and CO?

 

[eolesen]

They have a special concession that allows them to value their pension returns at much much higher rates than what is actually happening, allowing them to over-value what is actually in the pension funds.

Sounds great, but IIRC, all they get from the "special concession" is the same deal other carriers got when they agreed to freeze pensions.

By doing this, AA gets to claim they paid a lot more into the pension fund than they actually pay. The people who this pension fund belongs to have the right to know actual valuation and actual return, not some made up figure the airlines get to use in order to not have to pay their legal obligation.

This free pass AA and CO have needs to be done away with immediately.

For someone without a dog in the hunt, you sure have a lot of opinions on the pension, Wing...

Or do you just think everything AA does is evil?...

 

[Winglet]

Stupid, stupid, stupid idea to impose more financial burdens on airlines at this moment in time. Why would they even consider this? Are they trying to kill the industry? Or just AA and CO?

How do you feel about the 10s of millions of dollars that the AA executives pay themselves regardless of their incompetent performance?

 

[FrequentFlierCA]

How do you feel about the 10s of millions of dollars that the AA executives pay themselves regardless of their incompetent performance?

I don't agree with your premise, that the performance was "incompetent". I'm not going to shill for AMR's exec team and say they are the best thing since sliced bread, but they have - with critical help from you guys, the line employees - kept the company's destiny squarely in its own hands. I'm sure it's becoming an old refrain, but AA'ers are better off than anyone else in their industry when it comes to retirement.

I also can't fault management for rising oil prices. If oil were still at $50 you would probably have new contracts you'd be happy with.

The exec payouts haven't been the smartest play PR-wise, but your union leadership let them put it in their contract. If you don't like it, don't make that mistake next time. But to fault them in the moment for taking pay that is contractually theirs is disingenuous.

 

[FWAAA]

Disagree. AA/CO have nothing more than a special "go ahead" to screw with their pensions because they cried foul over having to do what they were legally obligated to do. Their reasoning? Well, other airlines filed bankruptcy and no longer have to pay pensions so we don't want to pay either!

Incorrect. When Congress stretched out the allowable time for airlines to catch up with their underfunding, Congress singled out CO and AA for unequal treatment - airlines were given a longer time to catch up as long as they froze their plans, and AA and CO were given less time to catch up because they refused to freeze their plans. The next year, Congress finally allowed AA and CO more time to catch up their underfunding even without a freeze. Now, this Baucus idiot wants to punish AA (and its employees) by taking away this flexibility granted to AA and CO (which matches that given to DL and NW).

They have a special concession that allows them to value their pension returns at much much higher rates than what is actually happening, allowing them to over-value what is actually in the pension funds. By doing this, AA gets to claim they paid a lot more into the pension fund than they actually pay. The people who this pension fund belongs to have the right to know actual valuation and actual return, not some made up figure the airlines get to use in order to not have to pay their legal obligation.

There's nothing factual about this paragraph.

This free pass AA and CO have needs to be done away with immediately.

So should the free pass on posting non-truths.

In any event, the good news is that AA (and CO) have been contributing more than the annual minimum contribututions for the last couple of years, and as of 12/31/07, AMR's pensions were funded at 96%, so if this provision that levels the playing field is taken away from AA, it won't be the end of the world.