Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 14 - Flight Attendant Duty Time Act

(SENT 7/24/91 House Rules and House 7/25/91)
(House Rules)
(Mineta (D) California and 92 others)

The Administration opposes enactment of H.R. 14 because it would needlessly reregulate the airline industry and increase costs to passengers without increasing airline safety. If H.R. 14 were presented to the President in its current form, the Secretary of Transportation would recommend a veto.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently completed an extensive study of flight attendant duty hours. That study concluded that requirements such as those in H.R. 14 would produce no quantifiable safety benefits for airline passengers. The FAA estimates that these requirements would, however, impose $1 billion in additional costs on airline passengers over the next 15 years. These increases would not only adversely affect passengers, but add to the financial difficulties of America's air carriers, which lost a record $4.1 billion last year and $1 billion during the first quarter of 1991.