The FedEx “Ministry of Propaganda” was at it again on Tuesday with another misleading Brown Bailout piece distributed by the company’s PR agents and lobbyists. Here’s the main message:
Momentum continues to build against the UPS bailout provision that is blocking passage of the much-needed FAA Reauthorization bill. More and more lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are expressing support for passing an FAA Reauthorization bill — which includes critical passenger safety measures, new navigational technology and important airport upgrades — without a provision in the House version of the bill that has nothing to do with air safety. That provision provides competitive relief for UPS, expressly at the expense of its primary competitor, FedEx Express.
The U.S. Senate passed its version of the FAA Reauthorization Act on March 23 by a vote of 93-0. The Senate version did not include the UPS bailout provision. Without that unrelated provision the FAA Reauthorization bill would be passed in the Senate without delay—and investment in safer air travel would begin.
Last things first. As you know…and contrary to the misleading spin by the FedEx folks…the only reason the Senate vote was 93-0 was because senators knew the Senate version and House version, which includes the provision closing the FedEx loophole, would have to be reconciled. This was nothing more than a vote to move the ball down the field a few yards.
Secondly, FedEx mischaracterizes the amendment as a “provision that provides UPS “competitive relief” at the expense of FedEx. In reality, all the amendment does is eliminate the competitive advantage FedEx has enjoyed for over a dozen years thanks to a corporate welfare benefit FedEx slipped into the 1996 FAA reauthorization bill.
And lastly, considering how false and misleading most of FedEx’s other arguments have been on this issue, we have serious reservations as to their claim that “momentum continues to build” on both sides of the aisle to pass the FAA bill without eliminating the FedEx loophole.
That said, however, since the FedEx loophole was inserted into a former FAA bill even though it, too, had “nothing to do with air safety,” it’s certainly appropriate to close this loophole in the current FAA bill. And we continue to urge Congress to do just that. Equal treatment under the law may not have anything to do with air safety, but it has everything to do with America.