Congress & Speedy Legislation for 9/11 Air Carriers

Here is another amazing set of coincidences that relate to the 9/11/2001 events.
The President signed Public Law 107-42 on 9/22/2001.
It an Act "To preserve the continued viability of the United States air transportation system" and is commonly known as the "Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act".

Amazingly, someone kept their head enough through all the surprise 9/11 "attacks" and realized that there would be a need for this type of legislation. Apparently, these approximately 12 pages of technical legislation were not only drafted but it had also been printed and circulated it to both the House (H.R. 2926) and Senate (S.1450), where, on 9/21/01 it was considered and passed by both Houses of Congress in just 10 days.

In TITLE I - AIRLINE STABILIZATION
It provides, in part, for the President "shall take the following actions to compensate air carriers for losses incurred by the air carriers as a result of the terrorist attacks on the United States that occurred on September 11, 2001."
"(1) Subject to such terms and conditions as the President deems necessary, to issue Federal credit instruments to air carriers that do not, in the total aggregate, exceed $10,000,000,000 and to provide subsidy amounts necessary for such instruments in accordance with provisions of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2U.S.C. 661 et seq.)
(2) Compensate air carriers in an aggregate amount equal to $5,000,000,000 for
(A) direct losses incurred beginning on September 11, 2001 by air carriers as a result of any Federal ground stop order issued by the Secretary of Transportation or any subsequent order which continues or renews such stoppage; and
(B) the incremental losses incurred beginning September 11, 2001 and ending December 31, 2001, by air carriers as a direct result of such attacks."

TITLE II - AVIATION INSURANCE (partial listing of 2 sections)
(a) amended certain sections of Section 44302 of title 49, United States Code.
(b) REIMBURSEMENT OF INSURANCE COST INCREASES

TITLE III - TAX PROVISIONS - 1 Section
TITLE IV - VICTIM COMPENSATION - 9 Sections
TITLE V - AIR TRANSPORTATION SAFETY - 2 Sections
TITLE VI - SEPARABILITY - 1 Section

As you can see from the above there is quite a bit of detail that needed thought and legislation specific language as well as familiarity with the Sections of the other laws that were amended.

This piece just deals with the (2) part of Title I that deals with the $5,000,000,000 approved for compensation for losses to air carriers.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has posted a listing of payments made to 427 Carriers totaling $4,638,361,045.1.

http://www.dot.gov/affairs/carrierpayments.htm

The "Questions or Comments" link provides a non-existent email address. At least the email that I sent from there was returned by a MAILER DEMON. The latest date provided by the above page is October 13, 2003.

On December 4, 2006 I sent the following email from the ATSB section of the Treasury Department website:

"Hello,

The Department of Transportation has a listing of payments that was made in accordance wilt public law 107-42 at the following link. http://www.dot.gov/affairs/carrierpayments.htm

The latest date shown on the page is October 10, 2003.

I tried to contact them from the “Question or Comments” spot at the bottom of that page and received a reply from a MAILER DEMON that the address was not correct.

I am trying to find out:
1- If that list is considered a full and final listing ? If not when and where will it be posted?
2- Were the “applications” for damages net of any insurance claims that had been filed with the entities private insurance companies ?
3- Are the “applications” available ?
4- If they are to whom and in what format should the request be made for selected companies ?

Thank You for your reply."


On December 12, 2006 I received the following email

"Dear Mr. -----

You had addressed a number of questions to the Air Transportation Stabilization Board concerning payments to air carriers under P.L. 107-42, which were referred to me. Here’s the answers:
1) The 2003 payments schedule posted on DOT’s website is virtually complete. There have been a number of changes that occurred thereafter as a result of claim settlements, lawsuit results, repayment installments from carriers, etc., as these data trickled in. There is only one major case now outstanding, and we are hoping to resolve that within the next month or so. At that time we may do an additional accounting if resources are available, even though there are a few installment repayments and one bankruptcy resolution yet outstanding that would not enable a final rendering to be made. The most significant change to the 2003 table is a repayment of $28,820,841 by FedEx Express, in connection with that company’s unsuccessful litigation against the United States. As of this time, $4.603 billion has been obligated of the $5 billion made available, with most of the balance rescinded by Congress and so put to other purposes.
2) Yes. (Carriers were required to disclose insurance payments, and payments were net of those.)
3) No. Most companies requested confidentiality with their applications, because they contained information about their financial losses, forecasting methods, etc. that could cause them competitive harm if released. As a result of those requests, and because the submissions on their face appeared to meet the criteria for withholding of the information from public release under 5 USC 552(b)(4), DOT extended confidentiality to the substance of all applications. We responded to the legitimate issues of public interest in fiscal responsibility, program administration and responsiveness by publishing the amounts of payments to each carrier on the DOT website.
4) A copy of the application forms are in the Code of Federal Regulations, at 14 CFR Part 330 (Appendices), so you can see the nature of the information requested and the method of computing the tentative compensation amount. If you wish to see selected applications as filled out, I would suggest writing to each of the companies you are interested in and asking them for the information. DOT would have no objection if companies voluntarily provided their information to you.

James R. Dann
Deputy Assistant General Counsel
USDOT"

I find it remarkable that the documents that were passed by both Houses of Congress in 10 days contained an accurate figure for what the losses would be through December 31, 2001.

Since the Deputy Assistant General Counsel has suggested that I write to each of the 427 entities listed to ask them for the information, I am wondering if anybody else has another suggestion.