During recent deliberations in the House over a funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) proved deeply frustrated over the evident plans for making resources available for vertiports, a kind of landing facility for aircraft. The vertically moving aircraft served by such facilities include newer electric models, connecting the inclusion of such locations in federal support to renewable energy initiatives.
Perry proposed an amendment to remove vertiports from the facilities that can be benefited by the Airport Improvement Program (AIP), which is a federal grant offering, arguing that those behind such facilities were not appropriately paying into the federal tranches that would be needed. A huge majority in the House voted against Perry, with 387 members in opposition and only 45 in favor. Those backing Perry’s attempt to limit federal support for vertiports included familiar right-wing figures like GOP Reps. Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), James Comer (Ky.), and Jim Jordan (Ohio).
Sharing the opposition’s perspective in the brief House debate held over Perry’s proposal was Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), who questioned the Republican commitment to even levying the taxes and fees needed to run a program like AIP considering their general opposition to raising taxes. “The fact of the matter is that most of my friends on the other side of the aisle have already signed on to the Grover Norquist no new tax pledge, so for years, they have neglected to raise revenues where appropriate, and they will continue to abide by the pledge that they have given,” Johnson told the House.
On the flip side, Perry’s complaints about vertiports and electric vehicles extended beyond ostensible gaps in raising federal revenue from those behind such endeavors. He also complained about sources for the materials, claiming slave labor was involved. “Do you know what else is not awesome?” Perry argued in Congress. “Most of the materials sourced in this stuff come from the Communist Chinese, made by slave labor, whether it is the actual slave labor in concentration camps in east Turkistan or whether it is the child slave labor in the Congo feeding the Chinese machine, feeding the machine here so we can virtue signal that we are doing everything clean, that we are electrified and are not going to charge anybody for it. Somebody is going to pay.”
