Rep. Richard E. Neal accepts ACI-NA Commissioners Congressional Leadership Award from Elsie Rast Stuart of Columbia (S.C.) Metropolitan Airport
In accepting the ACI-NA 2010 Commissioners Congressional Leadership Award, Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-MA) said he will continue to fight the battle for a permanent waiver of the Alternative Minimum Tax, which was eliminated for two years under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
“I have fought the battle on AMT for more than a decade; I think it’s that important,” Rep. Neal said. “I want to make the AMT holiday for your constituents permanent.”
Along with the support of Rep. Neal on the House Ways and Means Committee and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) on the Senate Finance Committee, ACI-NA’s three-year education and lobbying effort on the AMT has helped achieve a major goal in airport funding with the exemption of new private activity bonds from the AMT in 2009 and 2010. With the exemption, airports have had great success in finding buyers for the bonds and have had the ability to refund some existing bonds.
Airports across the country have taken advantage of the AMT holiday to fund the essential continuation of major infrastructure improvement projects at airports, from terminal renovations to runway improvements. These construction projects have resulted in the creation of thousands of jobs.
“The national subject that is in the foreground for all of us is creating jobs, and the quickest way to get those jobs created is based upon the work that you do,” Rep. Neal told airport directors in accepting his award. “When I hear people complain about airport congestion and then in the next breath they oppose any sort of expansion or growth, it’s inconsistent, and we need to call them on that.”
With airports relying on bonds to finance 53 percent of their capital construction needs for safety, security, and infrastructure projects, making the AMT waiver permanent will continue to be a top priority for ACI-NA in 2010.