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Airline bailout faces a giant hurdle: Limits on exec bonuses and stock buybacks

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said she wanted to ensure that airplane mechanics aren’t put out of work, saying „the last time this happened, we wiped out the heavy repair industry and all those jobs went to Mexico and Brazil.“

„The last time we helped out the airlines we didn’t actually put any guardrails around some of this money, whether it’s task credits for repair work — so the maintenance companies actually went out of business,“ she added. „The airlines came back but all of those maintenance jobs went overseas and we need to make sure that we keep those jobs here. So the MROs, the maintenance repair operators, they need to be protected as well.“

Some Senate Republicans have cringed at the idea of “bailing out” industry, but on Wednesday, a key Republican appeared open to the idea of providing loans.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said he “would have some real concerns” about a “bailout” for the airline industry, but loans are “different.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who leads the Senate’s transportation spending panel, said she has spoken with some airlines and she has “no doubt that this is a financial crisis for them.”

“And I think, given their importance to our economy, and to our eventual recovery, that we are going to have to provide some sort of assistance — whether it should be in the form of loans, secured loans, I’m not sure yet,” Collins said.

Separately, a group of eight Democratic senators led by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, wrote to congressional leadership today asking them to include provisions pushing the airline sector to cut carbon emissions in any aid package. The sector produces about 2.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions today.

“Given the poor records of some companies in these industries, we believe that any such financial assistance should be paired with requirements that companies act in a more responsible fashion,” read the letter, also signed by Sens. Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (Ct.), Tina Smith (Minn.) and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.).

The Senate has said it will vote on a second round of coronavirus aid today already approved by the House, but a larger aid package for companies and workers continues to be negotiated.

Source: politico.com
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