March 8, 2006

 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Former mayor of Fort Worth and now Congresswoman, Kay Granger (R-Fort Worth), today made the following statement in response to Southwest’s unreasonable demand for local authorities to reach a local solution on the Wright Amendment in 30 days:

“Southwest’s demand for local authorities to reach an agreement within 30 days is both unrealistic and unreasonable. Love Field’s role in Fort Worth/Dallas’ commercial aviation was debated for four years and when Southwest decided it want to fly interstate after the federal airline deregulation law was enacted, it  took a year to craft the compromise known as the Wright Amendment. This decision is not on the timetable of any one airline but is on the timetable of local authorities who are carefully vetting the potential economic ramifications of altering the Wright Amendment in any way. We must not forget that repealing the Wright Amendment equals a potential job loss of up to 200,000 jobs. I stand firmly against any decisions that would alter the Wright Amendment in any way.”

Granger serves on the Appropriations Committee and the powerful Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. She also serves as a Deputy Majority Whip. Granger is the first and only female Republican to serve in the Texas House delegation. Granger represents the 12th District of Texas and is currently serving her fifth term in Congress.