Congressman Tom Latham was the only member of the Iowa delegation to vote against an airline industry reform bill which passed the U-S House yesterday. It’d spend 40-billion dollars for airport improvements, including 12-million in Iowa. Latham says the bill sets up an entitlement system for airports and downplays safety.Truckers are again honking their way through Washington D-C today, protesting the high price of fuel which threatens to shut some of them down. Diesel now costs an average of two dollars a gallon. One proposal would remove the federal excise tax on fuels, but Latham is wavering on the issue. He says the four-point-three cents may not make much of a difference.The Alexander republican fears farmers will soon be especially hard hit by high fuel prices. One estimate says farmers nationwide can expect a three billion dollar increase in the cost of spring planting — in addition to looming reports of a drought ahead. Latham says there are solutions.Latham supports opening the federal government’s strategic petroleum reserves to increase the gas supply and cut demand.
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