This isn't too terribly shocking. Money is the energy that lets the FAA and U.S. government function. It was only a matter of time before the Colgan crash became a thing of distant memory and regional lobbyists paid Congressmen enough so that they would be more open in watering down the ATP original qualifications. It will be sad, should it pass. The recent raises in compensation and quality of life being realized all across the regional airline arena will soon see a reversal as regional airline ground schools everywhere are able to fill classes to their heart's content, and bonus schemes are retracted.

One must wonder though how this will affect part 135 certificated operators. Most of them hire SICs according to Wyvern/Argus minimums of 1000 hours total time. If the regionals begin to hire at 500 hrs/750 hrs, these 135s will struggle hard to find interested pilots. It does not end there either way. Flight schools in the USA will suffer just as hard. A flight instructor will work at a flight school for perhaps a couple of months and then be gone for the regionals upon reaching 500 hours. Who will then train the next generation of professional pilots?

I do not foresee good things emerging out of the airline first officer minimum qualifications reduction. The regionals are doing whatever they can to stay alive even for a few years more, if they can manage it. It will come at the cost of general aviation as we have known it for decades metamorphosing into some new quantity unrecognizable to us. Instead of protecting the regionals, we should be protecting our national aviation system.