The bill H.R. 3371 was read in the Senate twice on October 15, 2009 and was referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

There are a few schools of thought on where it will go from here:

1) The Senate has held hearings in parallel to the hearings in the house and has been creating a parallel bill (one that has not been voted on in the committee). The thought here is that the committee will take the House bill and incorporate it into its version. They will then have a vote in committee before a vote can be held in the Senate and signature by the President.

2) The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has been working on H.R. 915 which is the FAA Reauthorization Act. This bill has been passed by the House and could be voted in committee before the winter recess. The thought here is that the bill H.R. 3371 could be incorporated with the vote on H.R. 915 (this is not an uncommon practice in the Senate as it allows a single vote for multiple bills) allowing for a quick vote in the Senate followed by a signature by the President.

3) The House, the families of Colgan Flight 3407, the FAA, and all of you and I may have enough of a voice to get a bill out of the committee before the winter recess allowing for a vote in the senate and subsequently a signature by the president (that is if it passes the vote in the senate).

4) The bill sits in committee until after the winter recess.

5) The "who knows"...Need a crystal ball for this one! HAHA

Unfortunately, at this point it is a toss up as to where the bill is going. The Senate is very focused on Health Care Reform and all other issues are taking a back row seat at this time.

What I would suggest, however, is that everyone call, fax, e-mail, or make an appointment for an office visit with your State Senators. You can use this link to find out the contact information for your Senators U.S. Senate: Senators Home.

I also suggest that you contact the following Senators to express your sentiment of this legislation as they have a large part in getting the bill out of committee:

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

The Chairman: Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia
The Ranking Member: Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas

Subcommittee of Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security

Democrats

Byron L. Dorgan
(Chairman)
Daniel K. Inouye
John F. Kerry
Barbara Boxer
Bill Nelson
Maria Cantwell
Frank R. Lautenberg
Mark Pryor
Claire McCaskill
Amy Klobuchar
Mark Warner
Mark Begich

Republicans

Jim DeMint
(Ranking Member)
Olympia J. Snowe
John Ensign
John Thune
Roger Wicker
George S. LeMieux
Johnny Isakson
David Vitter
Sam Brownback
Mike Johanns

I have been following this daily and trying to keep my staff updated as much as I can. I regularly check this site to see if anyone has posted any new information that has come out and if no one has I surely will.

Here's hoping for a quick bout through the Senate!