Story ID: 
…Senate Finance Committee On Deck 
By: AIN Staff
Caption: The final vote tally of 12-11 against the amendment means that the bill will move to the next step in the Senate with user fees attached.
Word Count: 140
The final vote tally of 12-11 against the amendment means that the bill will move to the next step in the Senate with user fees attached. Eight democrats voted for user fees versus four against. Only four republicans voted for the per-flight fee, compared with seven against. When the vote was tied 11 to 11, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), whose constituency relies on general aviation as the life blood of the state, cast the deciding vote in favor of fees. From here, the bill will move to the Senate Finance Committee, which Bolen told AIN has “wide latitude” to consider any number of options. In other words, the fight against user fees was not lost in the Commerce Committee. No hearings have been scheduled at this point, and the Finance Committee leadership has not yet made public its thoughts on user fees.