Congressman Sam Graves calls himself an "aviation nut." A pilot since 1992, he grew up with an airport across the road from his family farm. "When I was a kid, my brother and I used to wash planes to get rides from the pilots at the airport," he said. "I’ve been hooked on aviation for as long as I can remember."

In addition to representing Missouri’s Sixth Congressional District, covering his state’s northwest corner, Graves is hard at work building an RV-8 and a Skybolt of his own. He plans to attend as many workshops on topics like metalworking and construction as he can this week. He also will be combing the exhibit halls and the fly market for the parts and vendor advice any homebuilder needs.

"There’s no place like AirVenture when you need parts or service; this year I’m looking for tools and wiring gear, and I know the selection will be great," he said. "I can also see lots of great homebuilt planes on the flight line to get ideas for my own projects."

Part of what brings Graves, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Aviation, to Oshkosh is the general aviation user fees issue. Graves is concerned that user fees could crush general aviation, making it too expensive for average pilots. "User fees could turn flying into a rich man’s sport," he said. "We don’t want to put flying out of reach for average Americans."

During his time at AirVenture, he will participate in a forum on user fees with other members of the Aviation Subcommittee on Saturday, July 28 at 11:30 a.m. at the Sporty’s Pavilion. "EAA members are really informed about how this will impact them," he said, "So I’m sure there will be some great questions and input we can use to keep the bill on the right track for general aviation. I know I can come to AirVenture to get a real picture of how pilots feel about this issue."

The panel will discuss H.R. 2881, the "FAA Reauthorization Act of 2007." The bill does not contain user fees, but instead promotes modernization of the traffic system, funded through existing airline passenger and GA fuel taxes, along with fair allocation of costs to keep planes of all sizes and for all purposes in the air. EAA, AOPA, GAMA, NBAA, and other general aviation trade associations endorse the bill as the best way to refinance the FAA.

The Senate developed its own FAA reauthorization bill, which includes a $25 user fee for some general aviation flights. Graves describes the fee recommended in the bill as based on a misunderstanding of what’s really "fair" when it comes to the price tag on general aviation. He notes that most recreational pilots don’t use the air traffic control system, and that adding user fees to already growing fuel taxes will just make it harder to keep small aircraft in the air.

Graves also points out that the FAA operates under the Aviation Trust Fund, which was originally designed to support capital expenses such as airport construction and improvement and air traffic control operations. The Trust Fund revenue comes from fuel taxes and airline passenger facility charges. As the FAA is reauthorized, Graves would like to see the ongoing FAA operating budget removed from the mix so that airports and air traffic get the Trust Fund money for infrastructure, as was originally intended.

The House and Senate bills have cleared their first hurdles at their respective committees and are now with tax-writing panels, the House Ways and Means and the Senate Finance committees. Once the revenue-raising provisions are approved, the two bills will go to their respective floors for debate and approval. The final bills from the House and Senate will then move to a conference committee, where differences between them will be reconciled and the final result sent to the president’s desk for enactment.

Graves encourages pilots to continue to keep in touch with their elected leaders as the process of finalizing the bill moves forward. "In many cases in Washington, the squeakiest wheel gets the most attention," he said. "I urge general aviation pilots to stay in touch and to be clear about the problems with general aviation user fees."

Graves is also keeping tabs on other issues in Congress that could impact general aviation, such as unmanned aircraft, very light jet (VLJ) regulation and overreaching national security regulations. He is also eager to help decrease congestion in the air traffic control system.

For more information about the user fee issue and the forums going on throughout the week, visit EAA Member Village, where a display provides information and offers members an opportunity to sign a petition supporting H.R. 2881.