This week in Congress

Slow week in DC as the House is still out on spring break (district work period.)

The Senate came back today and passed a bill (S. 1890) extending federal jurisdiction over the theft of “trade secrets.”

The rest of the week the Senate will be considering legislation reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Unfortunately, few if any Senators will suggest that the people will be better served if the Senate shut down the FAA and allowed the private sector–which does have a strong incentive to provide safe and reliable service to their customers– to handle flying.

Some may dispute that statement by pointing to the numerous complaints with the service provided by private airlines. The response to that is that while airlines where deregulated in the seventies, the airline industry remains heavily subsided and regulated by the government. Thus, modern air travel is another example of how consumers suffer under a “mixed” economy.