U.S. Rep. Garret Graves addresses event attendees after receiving ARSA’s 2024 Legislative Leadership Award.

ARSA presented its 2024 Legislative Leadership Award to U.S. Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) on March 13 at an Arlington, Virginia ceremony in conjunction with the association’s Annual Conference.

Graves has served as chairman of the House aviation subcommittee since January 2023 and was ranking member of the subcommittee in the prior two Congresses. During his time in those leadership positions, the subcommittee helped create COVID pandemic assistance programs for the aerospace industry that saved tens of thousands of jobs.

More recently, Graves was a central player in developing the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee’s bipartisan FAA reauthorization bill (H.R. 3935). The legislation, which passed the House by a wide margin in June 2023, contains several provisions designed to enhance FAA oversight, improve the regulatory environment for aviation companies, and help them recruit and train new technical talent.

In presenting the award, ARSA Executive Vice President Christian A. Klein lauded Graves for his commitment to safety-based aviation policy, expanding America’s aviation maintenance technician workforce, and working across the aisle to ensure an FAA bill is enacted this year.

“The men and women who work every day to keep America’s aircraft operating safely appreciate Chairman Graves’ commitment to achieving the highest level of aviation safety by the most efficient and effective means possible,” Klein said. “He deserves enormous credit for making FAA reauthorization a bipartisan process despite the high level of partisan acrimony on Capitol Hill.”

The Legislative Leadership Award is presented annually to a member of Congress who has made significant contributions to aviation safety, regulatory efficiency, and expanding the aviation workforce. Recent winners include Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) (2021) and Jim Inhofe (2018) and Reps. Rick Larsen (D-Wash) (2022), Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) (2020), and Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) (2019), and Virginia Foxx (2017).

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