Airfare subsidies threatened, but Alaska's may survive ESSENTIAL: Senate could vote today on cutting program that serves rural communities.

WASHINGTON -- Alaska is likely to be spared in a House bill that guts $200 million in annual airfare subsidies to rural and hard-to-reach places across the country.

A House panel voted Wednesday to end the Essential Air Service program, except in Alaska and Hawaii. About $12 million in subsidies go to airlines to encourage them to fly everywhere from Adak to Yakutat -- among 44 communities airlines say could be too expensive to service in Alaska otherwise.

Yet the national program remains under threat, even though it has the backing of the White House in the 2012 budget.

The Senate is expected to vote today on a proposal by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to do away with it entirely, including in Alaska and Hawaii. McCain's home state isn't immune from the cuts -- the communities of Kingman, Page and Prescott would lose $4.8 million in subsidies for service.

Both of Alaska's senators took to the floor of the Senate this week to defend Essential Air Service, saying that without the subsidies, air travel in some communities is so prohibitively expensive that their communities would be all but inaccessible. Alaska lawmakers have long argued the program is no different than subsidizing Lower 48 highways.

"Aviation is the lifeblood of Alaska," Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, said Monday on the Senate floor. "It's truly our highway in the sky."

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, defended the program Wednesday when its elimination came up at the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Essential Air Service "is essential for a reason," Young said. "It's a means of survival and it is very important to our state."

The program has long been a target of budget watchdog groups and was singled out this year by House Republicans eager to show voters they're serious about their campaign promises to slash federal spending.

SUBSIDIES UNDER SIEGE

Citizens Against Government Waste has Essential Air Service in its Prime Cuts database of 763 waste-cutting recommendations they say could save taxpayers $350 billion in the first year and $2.2 trillion over five years. The group complains that the subsidies are expensive when evaluated at a per-passenger rate, and have in the past been awarded for political reasons.

Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, points to the Johnstown, Pa., airport, which was named for former Democratic Rep. John Murtha, a notorious earmarker. Only about 30 people used the airport each day, The Wall Street Journal found in a 2009 investigation. Its 18 flights per week -- subsidized under Essential Air Service -- all went to Dulles airport in the the Washington, D.C., area .

The decision to do away with the program should be an easy one when so many other tough budget decisions must be made, Schatz said. If Congress can't muster the courage to cut such a program as it grapples with bigger spending issues, he said, "hope for a long-term cultural shift is dubious."

"Frankly, we consider the EAS low-hanging fruit, something all members of Congress should oppose if they do not wish to leave future generations under a mountain of debt," he said. "If Congress balks at cutting programs that overreach their objectives and waste taxpayer dollars as flagrantly as the EAS, hope for a long-term cultural shift is dubious."

ALASKANS FIGHT BACK

But most Alaska communities served by the program aren't accessible by road, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who with Young and Begich argued that the state has unique transportation needs.

"Given what we face with the limited road system, weather and terrain issues, we in the state treat an airplane or helicopters like most Americans would treat their minivans," Murkowski said. "Aircraft in Alaska are not just a nice thing to have. They are a lifeline for survival, for subsistence, for travel, for recreation. They're truly an essential part of our everyday life."

Alaska Airlines gets about $2.7 million for flights to the Southeast village of Yakutat, for example, according to the Transportation Department. It's a subsidy of about $4,300 per person in the community of 628 people. Airlines receive another $2.7 million to service Cordova, and $1.6 million for Adak.

Several Alaska towns have subsidized seaplane service: Angoon, Elfin Cove, Pelican and Tenakee.

The federal Department of Transportation determines whether airlines are eligible for subsidies. It has taken no stance on the continuation of the program, said spokesman Bill Mosley. However, it does have $195 million for Essential Air Service in the presidential budget released this week -- a $5 million cut in funding for it over the last budget year.

The Department of Transportation also released a report this week that found 3.7 million people lost access to more than one intercity transportation mode between 2005 and 2010. Although access to air service remained relatively unchanged during that period, other forms of transportation -- such as bus and rail -- weren't as easy to come by for many rural residents.