There’s a lobby for everything, but not always against everything. The Washington Post reports:
Several big manufacturers of “unmanned aircraft,” as the industry prefers to call them, each spent millions of dollars during the first quarter of this year, in part lobbying for language tucked inside the reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration requiring the agency to allow drones into airspace with other planes in the next three years.
Another big push came from the military, which is preparing to bring home drones that were used in Iraq and Afghanistan. Under current law, the military is restricted in moving drones around the country and using them for training operations.
The opposition to the bill was negligible, leaving its outcome virtually predetermined.
Another big push came from the military, which is preparing to bring home drones that were used in Iraq and Afghanistan. Under current law, the military is restricted in moving drones around the country and using them for training operations.
The opposition to the bill was negligible, leaving its outcome virtually predetermined.
Often, this asymmetry comes from the phenomenon of “concentrated benefit and diffuse cost.” In this case, it’s not only that the monetary costs of each drone get spread among all the taxpayers, but that those who bear the health costs of drone strikes live in places like Yemen, and thus do not have much influence on Capitol Hill.
