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The House on Thursday approved a measure that would block the Federal Aviation Administration from outsourcing more than 2,000 federal flight service jobs.

The provision, included in the fiscal 2006 Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill (H.R. 3058), was introduced by Rep. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt. It would prohibit FAA from using 2006 funds to help in transferring flight service work to Lockheed Martin Corp. - the winner of a public-private competition for the jobs.

The amendment was approved by a vote of 238-177 and garnered support from 48 Republicans.

There is still a "long way to go in the legislative process" to save the jobs of the flight service specialists, Sanders acknowledged in a statement Thursday. The specialists provide weather briefings, information on flight restrictions and other pre- and in-flight navigational advice primarily for pilots flying private planes. Sanders pledged to work with "friends in the Senate" to keep the language in the bill.

The provision will also need to make it through House-Senate negotiations, which is the stage in the past where the White House has succeeded at striking language considered detrimental to its competitive sourcing effort to allow private sector companies to bid on some federal jobs.

Kate Breen, president of the National Association of Air Traffic Specialists, the union representing the affected FAA employees, said she was pleased to see so many Republicans support Sanders' amendment. "I'm hoping it's a message that they're starting to see what's going on," she said. "They've been led down a primrose path all along. Maybe this will start to shed some light."

The White House on Wednesday issued a veto threat over the measure and other provisions in the bill seen as impeding management reforms. The cancellation of Lockheed's $1.9 billion, 10-year contract would "result in penalties exceeding $300 million" in 2006, the Office of Management and Budget stated. Such a move would also prevent FAA from reaping more than $2 billion in savings expected from the outsourcing, the administration noted.

Breen said the veto threat does not concern her too much. "Is [Bush] really going to hold up a bill that size for us?" she asked. She said she remains "cautiously optimistic" about the provision's chance of survival.

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