As Washington watches with amazement as the Democratic party essentially disintegrates, it is equally intrigued by the Republicans, who appear impervious to disunity.

But if there is one certainty in this town, it is that things are not usually as they appear. Republicans may have stuck together with a tenacity that has never before been seen on Capitol Hill. But upon inspection, fissures exist that are threatening a precariously balanced peace between Republican members of Congress who simply do not like each other.

Witness the professional relationship between senators Larry Pressler of South Dakota and John McCain of Arizona, both Republicans and both possessing more than a passing interest in aviation issues. Pressler is the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, whose subcommittee on aviation is chaired by McCain.

For decisions regarding the airline industry - safety, the imposition of a fuel tax, reform of the Federal Aviation Administration - these two officials are arguably the most important members of Congress.

To be tactful about it, they don't get along. Pressler, chairman by virtue of his seniority, is widely seen as a difficult person to deal with and one who is often reluctant to defer to his subcommittee chairmen. This was highlighted with the recent, highly publicised telecommunications deregulation bill that he pushed forward before he had committee support.

The result was a public retreat on proposed legislation which would have been best fully hashed out in private. And in a hearing last January Pressler railed against the Department of Transportation and FAA over safety - with little or no support from his committee.

Pressler's colleagues, including McCain, fume each time he takes a decision without building committee consensus. In a real sense, says one source, people do not believe Pressler merits such a brazen approach: 'He is there as chairman not because of his talents, but because of his seniority. People expected a little more humbler person.'

That is probably asking too much of a career politician. But for a person like McCain, who is a former Air Force pilot and widely acknowledged as one of the few in Congress really to understand the airline industry, it appears to be a growing problem.

The two senators are in an 'elbowing' competition over the direction that aviation policy should take in Congress. Most recently, this has taken a public form in the hearings on DOT international aviation policy - hearings first held by McCain in May and repeated in mid-July by Pressler.

Certainly, international aviation is an important matter. But industry experts used to being relegated to the backwaters of Washington have been surprised to see the Senate devoting two sessions to the same subject in a space of three months.

Most attribute this to Pressler not wanting to be upstaged by McCain, even though Pressler dominated McCain's hearing and diluted the Arizona senator's complaints about DOT's international negotiating strategy. Thanks to Pressler, transportation secretary Federico Peña testified at that forum with not one criticism to field. McCain was reduced to requesting a subsequent background audit by the General Accounting Office on what the US gave up in its recent bilateral mini-deal with the UK - another source of anger for the subcommittee chairman.

So far this internal battle has had little impact on airline industry legislation. But beyond the difficulty of satisfying both senators' egos without bruising the other, industry lobbyists fear that Pressler's lack of persuasive skills and stature in his own party could imperil legislation once it gets to the Senate floor - if it gets there at all.

A good example is the issue of FAA reform. McCain's office had suggested a hearing on the subject, and Pressler's office liked the idea so much that it suddenly became Senator Pressler's hearing on FAA reform. Again, lack of sensitivity on the South Dakota representative's part is raising the hackles of others, who will be expected to be good Republicans and fall into a party line that Pressler has divined. Whether they do is, at this point, questionable.

Source: Airline Business