Nelie -- That's an interesting question, and I hope you'll send it in an e-mail to Ricardo, the LA Times reporter who is looking into this. His contact information is in Eileen's posting (above), or in a separate thread in this forum. I also hope you'll agree to speak with him, since it's anecdotes like yours -- that you are going to drive seven hours to DC for a conference, rather than fly -- that will bring this issue to life.

(Full disclosure: Ricardo and I work together.)