At a House Transportation and Infrastructure hearing today, aviation industry groups and politicians urged members of the 113th Congress to expedite plans to continue funding the FAA when the current authorization expires on Sept. 30, 2015, as well as to continue efforts to modernize the National Airspace System.
“The FAA must have funding certainty and the flexibility to invest,” said Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), ranking member of the House aviation subcommittee. “Last year’s efforts by some in Congress to force the federal government off of the fiscal cliff were not only a catastrophe for the everyday operation of the airspace. They also caused great harm to NextGen efforts. Just as the FAA must do better, so must we in Congress. And I hope today’s hearing will give us a solid path for how we should progress with a strong bipartisan bill.”
AOPA president Mark Baker’s comments at the hearing focused on third-class medical reform, aircraft certification and the ADS-B OUT mandate, which he said “is too expensive and threatens to ground or limit the use of many general aviation aircraft.” The Department of Transportation Inspector General’s testimony highlighted a doubling of the FAA’s costs “while productivity at its network of air traffic facilities decreased substantially.”