The House appropriations subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury and Housing has approved a Fiscal Year 2006 funding bill that includes $14.4 billion for the FAA, $877 million more than the agency’s funding for this fiscal year and $1.74 billion more than the Bush Administration requested.
Included in this bill is $8.2 billion for FAA operations and $3.6 billion for the Airport Improvement Program as well as $104 million for the Essential Air Service program.
The subcommittee also allotted $25 million to hire and train nearly 595 new air traffic controllers. Further, the group increased proposed spending levels by $8 million to provide additional support for hiring and training of new safety inspectors in the aircraft certification and flight standards office.
The bill also extends the current provisions of war-risk insurance, including current premium price caps, for one year.
Earlier this year, the White House submitted an FAA budget proposal totaling $13.78 billion for FY2006, which begins October 1. This was some $79.2 million less than the budget enacted for FY2005, which ends September 30.