FAA Research Bill Moving through Congress

Chairman of the House subcommittee on space and aeronautics Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) introduced the Federal Aviation Research and Development Reauthorization Act of 2007 with co-sponsor Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) last month. The bill, which has already passed Rep. Udall’s subcommittee, reauthorizes some existing projects, introduces some new ones and aims to strengthen the oft-handcuffed Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO). The environment/energy and NextGen are the big money winners for the next fiscal year, authorized at approximately $20 million each. For the JPDO, one big change introduced by the bill is that the director would be realigned to report directly to the FAA Administrator and serve as the associate administrator for NextGen.