Senate To Move on FAA Bill Soon

The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee is expected to unveil its version of a comprehensive multi-year FAA reauthorization bill in the next several days and might consider the legislation this month, NATA reported. The Senate bill is believed unlikely to include the measure in the House version that creates a separate non-profit organization to run the nation’s air traffic control system.

The Senate has held off on taking action on reauthorization, watching progress on the House bill closely. But the House bill, H.R.4441, the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization Act of 2016, stalled over Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee chairman Bill Shuster’s (R-Pa.) proposal to carve out the ATC organization from the FAA. Instead, House leaders are pushing forward with a short-term extension while a compromise is reached.

Believing it has a short window this spring to get long-term FAA reauthorization passed, the Senate is expected to agree with an extension while work on a longer-term bill is finished. The chambers have been discussing a three-month extension.

Meanwhile, House Democrats are continuing their campaign to block progress on the ATC corporation proposal. Reps. Pete DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), the ranking Democrats on the T&I Committee and aviation subcommittee, respectively, sent a “dear colleague” letter to House members, saying the bill jeopardizes aviation safety by "splitting the FAA in two” and gives “the corporation an unprecedented power to tax American consumers to pay for the ATC system.”