Click Here to View This Page on Production Frontend
Click Here to Export Node Content
Click Here to View Printer-Friendly Version (Raw Backend)
Note: front-end display has links to styled print versions.
Content Node ID: 390374
As a possible U.S. House vote nears on the comprehensive six-year FAA reauthorization bill, lobbying efforts swirling around the controversial measure to create a user-funded independent air traffic organization have intensified. Backers of the bill, the 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act, were hopeful that it could be brought up for full House consideration in a matter of days, with a goal of having it passed at least by the end of the month.
The Rules Committee, considered a final stop before the bill heads to the floor, had set a noon deadline today for amendments. Typically the committee establishes the “rule” for House consideration within a day or so after deadline for amendment that would be filed.
However, when House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) announced the upcoming legislative schedule on Friday, the FAA reauthorization bill was not among those listed. Lawmakers on Friday were believed to be assessing the vote count, and while it was unclear how a vote on the bill may shake out, the tally was expected to be close.
Backers of the ATC reform bill received key cooperation from the House Ways and Means Committee, which filed the tax component to accompany the FAA reauthorization bill. That is a step further than last year, when the bill was shelved before it could be married with a tax provision.
Under the bill filed with the Rules Committee, the aviation excise taxes would be continued through Sept. 30, 2020. Then the bill would “proportionally reduce…all existing aviation taxes funding the Airport and Airway Trust Fund beginning after Sept. 30, 2020, and through Sept. 30, 2023, following the transition period of air traffic services to the corporation.” Estimates are the aviation excise taxes would by reduced by about 80 percent, leaving enough to cover the Airport Improvement Program. Meanwhile, the independent ATC organization would set user fees to cover ATC costs.
As originally outlined, the proposal would exempt business and general aviation users from the user fees, but they would continue to pay excise taxes.
While the bill managers staged the bill for a vote, backers were working behind the scenes to build support. The FAA had remained neutral throughout the debate over the last several years. But now the agency has firmly jumped into the effort to push the bill.
“It’s time to for the U.S. to join most of the industrialized world and separate its ATC system from the agency that also provides safety oversight,” wrote Chris Brown, who recently joined the FAA as assistant administrator of government and industry affairs after serving as staff director for the House aviation subcommittee and vice president for legislative and regulatory policy at Airlines for America. The Brown email, which has led some to question its appropriateness, “With major benefits and protections included in the AIRR Act, the general aviation community is best served by an air traffic control system operated by a separate entity governed by system users rather than bureaucrats in Washington."
Also, in a move that has put him directly at odds with the general aviation community, House General Aviation caucus co-chair Sam Graves (R-Missouri) has turned to his fellow caucus members, highlighting the benefits of the air traffic control reform provision. In his statement of support for the bill during the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Graves noted that now that his major concerns have been addressed—including user fees and protections for access—he believes “the federal government should not be managing our ATC system.”
Industry Steps Up Opposition
General aviation groups have expressed disappointment with this position, and at a pilot town hall meeting in Tarkio, Missouri, several association leaders reiterated their adamant opposition.
Experimental Aircraft Association chairman and CEO Jack Pelton further expressed that position to lawmakers, saying, “The misrepresentation of our position is getting beyond frustrating. Some voices in Congress and elsewhere in government purporting to speak for general aviation do not in any way, shape or form represent the views of the general aviation community…We stand completely united in opposition to any effort to remove air traffic control from the FAA and Congressional oversight."
GA groups also have been intensifying their alerts to members to call their local lawmakers in opposition, urging them to use their individual contact Congress sites.
NATA has reached out to members of the House Rural Caucus. In a letter president Martin Hiller warned those members, “The legislation undermines incentives to invest in rural America and its supporters vastly overstate the effectiveness of provisions purportedly protecting general aviation’s right to access the important airports and airways connecting rural America with the rest of the nation.”
The Alliance for Aviation Across America, which represents rural community concerns, teamed with passenger advocacy groups to voice concerns that the provision would help airlines “grab even more power.”
“Consumers and passengers have expressed grave concern over giving the big airlines unchecked power,” said Selena Shilad, executive director of the alliance in a joint call with the passenger advocacy groups.
The opposition also has gotten a boost from famed pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who expressed concern to news anchor Katie Couric in an interview that the provision would hand over the ATC system “to a group of people, stakeholders basically controlled by the largest airlines, to control access to and pricing of access to the air traffic control system. That’s an extreme solution to what’s really a political budget problem.”
The controversial proposal to create a user-funded independent ATC organization was headed toward a showdown on the U.S. House floor last month as backers worked behind the scenes to build support while opponents stepped up their efforts to block progress.
Backers of the bill, the 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act, were hopeful that it could be brought up for full House consideration by the end of the month. At press time, lawmakers were believed to be assessing the vote count, and while it was unclear how a vote on the bill would shake out, the tally was expected to be close.
Proponents of the ATC reform bill received key cooperation from the House Ways and Means Committee, which filed the tax component to accompany the FAA reauthorization bill. That is a step further than last year, when the bill was shelved before it could be married with a tax provision.
Under the tax provision the aviation excise taxes would be continued through Sept. 30, 2020. Then the bill would “proportionally reduce…all existing aviation taxes funding the Airport and Airway Trust Fund beginning after Sept. 30, 2020, and through Sept. 30, 2023, following the transition period of air traffic services to the corporation.” Estimates are the aviation excise taxes would by reduced by about 80 percent, leaving enough to cover the Airport Improvement Program. Meanwhile, the independent ATC organization would set user fees to cover ATC costs.
As originally outlined, the proposal would exempt business and general aviation users from the user fees, but they would continue to pay excise taxes.
Legislator Opposition
The bill was moved to the House floor after the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee on June 27 approved the comprehensive six-year AIRR Act. The 32-25 vote, largely along party lines, occurred after a nine-hour session in which the T&I Committee waded through close to 80 amendments on a range of aviation issues.
T&I Committee chairman Bill Shuster (R-Penn.) called the reauthorization package “one of the most significant forward-looking legislations this committee can pass.” After Committee passage, he added, “The 21st Century AIRR Act continues to gain momentum.”
The Democratic leadership praised provisions in the bill but reiterated their opposition to the ATC measure. “We could not be further from consensus on privatization,” said Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), the ranking Democrat on the T&I’s aviation subcommittee. By September 30, he added, “We need to pass an FAA reauthorization bill, not an ATC privatization bill.”
The committee rejected along party lines an amendment offered by Rep. Pete DeFazio (D-Oregon) to reform the budget process for the FAA and seek further personnel and procurement reforms, rather than create an independent ATC system.
DeFazio reiterated, “If we want to reduce delays, it's not ATC that we need to reform. It's the airlines themselves…While the flying public waits for the airlines to step up and do their part, the right thing for this committee to do is to actually solve the big problem identified by the controller union and a chorus of other stakeholders: funding, funding, funding.”
Shuster opposed that effort, saying such reforms have previously been attempted. “It didn’t work,” he said.
Drumming Up Support
While the bill managers staged the bill for the House vote, proponents and opponents worked fervently behind the scenes to build support in the House for their positions.
The FAA had remained neutral throughout the debate over the last several years. But now the agency has firmly jumped into the effort to push the bill.
“It’s time for the U.S. to join most of the industrialized world and separate its ATC system from the agency that also provides safety oversight,” wrote Chris Brown, who recently joined the FAA as assistant administrator of government and industry affairs after serving as staff director for the House aviation subcommittee and vice president for legislative and regulatory policy at Airlines for America. “With major benefits and protections included in the AIRR Act, the general aviation community is best served by an ATC system operated by a separate entity governed by system users rather than bureaucrats in Washington. “
Also, in a move that has put him directly at odds with the general aviation community, House General Aviation caucus co-chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) has turned to his fellow caucus members, emphasizing the benefits of the ATC reform provision.
In his statement of support for the bill during the T&I considerations, Graves noted that now that his major concerns have been addressed—user fees and protections for access—he believes “the federal government should not be managing our ATC system.”
General aviation groups have expressed disappointment with this position, and at a recent pilot town hall meeting in Tarkio, Mo.,, several association leaders reiterated their adamant opposition.
Industry Opposition
GA groups have been intensifying alerts to members to call their local lawmakers in opposition, urging them to use their individual contact Congress sites. A hundred general aviation groups banded together in their opposition to the House proposal, issuing a statement to Congress expressing their concerns. The statement marked one of the largest collaborations of general aviation organizations on such an issue.
“The [proposed ATC] reforms will produce uncertainty and unintended consequences without achieving the desired outcomes,” the statement said. “We have concluded that any structural and governance reforms that require protections for an important sector of users is fundamentally flawed.” The groups further agreed that the billions of dollars and time spent on the transition to a not-for-profit entity could be better applied to continuing progress on ATC modernization.
Noting that the coalition represents the size, significance and diversity of the general aviation community, NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen said, “The group is sending a loud and clear signal of opposition to ATC privatization that echoes the same position held by other groups on the political left and right, elected officials at the federal and local levels and a majority of American citizens.”
The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) also reached out to members of the House Rural Caucus. In a letter, president Martin Hiller warned those members, “The legislation undermines incentives to invest in rural America and its supporters vastly overstate the effectiveness of provisions purportedly protecting general aviation’s right to access the important airports and airways connecting rural America with the rest of the nation.”
The Alliance for Aviation Across America, which represents rural community concerns, teamed with passenger advocacy groups to voice concerns that the provision would help airlines “grab even more power.”
“Consumers and passengers have expressed grave concern over giving the big airlines unchecked power,” said Selena Shilad, executive director of the alliance, in a joint call with the passenger advocacy groups.
The opposition also received a boost from Hudson ditching pilot Chesley (Sully) Sullenberger, who expressed concern to news anchor Katie Couric in an interview that the provision would hand over the ATC system “to a group of people, stakeholders basically controlled by the largest airlines, to control access to and pricing of access to the air traffic control system. That’s an extreme solution to what’s really a political budget problem.”
While the measure has picked up momentum in the House, the fate of the proposal in the Senate looks more doubtful.
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee agreed to a four-year FAA reauthorization bill on June 29 but omitted ATC reform. Committee chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) reiterated that he remains “open-minded” about ATC reform and suggested the full Senate could revisit the issue. Ranking Democrat Bill Nelson (Fla.), however, countered that the “idea is just not there” no matter what happens in the House.
The next step for the Senate bill was full Senate consideration. Once the Senate and House complete action on their respective bills, lawmakers in both chambers would have to hash out the differences between the two bills in conference before a final measure is passed.