U.S. Congress Headed for FAA Authorization Extension

The aviation community is preparing for at least one and potentially a series of short-term extensions of the FAA’s authorization after the House recessed for the August break without taking action on the comprehensive six-year reauthorization bill, which includes the controversial air traffic control reorganization proposal. House Transportation and Infrastructure chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), the chief architect of the proposal to create a user-funded independent ATC organization, had hoped to bring the bill to the floor for a vote before the end of July but was unable to secure enough votes.

With just 12 legislative days left in September before the current authorization is set to expire, there is little time to get the bill through not only the House but also the Senate and come to a compromise agreement.

Unlike the House bill, the Senate bill does not include an independent ATC measure. But the Senate bill has stalled as well. While floor action has stumbled in both chambers, both sides of the ATC issue have been working feverishly through the August break to sway undecided lawmakers, to the point that one lobbyist remarked, “It’s a war out there.”

“There’s been more dirty politics on this than I’ve ever seen,” noted Experimental Aircraft Association chairman Jack Pelton during this year’s AirVenture (see related article on page XX ).

Shuster and General Aviation Caucus co-chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) have been reaching out to individual heads of general aviation (GA) companies and other organizations hoping to change minds, while GA groups have held numerous meeting on Capitol Hill hoping to shore up opposition.

At the same time, ATC reform proponents are continuing to highlight new backers. Media mogul Steve Forbes recently wrote about the “woefully dysfunctional air traffic control system” and said the solution “is to divorce ATC functions from the FAA’s mission of ensuring air safety.”

The opposition has dug in as well. While Graves has aligned with Shuster on the issue, fellow caucus members have resisted, among them Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who recently wrote: “The FAA has worked well for our nation for many years. If it’s not broken, then don’t try to fix it.”

Lobbying Investigation

Meanwhile, House Democrats, who have largely been ardently opposed to the proposal, have cried foul over FAA and DOT officials weighing in on behalf of ATC reform.

Reps. Pete DeFazio (D-Ore.), the ranking Democrat on the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, and David Price (D-N.C.), the ranking member of the transportation appropriations subcommittee, formally asked the DOT Inspector General (IG) to investigate whether political DOT appointees “violated federal law, including the Anti-Lobbying Act.”

In an August 2 letter to DOT IG Calvin Scovel, the lawmakers noted language in the Anti-Lobbying Act that prohibits use of government funds for lobbying activities but said, “It has come to our attention that at least four DOT political appointees have contacted members of Congress, nonfederal stakeholders such as aviation association representatives and airport sponsors or both to gain support for [the proposal].” They pointed to missivesfrom the DOT officials that “with each of its major concerns addressed in the…Act, the general aviation community has no substantive basis to oppose freeing America's ATC system from an unwieldy agency and unpredictable funding.”

A DOT spokesperson responded to the Democrats’ allegations, saying, “The department has shared factual information in support of the president’s ATC reform initiative with members of Congress and other stakeholders in response to questions and issues that have frequently come up. This has been done in compliance with the Anti-Lobbying Act.”

Democrats also have appealed to the Congressional Budget Office to take a fresh look at the costs associated with the ATC proposal, saying it could push the net deficit billions beyond the initial estimate of $20 billion over the next 10 years.

As for business and general aviation leaders, they have been sending a message to their membership: “Shuster…is not giving up the effort” and the community needs to keep up the pressure on Congress. The National Air Transportation Association warned members that the congressman has told reporters the proposal “needs just a few more members of Congress to commit to supporting it before it can be scheduled for a vote in September.”

NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen has been making the rounds on the radio to voice his opposition. “This is not a situation where it is true privatization,” Bolen said during a recent edition of The Lars Larson Show. “What we’re talking about here is taking an ATC monopoly—it is a monopoly and always will be a monopoly—taking this public asset and turning it over to a private board of 13 special interest groups. That is not a conservative principle, and we think it is a very dangerous principle.”

As the debate rages on, the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) noted, “With the various controversies surrounding what is in [and what is not in] pending House and Senate FAA reauthorization bills and with the clock quickly winding down, we appear to be headed for yet another extension.” Adding that it is continuing to push for other infrastructure issues such as the passenger facility charge and Airport Improvement Program funding, AAAE said, “It is our hope that Congress and the administration in the months ahead will find a way to provide more clarity—and progress on meeting promised infrastructure investments—than has been yielded so far this year.”