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The White House Fiscal Year 2019 budget proposal is drawing criticism not only for its plan to privatize the U.S. air traffic control system long-term, but also for near-term cuts. Under budget documents released yesterday, the FAA would sustain a nearly $300 million cut overall from 2017 levels. (Congress has not yet finalized Fiscal Year 2018 levels.) The budget seeks stable airports funding at $3.35 billion, but proposes a $95 million cut in the agency’s operations account to $9.93 billion, an $88 million cut in facilities and equipment, to $2.77 billion, and a $103 million drop in research and development (R&D) funding, to $74 million.
David Silver, vice president for civil aviation for the Aerospace Industries Association, expressed concern that the cuts would slash important NextGen and R&D efforts. “The NextGen modernization program represents the future of the nation’s aviation infrastructure. Yet the Fiscal Year 2019 budget requests $952 million, an amount far below what is required for success and even below the Fiscal Year 2017 enacted level of $1.1 billion,” he said. “The request also cuts important FAA research activities. Especially with increased resources from the recent budget agreement, Congress should reject these reductions.”
The budget documents also renewed the White House call to privatize ATC, drawing fire from numerous business and general aviation groups.
“The Administration and a few members of Congress continue to offer proposals that would take the management of air traffic control operations from the FAA, which places the public interest as its top priority, and give that management to a private entity that would be responsible only to a small, insular board,” said General Aviation Manufacturers Association president and CEO Pete Bunce. “The proposals remain a bad idea that lack industry and political consensus, particularly at a time when new industries like commercial space, unmanned aerial vehicles, and urban mobility air vehicles will share the nation’s airspace."
National Air Transportation Association president Marty Hiller vowed to continue to “to fight this existential threat to general aviation and the businesses that support this vital community—supporting more than one million jobs nationwide.”
The White House Fiscal Year 2019 budget proposal is drawing criticism not only for its plan to privatize the U.S. air traffic control system long-term, but also for near-term cuts. Under budget documents released last month, the FAA would sustain a nearly $300 million cut overall from 2017 levels. (Congress has not yet finalized Fiscal Year 2018 levels.) The budget seeks stable airports funding at $3.35 billion, but proposes a $95 million cut in the agency’s operations account to $9.93 billion, an $88 million cut in facilities and equipment, to $2.77 billion, and a $103 million drop in research and development (R&D) funding, to $74 million.
David Silver, vice president for civil aviation for the Aerospace Industries Association, expressed concern that the cuts would slash important NextGen and R&D efforts. “The NextGen modernization program represents the future of the nation’s aviation infrastructure. Yet the Fiscal Year 2019 budget requests $952 million, an amount far below what is required for success and even below the Fiscal Year 2017 enacted level of $1.1 billion,” he said. “The request also cuts important FAA research activities. Especially with increased resources from the recent budget agreement, Congress should reject these reductions.”
As the White House looks to 2019 funding, Congress still must finalize the Fiscal Year 2018 budget. Lawmakers last month once again approved a temporary funding measure for most government agencies, including the FAA, to provide time to hash out the final 2018 appropriations levels based on newly set federal budget caps.
Congress now has until March 23 to pass the full year 2018 funding bills.
The new budget caps should provide for increased agency funding in 2018, and the FAA had already been in line for a budget increase under full year Fiscal Year 2018 appropriations bills introduced last year in both the House and Senate.
Those appropriations bills also included a number of other provisions of interest to the business aviation community such as a directive to improve use of organizational delegation authority, improved studies on Part 135 activity and continued privacy protections for real-time flight tracking activity. The Senate version of the full-year bill also includes an outright ban on a transition of FAA air traffic control functions to an independent entity. That measure emphasized the clear opposition of Senate appropriators to the ATC proposal.
The latest temporary funding measure was approved on February 8 as government funding was set to expire once more. In January, the government shut down for three days when lawmakers were unable to reach agreement before the government funding lapsed on January 20. The shutdown affected nearly 18,000 FAA employees and temporarily disrupted key activities, such aircraft registration and aviation rulemaking.
The shutdown placed a spotlight on the fact that the U.S. aircraft registry remains vulnerable a government shutdown, despite bills introduced in the House and Senate intended to shield it from such an event. Those protections are included in the FAA reauthorization package that has yet to make its way through Congress.
General Aviation Manufacturers Association president and CEO Pete Bunce said the need for those provisions further underscores the need to get a full reauthorization package passed.