Story ID: 
Lawmakers Debate ATC while Passing FAA Extension
By: Kerry Lynch
Caption: Rep. Larsen, expressing disappointment at delay of long-term FAA reauthorization, questions need for independent ATC.
Word Count: 251
A divide over long-term FAA reauthorization was evident yesterday as the House approved a six-month extension of the agency’s programs by voice vote. The extension, the Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2015 (H.R.3614), was passed just a few days before the FAA’s current authorization is set to expire on September 30. H.R.3614 moves next to the Senate, where it is expected to be passed by voice vote as well.

Before House approval though, Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), the ranking Democrat on the House aviation subcommittee, expressed “great disappointment” that lawmakers were not considering long-term legislation. “I had hoped we would avoid serial extensions this time around, but today we start down that path,” he said in a statement on the House floor. Larsen maintained that the House leadership has reached bipartisan agreement on most of the major issues, but questioned the push by House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee leaders to privatize the ATC system. “An entire bipartisan bill is being held up simply because stakeholders can’t agree on the details of a complex, untested proposal to privatize air traffic control,” Larsen said. “We don’t need to do it. And it’s preventing the things we do need to do from getting done.”

T&I chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), a chief proponent of ATC privatization, said the extension will “give us the time…so we can truly do something that is bold, do something that is transformational.”