Story ID: 
Senate Panel To Consider FAA Funding Bill
By: Kerry Lynch
Caption: While House bill drew veto threat and Democrat ire, Senate bill passed subcommittee largely with bipartisan support.
Word Count: 239
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday is set to consider a $16 billion budget for the FAA in Fiscal Year 2016. The funding is included in the FY2016 transportation, house and urban development appropriations (THUD) bill that was approved by the Senate THUD subcommittee by voice vote on Tuesday. While the committee has not yet released full details of the bill, it has said that it will provide the FAA with $294 million more than in fiscal 2015 and $175 million more than the White House request. The bill backs the contract tower program and rejects increases in passenger facility charge. While grumbles over the available budget persisted, the Senate bill passed the subcommittee largely with bipartisan support.

Senate committee considerations comes two weeks after the House approved its version of the fiscal 2016 THUD appropriations, calling for a little less than $16 billion for the FAA. That bill has drawn a veto threat and the ire from Democrats over Cuba travel restrictions, Amtrak funding, immigration measures and deep cuts in the FAA’s facilities and equipment account. That bill also contains a measure that was slipped in on the House floor with no advance warning that would essentially prevent the FAA from enforcing grant assurance agreements at East Hampton Airport. If the bill is adopted the agency would be in a quandary, since it also is facing a lawsuit from industry to compel the agency to enforce the grant assurance agreements.