Disagreements over the terms of a new Federal Aviation Administration bill are partly to blame for the need for yet another short-term FAA authorization measure, which Congress is expected to pass this week.
House and Senate lawmakers will take up a bill authorizing the FAA for six months. The legislation is considered a patch, and it will likely exclude much-needed reforms to improve airline safety and boost consumer protections. Those reform provisions are part of stalled long-term bills authored separately in the House and Senate.
The short extension guarantees another deadline for Congress to grapple with in 2018.
The bill, which will be considered in the House first, then the Senate, extends a prior short-term authorization passed in July 2016, which keeps the FAA operating until Sept. 30.
The July 2016 bill included a limited number of reforms aimed mostly at regulating drone use and improving passenger safety.
“Congress needs to pass an FAA extension next week, which will be necessary to prevent any potential lapse in FAA programs or furloughing FAA employees across the country,” said Justin Harclerode, a spokesman for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “Details of the extension are still to be worked out.”
Lawmakers have failed to pass a comprehensive long-term deal that would include a more thorough overhaul of the FAA that would provide authorization for five or six years.
The delay comes in part because of opposition to House GOP efforts to spin off the nation’s air traffic control system from underneath the FAA.
House Republicans, backed by President Trump, included a provision in their long-term FAA bill authored by Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., that would create a non-profit board to run air traffic control.
Such a system is in place in other countries, including Canada. Proponents say it will give air traffic controllers the autonomy to generate funds and upgrade their badly outdated tracking system, in which controllers still trade tiny paper tickets to keep tabs on aircraft.
While Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., backs privatization, there is still opposition among GOP lawmakers who are under pressure from the private aircraft industry. They oppose moving air traffic control out from under the FAA because they fear reduced access to airports and higher fees.
“Today, that authority resides with the American public’s elected representatives,” National Business Aviation Association President Ed Bolen said. “Congress should not abdicate, delegate, or outsource its responsibility in the areas of aviation taxes and fees.”
A GOP aide disputed Bolen’s criticism, noting the makeup of the board would be balanced among general aviation, the major airlines, and others.
“No one stakeholder or interest group is going to be able to dominate the board,” the aide said. “It’s not set up that way.”
Republicans hope to take up the Shuster’s bill in early October, Harclerode said.
“Ask yourself, whom do you trust to run an efficient high-tech service?” Shuster wrote in a Sept. 13 op-ed. “The private sector and a balanced board of aviation system users who have the strongest interest in ensuring the most modern, efficient, and safest aviation system possible, or a government bureaucracy already responsible for three decades of waste and mismanagement? The answer should be obvious to all Americans.”
The Senate bill reauthorizing the FAA does not contain the air traffic control provision, however, which will make it much harder for the provision to make it to Trump’s desk.
The Senate requires Democrats to meet a 60-vote threshold for passing most legislation and Democrats oppose moving air traffic control out from under the FAA.
House GOP advocates for air traffic control reform are pushing ahead and say they are optimistic the House can pass its longterm measure after spending the August recess explaining the bill to lawmakers.
“We are positive, we are very positive,” A GOP aide said. “The momentum is building behind us moving into October.”
