President Trump’s proposal to privatize the nation’s air traffic control system has dramatically improved its chances in Congress and has even won over House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who declined to move a similar bill in the last Congress.
“He is supportive,” AshLee Strong, Ryan’s spokesperson, told the Washington Examiner Monday.
Ryan’s endorsement is a big breakthrough for an idea that some Republicans have been pushing for years. It comes more than a year after Ryan declined to call a House vote on a bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration that included a provision to privatize the air traffic control system.
Many Republicans blamed the failure of the FAA bill on the privatization language, which drew opposition from many Republicans, including Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., who was then chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
But House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Schuster, R-Pa., didn’t give up on the proposal, which calls for moving the air traffic control system from the FAA to an independent agency governed by a board of directors made up mostly of major airline representatives.
Schuster spent the next several months talking to lawmakers in an effort to convince them the antiquated system, which still relies on radar and paper slips, desperately needs an upgrade that private companies can accomplish much more quickly and efficiently than the federal government.
The independent agency, for example, would be able to go outside of Congress to obtain the money needed to modernize the system, rather than having to rely on the appropriations process that is so often politicized.
“When this issue first came up, lawmakers were not familiar with what it would do,” Schuster spokesman Justin Harclerode told the Washington Examiner. “It’s a change to the status quo. On the surface, things look OK, but when you start digging into it, a lot of improvements can be had while still maintaining the highest levels of safety.”
Trump’s endorsement will give the proposal a boost, said GOP aides. Trump signed a letter to Congress Monday outlining the plan, but it must still pass both chambers.
As a start, Schuster will introduce a new FAA reauthorization measure within the next month that will include the privatization provision. The current FAA bill expires on Sept. 30, which makes it more likely the House will vote on Schuster’s bill by then.
Harclerode didn’t rule out putting the air traffic control privatization measure in an infrastructure bill instead of the FAA measure.
Either way, however, it’s not clear whether Schuster has won enough Republican support to pass privatization in the House. Democrats oppose it, making it more likely Republicans would have to pass it on their own.
At a hearing last month, Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind., a private pilot, questioned the need to privatize a system that has helped ensure airline accidents are a rarity. He said the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would cost $20 billion to privatize the system.
“For the size that we are, which is the biggest in the world, it works well,” Rokita said of the current system. “We continue to search for the actual problem that it is trying to solve. We don’t think one exists.”
Meanwhile, even if the House can pass something, the Senate path is still murky.
The Senate last year also rejected a bill to privatize the air traffic control system, by excluding the provision from its own FAA bill.
The author of the Senate bill, Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., is not rejecting the idea outright, however. Thune said Monday that modernizing the system “has been hindered by bureaucratic obstacles and poor planning,” but he did not announce support for privatization.
“As we move forward in discussing potential reforms, getting a bill to President Trump’s desk will require bipartisan support as well as a consensus among the aviation community on a way forward,” Thune said.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., did not have a comment on whether McConnell supports the idea.
Many Democrats, who have the power to filibuster the measure if the Senate put it on the floor for a vote, are likely to oppose it.
“If Air Traffic Control is privatized, where are the protections for consumers?” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday. “What will prevent costs for flying from going way up? What stops airlines from raising fees and taxes on consumers?”
