A bill to extend program authorization and funding for the Federal Aviation Administration passed the House earlier this week and is now headed to the Senate where it is expected to run into a serious obstacle because of an obscure provision concerning a little airport in Nevada. The airport is at Ely in the home state of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. It’s likely nobody other than those directly involved in this issue would give it much thought but for the fact the nation’s air traffic control system’s daily operations could be threatened.

The Ely issue centers on the fact federal law currently allows the government to pay up to $3,720 for every passenger ticket used at the facility. There are two other similarly tiny airports — Alamogordo/Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico ($1,563) and Glendive, Mont. ($1,358) — that receive federal subsidies for every ticket. The subsidies are intended to insure air service is available on sparsely traveled routes the commercial airlines don’t want to serve for fear of not making a profit.