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GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE The House and Senate returned to Washington, D.C., the week of Sept. 9 following the August recess. This left just 13 legislative days for Congress to pass legislation funding the federal government before it expired on Sept. 30. Congress passed, and the President signed into law, legislation to fund the federal government and avoid a shutdown on Oct. 1 before leaving for another recess period. NATCA EVP TRISH GILBERT TESTIFIES BEFORE U.S. SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE IN SUPPORT OF AVIATION FUNDING STABILITY ACT NATCA EVP Trish Gilbert testified before the Senate Aviation and Space Subcommittee on Sept. 24, just six days before the government funding deadline. Gilbert highlighted the negative effects the 35-day government shutdown had on the system and our membership, and she urged strong support for S. 762, the Aviation Funding Stability Act of 2019. As a reminder, this legislation is identical to H.R. 1108, the House version of the bill, and would authorize the FAA to draw from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund ensuring the FAA can carry out its critical mission in the event of another government shutdown. To read her testimony, click here. To watch the full hearing, click here. H.R. 1108: The House Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee passed H.R. 1108 on March 27 by unanimous consent. H.R. 1108 has faced hurdles in the House, especially among House leadership, Appropriations Committee leadership, and progressive members. Despite these challenges, thanks to the hard work and perseverance of NATCAvists, H.R. 1108 now has 244 co- sponsors. Co-sponsors can continue to be added to H.R. 1108 until the T&I Committee files an official "Committee Report," which is a document accompanying a bill that has been reported from a committee. The report contains an explanation of the provisions of the bill, arguments for its approval, votes held in markup, individual committee members' opinions, dissenting opinions, cost estimates, and other information. S. 762: Until this year's NATCA in Washington (NiW), NATCA focused its resources on garnering support for the House version of the legislation. NiW served as the launching pad for NATCA's advocacy on the Senate version of the legislation, S. 762, which is identical to H.R. 1108. So far, S. 762 has garnered nine bipartisan co-sponsors. Background: This legislation was introduced following the 35-day government shutdown that wreaked havoc on the National Airspace System and its workforce. If enacted, this legislation would ensure that the aviation system continues to fully operate, without interruption, in the event of a government shutdown. H.R. 1108 was introduced by Reps. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., Chairman of the House T&I Committee, and Rick Larsen, D-Wash., Chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee. The lead Republican on the legislation is Rep. Bob

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• SAFETY AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
• RUNWAY SAFETY
• Bridget Singratanakul (Gee) (DFW) is NATCA's Runway Safety Action Team (RSAT) Rep. She also serves as the Article 114 Rep to the Runway Status Lights (RWSL) Program. Her report is below:
• Runway Status Lights (RWSL) -
• BOS -
• o Phase 2 - Lighting computer replaced. JAI was scheduled for August 2018, and ORD for September 2019.
• o Phase 4 - Planned IOC date was June 2019. All testing checked out well, however there was still more construction work being completed on the airfield. The system is online, but the additional arrays were not available until June.