A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/597273
HOUSE ELECTS NEW SPEAKER : After weeks of drama and turmoil for the House Republicans, the cha mber elected Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin to succeed John Boehner as Speaker of the House on Thursday, October 29. Ryan received 236 votes, with 10 members voting against him. Prior to the vote on the House floor, the Republican conference held a secret bal lot election in which Ryan only received 200 votes from his fellow Republicans. In recent years, Ryan has drifted away from the House Freedom Caucus on major votes. Some conservatives were unhappy with Speaker Ryan for his vote in favor of the two - year bud get deal. John Boehner has officially resigned from his post as speaker and from his Congressional seat. NATCA CONTINUES TO CALL ON CONGRESS TO EXAMINE STAFFING CRISIS : NATCA continues to call on Congress to hold a congressional hearing about the chronic understaffing of air traffic control facilities. New data show that national staffing totals have fallen nearly 10 percent since 2011. Official Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data shows the agency will miss its air traffic controller hiring goal fo r fiscal year 2015. This will be the fifth consecutive fiscal year in which the FAA has not hired enough air traffic controllers to keep up with the pace of workforce attrition. As of August 22, 2015, the FAA had only hired 1,178 of a planned 1,772 air tra ffic controllers, putting the agency 34 percent behind its goal. Of the 10,859 certified controllers, 30 percent are eligible to retire at any time. For more information about the staffing crisis and our request to Congress, please click here . THUD APPROPRIATIONS : Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has bundled 11 of the 12 FY 2016 spending bills into four groups, known as "minibuses," for potential floor consideration, st ill at an unspecified date. An infrastructure minibus is grouped to include the FY16 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill (H.R. 2577) among two other appropriations bills. As a reminder, the House has already passed thei r version of the THUD appropriations bill earlier this year in June. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the bill, but it has not advanced to the Senate floor. The Senate bill would provide $16.011 billion for the FAA (compared with $15.855 in the House - passed version). NATCA has been working to ensure that the FAA is properly funded during these tough budget times. NATCA government affairs staff will continue meeting with appropriations committee members and professional staff. SE QUESTRATION BACKGROUND : NATCA has long advocated for sequester relief. As you know, sequestration has been used as a tool to reduce the federal budget, and in 2013, the measure drastically cut the FAA budget and caused furloughs at the FAA. Sequestration c uts could have been triggered on October 1, but the CR passed in September avoided any significant sequestration cuts through December 11 by continuing funding below the sequestration caps. NATCA continues to work with members of Congress and staff on this issue and we continue to remind them of the affect it had on the aviation system and our members in 2013. We have made it continuously clear that if sequestration cuts are implemented, the cuts will be larger than in 2013. FAA LONG - TERM REAUTHORIZATION : With FAA authority extended through March 31, 2016 (via H.R. 3614, the Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2015), the authorizing committees will continue their work on a broad FAA Reauthorization bill. Chairman Shuster and Ranking Member DeFazio on the H ouse Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee have made it clear that they only want one extension for the FAA this time around, which is the extension that we are now operating under until March.