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are in recess for the holidays. The Senate returns on Jan. 11 and the House returns on Jan. 5. SPENDING BILL SIGNED BY PRESIDENT: The House and Senate approved a $1.8 trillion package of spending bills and tax breaks, therefore wrapping up the congressional session for the year. The legislation provided government funding for the remainder of Fiscal Year (FY) 2016. The final votes came after weeks of intense negotiations that took place between leaders in the House and Senate and appropriations committee chairmen. NATCA worked tirelessly with appropriators to ensure that the FAA was properly funded during these tough budget times. The omnibus bill provides roughly $16.3 billion for the FAA, with $9.9 billion going to operations. Background: Congress was unable to reach an agreement on an omnibus spending bill before the Continuing Resolution (CR) expired on Dec. 11. Another short- term CR was passed at that time to prevent a government shutdown. The House and Senate both passed a CR (HR 2250) to extend for five days FY16 government funding while negotiators worked to reach a compromise on the larger omnibus funding bill. This extension gave members time to review a final FY16 omnibus spending bill before voting on it. Numerous issues such as Syrian refugees, healthcare, and funding for Planned Parenthood complicated the discussions on government funding. FAA LONG-TERM REAUTHORIZATION: With the House and Senate adjourned for the year, NATCA is already looking ahead to 2016 when Congress is set to consider a long- term Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization. As a reminder, FAA authority is temporarily extended through March 31, 2016 (via H.R. 3614, the Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2015). Chairman Shuster and Ranking Member DeFazio on the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee have stated that they only want one extension for the FAA this time around, which is the extension that we are now operating under until March. In the Senate, Commerce Chairman John Thune expects that the House will move first, and then the Senate will act on its own version. NATCA President Paul Rinaldi and EVP Trish Gilbert, along with GA staff, continue to work closely with House and Senate committee staff to discuss NATCA's priorities for the FAA reauthorization bill. Chairman Shuster's staff is hoping to release a draft of the FAA Reauthorization bill either in late January or early February. COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT THE NEW NATCA.ORG WEBSITE IS HERE! We are very excited to introduce to you the newly redesigned natca.org flagship NATCA website! Last week, we made the final technical moves necessary to turn on the new site and the transition went smoothly. Thus, if you go to natca.org you will see the new site and we invite you to browse. Some important information and highlights: natca.org: The URL of the new site. But you can also use natca.net, or natca.com, to access the site. Members only section: Go to natca.org and click the "MEMBER LOGIN" menu tab on the top right side of the home page. Here's the direct URL for that page you can bookmark in your browsers: http://natca.com/index.php/member-login HOW TO LOG IN: Use your NATCA Portal username and password. Do not use the username and password you used to access the old members website. That no longer works. Once you log in to the new members section using your NATCA Portal

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