Busi ness Aviation Association President and CEO Ed Bolen, and Reason Foundation
Director of Transportation Policy Robert Poole. Paul's testimony was received with
tremendous respect on Capitol Hill. While members of Congress may disagree on some
of the policy considerations in the proposal , we have received positive feedback from
numerous members of Congress and Congressional staff expressing that Paul
effectively articulated NATCA's concerns with the status quo: how the stop - and - go
funding stream has had a negative effect on the system, an d how workforce protections
are maintained in the proposed legislation. We believe that an important highlight of the
hearing was when Ranking Member DeFazio pointed out that, in all his years in
Congress, he had never seen a piece of legislation that was so comprehensive in terms
of worker protections.
Committee Mark Up: On February 11, the House T&I Committee held a markup
of H.R. 4441, the FAA Reauthorization bill. The bill passed by a vote of 32 - 26, and there
were more than 90 amendments filed for consideration during the nine - hour markup.
Ranking Member DeFazio offered a targeted amendment to pro vide a stable funding
stream for the FAA. As promised in our original email, we thoroughly reviewed Mr.
DeFazio's amendment and found his amendment would satisfy our requirements. As a
result, we supported it. However, his amendment failed by a vote of 25 - 34. NATCA
closely monitored the entire markup, carefully reviewing amendments as they were
being considered, and working with members of Congress and staff on behalf of our
membership. The next step for the bill is to receive a vote in the House of
Represe ntatives, and the timing is uncertain. This process is very fluid, and we will
continue to keep you updated.
FAA extension most likely needed: Despite the House T&I Committee's approval
of H.R. 4441, it is unlikely that the House and Senate will be able to agree upon a final
FAA reauthorization bill before the March 31 deadline. Therefore, a second FAA
extension bill will likely be considered sometime in March. It is important to note that
extensions are also considered legislation, and when passed and sign ed by the
President, become law. This is all the more reason to ensure we remain involved and
engaged in the process. The extension is considered a "must pass" piece of legislation,
which means there will be attempts to attach a number of other issues to t he legislation,
including items not germane to aviation. If no bill or extension is passed, then the FAA
will face a partia l shutdown as it did in 2011.
Background: As you know, FAA authority is temporarily extended through March
31, 2016 (via H.R. 3614, t he Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2015). Senate
Commerce Chairman John Thune expects that the Senate will act on its own version of
FAA legislation following Chairman Shuster's introduction of the House version.
WHITE HOUSE FY 2017 BUDGET REQUEST: T he White House released its budget
proposal for the next fiscal year (FY 2017) on Feb. 9. Republican leaders in the House
and Senate Budget Committees have stated that they will not hold their customary
hearings that typically follow the White House budget release. This announcement
comes at a time of increasing hostility between the Republican - controlled Congress and
the Democratic White House over budget issues. While the proposal recommends a
decrease in FAA funding, mostly due to a decrease in airport f unding, the FAA
Operations account saw a proposed increase from $9.909 billion in FY16 to $9.994
billion FY17.
SPEAKER RYAN LAYS OUT BUDGET OPTIONS : Meanwhile, in the U.S. House of
Representatives, House Speaker Paul Ryan laid out three budget options for House
Republicans on Feb. 12 that would adhere to the funding levels approved in last year's
