A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
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be closely monitoring the budget process as House and Senate discussions continue and will keep you updated. APPROPRIATIONS : This appropriations season will be especially challenging given the curre nt budget environment and recent discussions centering on FAA reform. Hopes of returning to regular order and pass all twelve appropriations bill are dwindling as budget talks stagnate. Additionally, the Senate continues to face a partisan showdown over th e Supreme Court vacancy left by Justice Scalia. NATCA GA staff will be clos ely monitoring as the process moves forward and will continue to work diligently to ensure th at the FAA is properly funded. FAA Appropriations: The House Appropriations Committee is moving forward despite budget concerns and has held an extensive series of appropriations hearings for FY17 spending. On February 24, the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing for the Department o f Transportation (DOT) with DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx as the witness, and on March 2, the THUD Subcommittee held a hearing to discuss FAA funding levels, with FAA Administrator Michael Huerta as the witness. NATCA closely monitors the THUD appropriations legislation, which provides funding for the FAA. As a reminder, President Obama released his FY17 budget proposal recently, which proposes an increase in the FAA Operations account from $9.909 billion in FY16 to $9.994 billion in FY17. We will keep you upd ated as the THUD subcommittees in the House and Senate move forward with their r espective appropriations bills. FEDERAL PAY RAISE UPDATE : Senator Brian Schatz (D - HI) introduced legislation that would give federal employees an across - the - board pay raise of 5.3 percent next year. Specifically, this legislation (S. 2699) would provide employees a 3.9 percent boost plus a 1.4 percent bump in locality pay for 2017. This figure is more than three times President Obama's proposed 1.6 percent pay raise for federal workers. S. 2699 is the Senate version of a bill introduced by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D - VA) in the House last month. Democratic lawmakers in both chambers have tried unsuccessfully in the past to give federal employees a bigger annual pay raise than the pre sident's proposed figure. NATCA GA staff will fo llow this legislation closely. COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT Communicating For Safety Wrap - Up The Communications Department was very proud to be part of the great team that worked to again make last week's Com municating F or Safety (CFS) conference the aviation industry's leading conference focusing on safety, technology , and building relationships wit h other aviation professionals. Thanks to the great work of the Information Technology Committee, we provide d li ve stream coverage of CFS on the home page of natca.org, including the 12 th annual Archie League Med al of Safety Awards presentation . The Communications Department produced a total of 74 pages of coverage in our printed and online versions of publications for both CFS and the Archie League Awards. Here are links below to all of our coverage: Event Newspaper, The NATCA Daily Dispatch : Three electronic issues; please click on the links below – Monday, March 21 issue Tuesday, March 22 issue