A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/672268
funding levels produced by the House THUD Subcommittee. The White House FY17 budg et proposal proposes an increase in the FAA Operations account from $9.909 billion in FY16 to $9.994 billion in FY17. As a reminder, the THUD appropriations legislation provides funding for the FAA, so GA staff follows this spending bill very closely. Back ground : Appropriators in the House and Senate are moving at full throttle on several spending bills despite the budget stalemate, which is discussed in more detail below. Without a budget in place, both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees are ma rking up spending bills to the "1070 number," meaning the $1.07 trillion spending level set out in last year's budget agreement. It still remains unclear whether spending bills will actually make it the floor for votes in either chamber if the budget stale mate continues, although House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers hopes to get all 12 bills approved for votes on the House floor by late June. In the absence of a budget resolution, the House could pass a "deeming resolution" that would allow the appropri ations process to move forward towards consideration on the House floor after May 15 despite the lack of a budget. The Senate is able to move forward on appropriations by abiding by the bipartisan budget deal forged last year (P.L. 114 - 74). Status of Appr opriations Bills : So far, the House Appropriations Committee has approved the Mil - Con VA, Agriculture, and Energy - Water spending bills, and reports indicate that Mil - Con VA will be the first spending bill to be considered on the House floor. Meanwhile, the Senate will continue to consider the Energy - Water bill on the Senate floor this week and then potentially move to consider the THUD bill. In addition to the THUD bill , the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved several other spending bills that are ready for floor consideration after Energy - Water, including Mil - Con VA and Commerce - Justice. FY 17 BUDGET GRIDLOCK : Congress missed the April 15 deadline to produce a concurrent budget resolution. As a reminder, even if Congress passes a budget resolution , it does not get enacted and does not have the force of law. Instead, it lays the groundwork for appropriations committees to allocate government funding. In March, the House Budget Committee released a plan (H. Con. Res 125) that conservative Republicans oppose, which would allow for $30 billion in extra discretionary spending compared to the 2011 deficit - cutting law (P.L. 112 - 25). Conservatives would prefer to keep in place the across - the - board sequestration cuts and have refused to vote for a budget at a higher spending level. Continued opposition from that faction has made it all but impossible for Speaker Ryan to bring the budget to the House floor for a vote. In the Senate, Republicans have delayed consideration of a budget as they face similar issues . COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT GOOD STORY IN ATLANTIC CITY NEWSPAPER FEATURES NATCA FACREP Senior Communications and Public Affairs Associate Sarah McCann worked with ACY FacRep Andrew Elias on an interview with the Press of Atlantic City about the facil ity's upgrade to new equipment, namely a recent transition from Common ARTS to STARS. The story appeared this week and turned out well. An excerpt: " The new equipment offers the approximately 30 air traffic controllers at the airport the ability to look at more layers of weather data and have easier accessibility to other radar systems in the area if the airport's goes down, said Andrew Elias, air traffic controller and National Air Traffic Controllers Association representative at the airport.