A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/675504
continuou sly meeting with members of both the full House and Senate Appropriations Committees, as well as committee staff, to make sure they know the importance of sufficient funding for the FAA to NATCA members. Senate Numbers : The Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the THUD spending bill on April 21, approving $16.4 billion for the FAA, which is $131.6 million above the FY2016 enacted level. Specifically, Senate THUD appropriations bill would provide the FAA Operations account $9.9 billion, t he F&E account $2.8 billion, and the Research, Engineering, and Development account $167.5 million. This is great news for NATCA, especially considering that other THUD programs received cuts. House Numbers : Hearings have been held on FAA funding but a ma rkup of spending legislation has not yet been announced. As such, we have not seen any funding levels produced by the House THUD Subcommittee. White House Numbers : The White House FY17 budget proposal proposes an increase in the FAA Operations account fro m $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 t his spending bill very closely. Status of Appropriations Bills: According to House Appropriations Comm ittee Chairman Hal Rogers, spending bills are coming to the House floor after May 15, regardless. So far, the Appropriations Committee has approved three bills (Mil - Con VA, Agriculture, and Energy - Water). It is likely that the Mil - Con - VA bill would be cons idered on the House floor first. On the Senate side, in addition to the Energy - Water bill (which stalled on the Senate floor last week), the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved several other spending bills that are ready for floor consideration, i ncluding THUD, Mil - Con VA and Commerce - Justice. If the Energy - Water bill passes the Senate, the Senate could move on to the THUD bill. It is being reported that THUD could be combined with consideration of the Mil - Con - VA bill. FY 17 BUDGET GRIDLOCK : Eve n though Congress is out of town, negotiations on the House budget resolution will continue this week. As a reminder, Congress missed its April 15 deadline to pass a budget, but House Republican leaders hope that they can move forward with consideration of an FY 17 budget resolution following recess. Before heading home for recess, several Republican lawmakers urged leaders to bring the budget to a vote the week of May 9, despite uncertainty about whether there will be enough support to adopt it. We will pr ovide an update as more details come available. Budget vs. Appropriations: Without a budget in place, Appropriators have been marking up spending bills to the "1070 number," meaning the $1.07 trillion spending level set out in last year's budget agreement . If a budget resolution is not adopted, the House could pass a "deeming resolution" that would allow the appropriations 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). Regardless, it is important to remember that even if appropriations bills are not passed, their content still matters. These measures are likely to be used i n any omnibus appropriations bill at the end of the year. NATCA IN WASHINGTON : NATCA is gearing up for this year's annual lobby week, NATCA in Washington. This year , NATCAvists will be in D.C. May 23 through May 25. During the conference, members will tra vel to Capitol Hill to discuss our issues with Members of Congress and hear from a number of speakers on important topics affecting our membership, including the FAA Reauthorization, the current staffing crisis, and stop -