A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/679314
APPROPRIATIONS BILLS HITTING ROADBLOCKS : Up until the end of April, Appropriators in the House and Senate had been moving at full throttle on several spending bills despite the budget stalemate (more on that below). In the Senate, a contentious amendment being offered by Sen. Tom Cotton (R - AR) regarding the Iran nuclear deal has stalled progress on the Energy - Water bill. However, after three failed votes to advance the Energy - Water bill, it appears an agreement may have been reached to advance the bill through the Senate. If the Senate passes the Energy - Water bill, lawmakers are expected to turn next to the Transportation - HUD spending bill. NATCA Government Affairs staff has been continuously meeting with members of both the full House and Senate Appropriations Committees, as well as committee staff, to m ake 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 mill ion above the FY2016 enacted level. Specifically, the Senate THUD appropriations bill would provide the FAA Operations account $9.9 billion ($54 million over the President's request), the F&E account $2.8 billion, and the Research, Engineering, and Develop ment 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 markup of spending legislation has not yet been announced. As such, we ha ve not seen any funding levels produced by the House THUD Subcommittee. Status of Appropriations Bills : According to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, spending bills are coming to the House floor after May 15, regardless. So far, the App ropriations Committee has approved three bills (Mil - Con - VA, Agriculture, and Energy - Water). It is likely that the Mil - Con - VA bill would be considered on the House floor first because it is generally considered to be the least controversial. On the Senate s ide, in addition to the Energy - Water bill (which is still being considered on the Senate floor), the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved several other spending bills that are ready for floor consideration, including THUD, Mil - Con - VA and Commerce - J ustice. If the Energy - Water bill passes the Senate, the Senate could move on to the THUD bill, which could be combined with consideration of the Mil - Con - VA bill. FY 17 BUDGET GRIDLOCK : As a reminder, Congress missed its April 15 deadline to pass a budget , but House Republican leaders have moved forward with consideration of an FY 17 budget resolution. Negotiations on the House budget resolution will resume this week. Several Republican lawmakers have recently urged leaders to bring the budget to a vote th e week of May 9, despite uncertainty about whether there will be enough support to adopt it. We will provide 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 a ppropriations bills are not passed, their content still matters. These measures are likely to be used in any omnibus appropriations bill at the end of the year.