GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
CONGRESSIONA L SCHEDULE
The House and Senate are in session the week of Feb . 6. The House will recess mid -
week for the House Democratic retreat. As a reminder, Congress has a jam - packed
schedule this year and it will be full of legislative activity.
UPDATE ON HIRING FREEZE EXECUTIVE ORDER
As you know, on Jan. 23, President Trump issued an executive order instituting a hiring
freeze for federal civilian employees, effective Jan . 22, 2017. The order permits
exceptions to the freeze in very limited circumstances. NATCA c ontinued making the
case with the Administration and members of Congress that our members' positions
should be exempted from the freeze. Please refer to membership messages from
NATCA President Paul Rinaldi and EVP Trish Gilbert for the latest updates.
FAA REAUTHORIZATION HEARINGS WILL BEGIN ON FEB. 15
The House Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation will hold the first of five hearings
on an FAA reauthorization bill on Feb . 1 5. The current FAA Reauthorization extension
expires on September 30. GA staff will be in attendance at the hearing and will provide a
summary in next week's update.
ELAINE CHAO HEADED TO U.S. DOT
On Tuesday, Jan . 31, the Senate approved Elaine Chao to be the next Transportation
secretary by a vote of 93 - 6. Click here to read NATCA's press rel ease congratulating
Chao on her confirmation.
APPROPRIATIONS FORECAST
The government is currently operating a continuing resolution (CR) funding measure
(P.L. 114 - 254) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 that is set to expire on April 28, 2017. Due to
the current volume of pending legislative business in the Senate, all indications are that
another CR will be needed to avoid a government shutdown.
Looking forward towards the FY2018 appropriations process, Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell is already predicting that there will be limited time for consideration of FY 18
appropriations bills this year. The sheer amount of legislative business on the agenda
will likely leave little time to complete all 12 regular spending bills needed to fund the
government before the st art of the new fiscal year on Oct . 1. The Senate calendar is
packed with confirmations for President Trump's Cabinet nominees and his Supreme
Court nominee , and controversial issues like the proposed U.S. - Mexico border wall and
the travel and refugee execu tive order could also complicate matters.
Government Shutdown Threat : With the current CR set to expire on April 28
th
, there is
growing concern among some appropriators that spending fights over government
funding for a border wall between the U.S. and M exico could lead to the first government
shutdown threat of the Trump administration. The likelihood of a shutdown could
increase if Republicans attach the language for a border wall to legislation to keep the
government open past April 28.
FY 18 Budget D eadline : The Trump Administration failed to submit a budget proposal to
Congress for the up coming year by the mandated Feb. 6 deadline. The delay could be in
part because Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R - SC), President Trump's pick to direct the Office of
