NATCA Bookshelf

blueprints in each chamber. As a reminder, the President's budget proposal is simply a request and is non-binding. It is expected that President Trump will submit his budget blueprint on or around Feb. 12. We expect the budget to include government reform proposals, which will likely include cuts to pay and benefits for federal employees. When the President's budget becomes available, NATCA will review the document and aggressively fight any proposal that may adversely impact our membership. DEBT CEILING DEADLINE Congress will need to take action to either raise or suspend the debt limit to avoid risking a default on government obligations. The U.S. Treasury Department has been using so- called "extraordinary measures" to avoid default, but borrowing capacity will run out sometime between the end of February and mid-March without an increase in the debt limit. NATCA Impact: In recent years, lawmakers and the White House have often clashed over the need to raise or suspend the debt ceiling. This has become an important issue for NATCA since it has disrupted the budget process for the federal government. NATCA Government Affairs will continue to closely monitor the debt ceiling debate in the coming weeks. FAA FUNDING STATUS The federal government is currently operating on the fourth (soon to be fifth) consecutive short-term spending bill of this fiscal year. Throughout this series of stop-and-go funding, NATCA has continued to advocate for full funding for the FAA in our relevant Congressional appropriations bills (the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill, "THUD"). The House has already passed its version of a THUD bill for FY 18, which would increase funding for the FAA. The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved its version of the THUD bill, which would also provide an increase for the FAA, although the legislation has not come to the Senate floor for a vote. The proposed FY 2018 spending levels for the FAA are as follows: FAA BUDGET LINE FY 2018 FY 2018 House Request Senate Request Operations $10,185,482,000 $10,186,000,000 Facilities & Equipment $2,855,000,000 $3,005,000,000 Research, Engineering & Development $170,000,000 $179,000,000 FAA REAUTHORIZATION The FAA is currently operating under a six-month extension, which is set to expire on March 31. With House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster retiring at the end of this year, it remains unclear how or when the House will move forward on his bill, H.R. 2997, the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act. On the Senate side, the chamber may move forward on Senate Commerce Chairman Thune's FAA reauthorization bill sometime in February or March, depending on the Senate floor schedule. However, there are still some underlying issues in the

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