FAA extension dropped from new Senate funding bill

An extension of federal aviation funding, which is set to expire Sept. 30, has been dropped from the Senate’s new bill to prevent a government shutdown at the end of the month. 

An earlier bill that would have funded the government through Dec. 11 — and extended the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) funding until March 2016 — was blocked in the Senate on Thursday amid partisan squabbling over federal funding for Planned Parenthood. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has teed up a new short-term government funding bill that includes money for Planned Parenthood, but leaves out the FAA funding extension. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the new measure Monday afternoon, leaving the FAA without a legislative vehicle for an extension as the clock ticks down until the expiration of its funding. 

{mosads}Aides to GOP leaders in the Senate have said they expect the FAA extension to be approved in a separate piece of legislation before the deadline, which is next Wednesday. 

“The only change to the CR [continuing resolution] from the version introduced earlier [Thursday] is that the FAA reauthorization was not included (HR 719 is not a revenue measure and thus cannot carry the extension of the revenue components of the FAA extension),” McConnell’s office said in an email. “But that non-controversial measure is expected to be passed separately.”  

The FAA’s previous appropriations measure, which includes funding for air traffic controllers, is set to expire Sept. 30, along with funding for most federal government functions. 

The previous Senate bill to avert a government shutdown contained language that would extend the FAA’s funding until March 31, 2016. Democrats and a handful of Republicans opposed the measure because it would have transferred money that normally goes to Planned Parenthood to other community health providers. 

Lawmakers had been expected to roll the temporary extension for the FAA into the broader measure to prevent a government shutdown, because Congress is still mired in debate about a separate long-term surface transportation funding bill.  

The FAA deadline has flown under the radar for most of the year as lawmakers have focused on the highway funding measure, which is now set to expire Oct. 29. 

The FAA has before been at the center of budget battles in Washington. The agency’s last funding measure, in 2012, was passed following a string of more than 20 temporary extensions that resulted in a partial shutdown of the agency in 2011. 

The agency’s funding was also cut in the 2013 sequester, resulting in air traffic controller furloughs and flight delays, before Congress passed a quick fix to restore the spending. 

Aviation groups in Washington on Friday said Congress should focus on passing a long-term FAA bill after they figure out a way to prevent an interruption in the agency’s funding at the end of this month. 

“We’ve been asking Congress to establish a stable funding mechanism for the [national aviation system] since the last shutdown ended,” National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Paul Rinaldi said in a statement.

“Yet two years later, we find ourselves in the same situation, where the efficiency of the safest airspace system in the world could be negatively affected due to disagreement over an issue unrelated to aviation,” Rinaldi continued. “The looming shutdown is further evidence that stable, predictable funding is an essential next step for Congress.”

The effort to craft a long-term bill for the FAA has been complicated by a push from House Republicans to privatize some functions of air traffic control, which has riled aviation industry groups like the air traffic controllers union. 

Airlines and airports have also squabbled over a proposal to increase the amount of money passengers can be charged to help pay for facility improvements.

-Jordain Carney contributed to this report. 

Tags Air Traffic Controllers Continuing resolution FAA bill Federal Aviation Administration Mitch McConnell

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