The U.S. Senate passed a bill late on Tuesday, one day before funding was due to run out, that will extend current levels of funding for the FAA through the end of next March. The House already passed a similar measure on Monday. The bill now goes to President Obama, who is expected to sign the bill into law. According to AOPA, lawmakers have said this will be a one-time-only extension, and a longer-term reauthorization measure will be passed before it expires. The current FAA authorization, which expires today, was put in place only after 23 consecutive short-term extensions that stretched over nearly five years.
NATCA has been lobbying for Congress to make fundamental changes in the funding mechanism for air traffic control in the new FAA reauthorization bill. “We understand that addressing the funding problems may lead to an examination of potential structural changes for the FAA,” said NATCA President Paul Rinaldi in a column published this summer. “But we implored the [Senate transportation] committee not to limit its focus. Any change that fails to guarantee a stable, predictable funding stream could create new unintended consequences without solving the true dilemma.”
