Senate Voting on Bill Tonight

FAA VOTE - Flying high or wings clipped? The Senate will vote on the conferenced Federal Aviation Administration bill today. The Senate measure needs to clear 60 votes, which shouldn't be a problem as it's widely expected to pass. Commerce Chair Jay Rockefeller indicated a high level of confidence last week, though other sources are cautiously optimistic, noting there's a slight chance that union backlash against the compromised National Mediation Board language could erode some Democratic support. In sum, everyone is still holding their breath. For C-SPAN-ers, the vote should be around 5:30 p.m.

HOUSE PARTY: The FAA bill passed the House 248-169 on Friday, drawing the support of 24 Democrats, a significant accomplishment during an era of partisan, divided government. House Transportation and Infrastructure Chair John Mica was excited as Congress closed in on a painful chapter of history that included 23 stopgap extensions and a partial FAA shutdown last summer. "Everybody said we couldn't do it and we did it," a visibly pleased Mica told MT. The Dems that joined in voting for the legislation included Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), both prominent architects of the conference report. The new bill lasts four years - five months less than those 23 stopgaps leading up to now.

The bill includes the following:

• No Passenger Facility Charge (PFC ) increase

• No New Taxes/No Increased Taxes

• Stable, Long-term Funding

• Increased NextGen Focus/Funding

• Creates Chief NextGen Officer to coordinate programs

• Accelerates implementation of key technologies

• Focuses on reducing flight delays in congested areas

• Nearly $300 billion benefit to U.S. economy

• Additional Passenger Protections

• Establishes passenger complaint hotline

• Requires coordinated airport/airline response to tarmac delays

• Requires government study on adequacy of lost/delayed baggage compensation

• Requires additional reporting of flight delays/cancellations

IMPORTANT: SENATE VOTES TONIGHT. Please take a few seconds and send a note to your Senator encouraging his/her support for the FAA bill – sample letter included on site below.

http://capwiz.com/nbta/issues/alert/?alertid=60961561

FAA Deal Reached

National Journal
Breaking News

FAA Deal on Capitol Hill: Labor Language Dropped

House and Senate leaders have reached agreement on a long-awaited bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration, with Republicans backing down on a controversial labor provision that had drawn a veto threat from the White House. The deal paves the way for finalization of an FAA bill that has been years in the making. Lawmakers were facing a Jan. 31 deadline when the current extension would expire.

Republican leaders agreed to remove the offending language in the FAA bill that would have rescinded an Obama administration rule by the National Mediation Board that makes it easier for rail and aviation workers to unionize. The remaining disputes between Republicans and Democrats on the measure have been worked out in a gentleman's agreement among the congressional transportation gurus.

In exchange, Democrats have agreed to include a provision that would raise the threshold for rail and aviation workers expressing interest in forming a union from 35 percent to 50 percent.

Lawmakers still must draft a bill that both chambers can vote on, but that task is easily manageable over the next week and a half, congressional aides said.

Lawmakers also have agreed to public hearings for some NMB actions.

No one wanted to pass another short-term extension of the FAA. It would have been Number 23. But it wasn't clear until the Republican retreat in Baltimore this weekend that the House GOP was willing to drop the labor provision. They consider the Obama administration rule, which says nonvoting workers cannot count as "no" votes in elections to form unions, to be an overreach of power to its union constituency. Supporters of the rule say it simply puts rail and aviation union elections in line with all other elections, including unionization votes governed by the National Labor Relations Board and elections for members of Congress.

2012 update for FAA Reauthorization

GBTA Continues to Push for FAA Re authorization and NextGen – Good Hill Meeting Today: Mike McCormick met with key staff for the Senate Commerce Committee urging strong funding for the FAA and NextGen. With the current FAA Reauthorization expiring on January 31, he urged passage of a long-term reauthorization to allow FAA funding of key projects to modernize the air traffic control system – meaning fewer flight delays, fewer ground delays and shorter flights for busy business travelers. He also spoke about the value of business travel to the U.S. economy and the recent GBTA BTQ. Valuable insight gained. Meetings with key staff for House of Representatives committees to follow.

Will Congress ever pass the FAA Bill?

From the National Journal

TRANSPORTATION

FAA Bill Hinges on Labor Dispute, Timing

By Fawn Johnson

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 | 9:30 p.m.

As if Congress wasn’t wrestling with enough issues before the holiday recess, votes on a long-overdue Federal Aviation Administration measure will come down to the wire before a Jan. 31 deadline, when the current extension expires. Neither the House nor the Senate will take up the bill before the end of the year, according to leadership aides in both bodies.

The delay on the FAA bill, which always passes by sweeping bipartisan margins, showcases one of the main reasons that stopgap funding measures now are a steady part of the legislative diet: The big decisions have to be made by congressional leaders, and the leaders’ plates are full with crises that are surfacing next week, not next year. (The FAA, by the way, is operating under its 22nd temporary extension.)

Next year doesn’t leave much time to work something out on the FAA. When Congress convenes in January, there will be just over one week—five legislative days in the House and five to seven days in the Senate—for lawmakers to approve whatever FAA deal is created.

And there is a deal. Sort of. House Transportation and Infrastructure ranking member Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said on Wednesday that the “big four” negotiators of the FAA bill have agreed in principle to all unresolved issues except the most difficult one—a labor provision supported by House Republicans to revoke a National Mediation Board ruling that makes it easier for rail and aviation workers to unionize.

The labor provision is an area of considerable contention, so much so that it will have to be resolved at the highest levels, among House and Senate leaders and the White House. The White House has already threatened to veto any FAA bill that rescinds NMB’s 2010 decision that only workers casting ballots should be counted in elections about whether to unionize. Previously, nonvoting employees were counted as “no” votes, which is different from the rules governing other union elections.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla., has proposed an alternative to rescinding the NMB decision—giving nonvoting workers the same status during union decertification elections as in elections to certify unions. Mica’s proposal has the advantage of being neutral about how nonvoters would be treated, but it has received only a tepid response among the other negotiators.

In leadership circles, staffers for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D- Nev., have not yet focused on the labor impasse surrounding the FAA bill. But to be fair, that is largely because they are preoccupied with the payroll tax and the looming Dec. 16 expiration date for the current government spending resolution.

Even with Mica’s olive branch, it is difficult to see how Republicans and Democrats will lay down their arms and come to agreement on the NMB language. Republicans have held firm in their belief that NMB was in the wrong when it overturned a decades-old rule that counted nonvoting employees as “no” votes. (Having Obama’s support for the decision merely fuels that fire.) Democrats and a few moderate Republicans counter that the rule should have been overturned a long time ago. There are political considerations as well. The unions have rallied heavily against rescinding the NMB provision.

It’s worth noting that any agreement on the other unresolved issues in the FAA dispute—overall funding levels, long-distance slots at Reagan National Airport, and taxpayer subsidies for rural airports—hinge on the ability of congressional leaders to find a way through the labor impasse. Even though there is substantial middle ground to be mined on those other issues, the “big four” transportation chiefs in the House and Senate won’t put pen to paper about any of their verbal agreements until they are sure they will be part of a final deal.

Until they get the green light from Reid and Boehner, the negotiators have little choice but to wait and hope that their whispered deals will pass muster with their colleagues when they come to the floor. They will have very little time to change them at that point.

Shutdown averted

The Senate reached a compromise last night - the Senate passed the 22nd extension of the FAA bill 92- 6. This extension will run through January. It is good that the FAA won't shut down and it is positive that the extension is longer than previous ones. But it is still and extension - not a long term multi - year plan that is needed. GBTA will continue it's push for a long term FAA bill in every meeting with Representatives and Senators.

Link to Politico article on the deal

Feeling optimistic about FAA

Good afternoon

I just returned from lunch with a U.S. Senator - the feeling is a solution to the FAA/Transit extension will be reached and that the FAA won't be shutdown on Friday.

Senate still debating FAA

Senate procedural snarl could shutdown FAA again

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7:00 pm est 9/14/2011

(AP) WASHINGTON — A single Republican senator's objections plus a procedural snarl could force another partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration at the end of this week, potentially putting thousands of workers out of jobs and depriving the government of $30 million a day in uncollected airline ticket taxes.

Senate rules don't allow lawmakers to shift from the bill they're currently working on, a disaster aid bill, to a stop-gap funding measure for the FAA and highway programs without the consent of all lawmakers, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., is refusing to give his consent. Coburn wants to change the stopgap transportation bill that the House passed on Tuesday by eliminating highway program spending on bike paths, beautification projects and other so-called transportation enhancements.

Without directly naming Coburn, Reid effective accused the GOP senator of acting like a "dictator" by insisting the rest of the Senate accept his amendment.

"It's a pretty good way to legislate around here, be a dictator and say either take this or leave it," Reid said. "I'm convinced his issue would lose overwhelmingly. But he's holding this legislation up, and we are in a position now legislatively that I can't get ... to this bill prior to Friday, when the FAA expires."

Republicans say the Senate could have passed the transportation bill in time if Reid hadn't brought up the disaster aid bill first. Because Coburn and several other GOP senators also opposed bringing up that measure, Reid on Tuesday set in motion parliamentary procedures that would allow the Senate to pass the disaster aid bill by Saturday.

Democrats are negotiating with Coburn, with Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., acting as a go-between.

John Hart, a spokesman for Coburn, said earlier this week that the senator "believes we need to prioritize bridge repair over bike paths and will use procedural tools at his disposal to strip the enhancement requirements from the bill." He declined Wednesday to elaborate on the senator's position.

A partisan standoff between House Republicans and Senate Democrats forced the FAA to partially shut down for two weeks this summer. Nearly 4,000 FAA workers were furloughed and more than 200 airport construction and safety projects halted, affecting tens of thousands of other workers. The government lost nearly $400 million in airline ticket taxes because airlines no longer had authority to collect the fees.

Without congressional action, the FAA would face another partial shutdown on Friday, when its current operating authority expires. Authority for highway, transit and rail programs, as well as the federal gasoline and diesel taxes that provide the largest share of funding for the programs, are due to expire on Sept. 30.

Long-term funding for the FAA expired in 2007 and highway programs in 2009. Both programs have been continued through a series of short-term extensions. The latest bill would be FAA's 21st extension and the highway program's eighth.