WASHINGTON — With the Jan. 31 expiration date of the latest Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization law coming up fast, hopes for a long-awaited multi-year bill are giving way to pessimism as airport lobbyists fear that deep partisan divides and a limited number of congressional work days may wind up producing another short-term measure or FAA shutdown.
There hasn’t been a long-term aviation funding bill since the last one expired in 2007. Since then, lawmakers have approved 22 stopgap bills to reauthorize and fund the FAA, the agency responsible for regulating U.S. aviation.
While both the House and Senate have multi-year proposals ready to go, attempts to reconcile the two bills into one piece of legislation that could pass both chambers remain stalled over language about airline employee-union procedures.
The National Mediation Board ruled early in the Obama presidency that rail and airport workers could unionize or decertify a union if the action was approved by a majority of the workers voting.
However, the bill approved by the Republican-dominated House contains language that would reverse that decision, and leaders of the Democrat-controlled Senate consider that unacceptable.
Meanwhile, advocates for the nation’s airports say the uncertainty regarding how long the FAA might be up and running has hamstrung the long-term planning abilities of airport officials because the FAA is also the government entity charged with distributing federal grants for airport improvements.
Jane Calderwood, vice president for government and political affairs at Airports Council International’s North America division, said lawmakers should immediately pass a two-year extension of the FAA’s operating authority.
ACI last week sent letters to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman John Mica, R-Fla., and Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee chairman Sen. John D. Rockefeller 4th, D-W. Va., stressing the need for quick action to avoid either continued uncertainty or another crippling shutdown of the FAA, as happened in July. The agency was unable to collect taxes during that time, leading to a huge loss of revenue.
“The flying public and the Aviation Trust Fund, which lost nearly $300 million due to the shutdown, literally cannot afford a repeat performance,” the group wrote in the letters.
While industry insiders and lawmakers alike were cautiously optimistic in December that a multi-year deal would materialize before Jan. 31, events since then have not been so positive.
Not only are lawmakers working fewer than two weeks out of the entire month of January, but sources close to the negotiations said President Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, circumnavigating attempts by GOP senators to block nominations, has only made Republicans less likely to bend on labor issues.
That means lawmakers may be left with two choices: the 23rd short-term extension or another shutdown.
A spokesman said Mica remains committed to getting an FAA bill done in time, and projected confidence that it would get done before the deadline.
“Chairman Mica does think the FAA bill can be completed without another extension,” said the spokesman, Justin Harclerode. “Deadlines always seem to drive action on the Hill, and while there aren’t a great many legislative days in January, a bill can certainly be completed in the number of days there are.”
Calderwood said she doesn’t “see how they can possibly” approve a multi-year bill before the deadline.
Brad Van Dam, vice president of federal affairs at the American Association of Airport Executives, also said the chance for more than another stopgap action is rapidly slipping away.
“I’d like to be proven wrong,” Van Dam said, “but I think it’s increasingly unlikely.” He said that while he doesn’t think a shutdown is likely, “there sure could be.”
A House Transportation Committee staff member said he believes there will be a long-term bill in a matter of weeks, but is still unsure about when. “I can’t tell you it’s going to happen before the 31st of January,” he said.
