Major legislation designed to keep planes in the air and maintain infrastructure standards in the nation’s more than 5,200 public airports is now under consideration in the U.S. Senate.
Last week members of the House in an overwhelming 351 to 69 vote approved reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration for another 5 years.
The measure, officially called the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act, authorizes spending some $4 billion per fiscal year for the FAA’s busy Airport Improvement Program.
That program is dedicated to the planning, development and upgrading of the nation’s airports.
Last week the program announced $113,000 in funding for the installation of new taxiway lighting at the San Carlos Apache Airport in Globe, Arizona; along with $1 million to build a runway at the Grand Junction Regional Airport in Colorado; and $674,000 for apron reconstruction work at the Truth or Consequences Municipal Airport, among other projects.
The House-approved bill has also tasked the agency with addressing safety issues on runways and expanding an ongoing air traffic controller training program.
An additional goal of the legislation: to promote project innovation and streamline the regulatory process.
Upon passage of the House bill, Sam Graves, chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, remarked: “America has always been the gold standard in aviation, and this bill ensures that we remain the world leader.”
Graves added that the legislation will also make the FAA more efficient, while encouraging the safe adoption of “new and innovative technologies and addressing growing workforce shortages, from pilots and mechanics to air traffic controllers.”
A timetable for when the Senate may begin voting on the FAA Reauthorization has not yet been announced. “Hopefully we’ll get a resolution soon,” Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, who is the chairperson of the Senate Commerce Committee, told the publication Politico.
The current FAA authorization is set to expire on September 30. Once the Senate passes the legislation, members of both chambers will then work to iron out any differences
By Garry Boulard
