Advocacy Team Working on FAA Reauthorization

September 6, 2018 - EAA’s advocacy team is working to ensure that lawmakers do not forget the importance of completing FAA reauthorization before the government’s fiscal year ends on September 30. EAA staff is especially seeking movement on the Senate’s FAA Authorization Act of 2017 (S. 1405) and the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 6072).

“There is a backlog of confirmations and legislation that the Senate leadership hopes to complete prior to the mid-term election, which makes scheduling floor time for funding and authorizing bills a real challenge,” said Doug Macnair, EAA’s vice president of government relations. “We are in contact with congressional leaders and their staffs to express the importance of FAA reauthorization to providing a stable funding mechanism for the agency and allow future planning for all of aviation. Delaying action or relying on stopgap funding measures or continuing resolutions does not solve the needs of aviation in the U.S.”

Transportation committee leaders and their staffs are working on what’s called pre-conferencing — meetings prior to floor action that could resolve differences and speed approval of a final bill. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle continue to express confidence that a final bill will be completed by September 30, though the time available is making that far less than certain. EAA will continue to press for stable funding and authorizing language for the FAA necessary for the success of all of aviation.