Senate passes FAA extension to fund agency through Jan. 31

By a 92-6 vote, the US Senate late Thursday passed the surface/air funding extension that will keep FAA fully operational through the end of January. The bill, cleared earlier in the week by the House of Representatives (ATW Daily News, Sept. 15), went to President Barack Obama for signature into law, averting a partial FAA shutdown that would have started at 12 a.m. Saturday absent legislation.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) had blocked the chamber from voting on the bill over concerns related to the highway funding portion of the measure, but relented after getting assurances about provisions in future surface transportation legislation. Colleagues pushed him to back down, given the extension's wide support and the prospect of 4,000 FAA workers being furloughed for the second time in two-month period.

The extension of FAA funding through Jan. 31 is the longest in two years. The agency has operated via a series of temporary extensions since its authorization officially expired Sept. 30, 2007.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) said the 22nd temporary FAA funding extension "must be the last," calling on members of Congress to reach accord on a long-term agency reauthorization.

Airports Council International-North America president Greg Principato said, "The continued short-term funding of the FAA, which has been going on since 2007, leaves airports, construction workers and the FAA itself held hostage to the whims of one or two members [of the Senate, where rules allow for blocking legislation]. This isn't the way to run a railroad, let alone the national aviation system."