In the usual budgetary cliff hanger than accompanies reauthorization, Congress extended aviation fuel and ticket taxes through December 14. The taxes were set to expire November 16 and industry was worried that Congress would take that opportunity to raid the Aviation Trust Fund. Related Story
Meanwhile, the House passed the Transportation Appropriations conference report yesterday by a vote of 270 to 147. House and Senate conferees had approved the conference report on the bill, H.R.3074, on November 8 when Senate and House conferees gathered to work out the differences between the House-passed and the Senate-passed Transportation Appropriations bills. The conference report on the appropriations bill is $3 billion more than the administration requested, which has prompted a veto threat. Although the Senate’s September 12 vote on the Transportation Appropriations bill comfortably exceeded the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto, the 268-153 House vote taken on July 24 did not. If the two houses cannot override a veto, the White House and the conferees will probably begin negotiations at some point to seek agreement on transportation appropriations legislation before the end of the year.
The bill includes increasing the mandatory retirement age for pilots to 65 and allows for consolidation of air traffic control facilities, something that Congress usually denies once a detailed proposal is made to Congress. FAA has already developed a list of 12 or more facilities that could be closed or consolidated. Efforts this year in California have raised the ire of the California delegation which has used safety rather than jobs as the reason to prevent consolidation.
Regional Aviation Partners reported that the House followed the least of the Senate in restoring the EAS eligibility for Hagerstown, MD; Lancaster, PA; and Brookings, SD. Related Story  If enacted, the measure would restore the eligibility of the communities until September 30, 2008, providing Congress with enough time to address the matter in the pending FAA Reauthorization Act.