Congress Passes New Continuing Resolution

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. 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. Consolidation efforts this year in California raised the ire of the California delegation which used safety rather than jobs as the reason to prevent consolidation.