Commerce Committee Chair John Thune Says They May Mark Up A Bill Soon

Saying that the Senate was "not going to wait that much longer," Senate Commerce Committee Chair John Thune (R-SD) indicated that his committee may soon start work on an alternate FAA reauthorization bill that is being developed after the House bill appears to have stalled over ATC privatization.

Politico reports that Thune (pictured) met Wednesday with other committee Republicans for a strategy session focused on whether to wait for the House to make progress on the AIRR act which currently appears to be stalled in the lower chamber. "We’ll probably look at marking something up in the next couple of weeks and try to get it on the floor in April,” Thune told Politico.

The chair of the Senate Commerce Committee had taken the position of letting the house craft its bill first, but now that it appears to have stalled, Thune is shifting his attitude towards the issue.

While there are not a lot of details about a potential Senate bill, it would appear that the proposal to spin off air traffic control from the FAA would not be included in a Senate version. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) (pictured above, right), the ranking minority member on the Commerce Committee, said as much Wednesday. He said Thune agrees with him that putting ATC under a private nonprofit corporation is "the wrong approach."

Democrats in both houses have universally been opposed to the idea of privatizing air traffic control.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.commerce.senate.gov