But Appropriators Are Reluctant To Hand Over The Purse Strings To A Private Entity

With the September 30 deadline looming, leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives and the White House are stepping up their efforts to build support for the AIRR Act, which would remove Air Traffic Control from the auspices of the FAA and place it in the hands of a private, non-profit corporation.

The arguments on both sides are pretty well known by now, and it would appear that any FAA reauthorization bill that contains the ATC spinoff is "dead on arrival" in the U.S. Senate. But The Hill reports that the leadership in the House, including Transportation Committee Chair Bill Shuster (R-PA) (pictured), continues to press the matter in order to give a political victory to President Donald Trump, who is a supporter of the privatization effort.

Republican appropriators, however, are reportedly caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to ATC privatization. On the one hand, some would like to support their colleagues and the President. On the other, they don't want to give up financial oversight of the nation's Air Traffic Control system.

Funding for the FAA through the latest continuing resolution runs out with the fiscal year on September 30, leaving only a few scant days for the bill to be passed and sent to the U.S. Senate. Regardless of what is passed in the House, the Senate version of the bill does not include the ATC spinoff proposal, and Senate leaders are not expected to change their minds should the issue get to a conference committee. The Senate version has problems of its own, primarily a proposal to reduce the number of flight hours required for a pilot to become a first officer on an airliner.

Shuster, seen as the primary driver of the legislation, is also reportedly anxious to get the spinoff accomplished this session, as his term as the chair of the House Transportation Committee ends at the conclusion of this session of Congress.

(Image from file)

FMI: Original Report