Back to Square One ...

... on Capitol Hill. The U.S. House this week passed a continuing resolution to continue to fund FAA and the aviation system through June 30. The Senate is expected to follow suit. Meanwhile, the leaders in the House are urging the Senate to pass a four-year authorization bill to operate the system long-term. And last week, the Bush Administration unveiled its proposed FY2009 budget that basically is a repeat of the FY2008 version, as far as aviation is concerned. In essence, we are precisely where we were in this funding debate one year ago. There appear to be two central issues that are holding things up – the system of fees, and the ongoing battle between FAA and the air traffic controllers. Regarding fees, the FAA (the Bush Administration) and the Air Transport Association (the airlines) want to restructure how users pay for the system. Just about everybody else in aviation – and most in Congress, it seems – pretty much like things the way they are. General/business aviation groups are even willing to swallow the bitter pill of higher fuel taxes. Volumes have been written on this topic already. The controllers are another matter. FAA shut the door on the controller community in its last round of “negotiationsâ€, under direction from the Administration. The bitterness between the two groups has also been the subject of volumes of news copy. Congress wants the two parties to sit down at the bargaining table and resolve the dispute; the Administration appears adamant to not do so. It’s not healthy to have the regulator of the system and those responsible for the safe movement of the system to be at such odds. Congress is right on this one – the time has come for this issue to be resolved. Sitting down in the same room with an olive branch would be a start. Meanwhile, infrastructure development of the airport system is being held back because of continuing resolutions. Alas. Thanks for reading. jfi