White House Threatens Veto of FAA Reauthorization Bill

Oberstar and Mica said the fee hike could generate more than $1 billion in additional revenue for capital improvements such as runway expansions at a time when congestion and flight delays are at their worst levels since the government started collecting data.

The Rules Committee was expected to issue ground rules later Wednesday for a Thursday floor debate of the FAA bill.

The Senate Finance Committee plans to mark up the financing portion of its FAA reauthorization (S 1300) Thursday.

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., is proposing a different approach to generating more revenue for the air traffic control system.

His draft proposal would increase fuel taxes for private jets from 21.8 cents per gallon to 36 cents, to produce about $203 million per year through 2011.

The draft would repeal a 7.5 percent ticket tax on "fractionals," or partial ownership shares of an airplane, and replace it with a flat $58 per flight departure tax, yielding about $54 million per year over the four-year reauthorization.

The Baucus plan would raise the international air passenger tax of $15.10 per arrival or departure to $16.50 each way, indexed for inflation. That would provide approximately $135 million per year.

And his plan would subject domestic legs of international flights to the 4.3 cents per gallon commercial fuel tax.

Source: CQ Today Round-the-clock coverage of news from Capitol Hill. ©2007 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved.