Last week, Congress approved yet another short-term reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration.

In doing so, lawmakers managed to avoid a repeat of their shameful behavior in July, when partisan squabbling caused the FAA to lose $350 million in airline ticket taxes, stalled airport construction projects and furloughed 4,000 employees.

But Congress failed to tackle the real issue: how to provide stable, long-term funding for the agency that oversees the safety of air travel.

That stability is necessary if the promise of the NextGen Air Transportation System is to become a reality.

NextGen is the umbrella name used to describe a series of efforts to modernize the air traffic control system. For instance, it would use satellite technology, similar to the GPS in your smartphone, to replace the current, 1960s-era, radar-based system. Proponents say it will make air travel safer and more efficient.

Much of the NextGen research is being done at the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Egg Harbor Township. A NextGen research park is being developed adjacent to the center to cluster contractors who will work on the $20 billion effort.

Contractors working on this technology were among those affected when 27 stop-work orders were issued at the tech center during the two-week FAA shutdown in July and early August. About 640 FAA employees at the tech center were furloughed, as were employees of contractors. The shutdown also sidelined 70,000 construction workers nationwide, and added to the cost of various airport projects.

U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd, is pushing for a four-year FAA authorization bill. A previous long-term bill stalled in the Democratic Senate because House Republicans had included language to undo a National Mediation Board decision about airline unionization.

LoBiondo is right that the FAA needs a stable source of funding, free from frequent political arguments. Its last such authorization expired in 2007. The most-recent authorization, which will last through January, is the 22nd temporary extension passed since then. Even when there is no gap between authorizations, these short-term measures waste money because projects are bid out in small pieces, making them more expensive and more time-consuming. Long-range planning - for things such as NextGen research - becomes difficult.

LoBiondo is also right when he says the July 22 to Aug. 5 FAA partial shutdown "was a preventable disaster that must never be repeated."

Which is why he and his fellow lawmakers ought to look at the model that most other developed countries use to fund their air traffic control systems. The United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand all have turned their systems into corporate entities funded by aviation customers.

A bill to create a self-supporting air traffic system, recommended by the Clinton administration's National Performance Review, was introduced back in 1995 but went nowhere. It's time to look at it again.