The House passed a bill Wednesday that would extend the authorization for most Federal Aviation Administration programs through December to give lawmakers more time to complete a full overhaul.
The underlying legislation (S 2265), which passed by voice vote, would reauthorize the Essential Air Service program for one year.
On the floor, lawmakers used a procedural maneuver to add the text of a bill (HR 3540) that would extend the FAA's other programs through calendar 2007.
The FAA is already operating under a short-term authorization enacted as part of a fiscal 2008 continuing resolution (PL 108-176), which lasts through Nov. 16.
The House has passed a full, four-year FAA bill (HR 2881), but the Senate has not considered its version (S 1300).
Tom Petri of Wisconsin, the ranking Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation, said there is no chance for enacting the full reauthorization bill by Nov. 16.
The bill passed Wednesday "simply continues aviation programs under the same terms and conditions as were in effect on Sept. 30, 2007," when the last full authorization expired, Petri said.
The underlying Essential Air legislation, which the Senate passed Oct. 30, would ensure that commercial airlines keep flying to small communities that otherwise would not be served because the routes are not profitable enough.
The House-passed version would, among other things, extend through Dec. 31 the contract authority of the Airport Improvement Program, at $918.75 million. That amount, when annualized, continues funding authority at fiscal 2007 levels, the committee said.
The House measure also would extend through year's end the Transportation secretary's authority to limit to $100 million the third-party liability exposure of airlines and aircraft manufacturers in any lawsuits related to a terrorist event.
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