Congress appears to set stage for passing FAA bill, but obstacles remain

Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress said they have cleared the way toward passing a full FAA reauthorization bill (or at least a long-term funding extension) within weeks, potentially breaking a logjam that has lasted for more than four years .

The agency has operated under a series of temporary funding extensions since its authorization officially expired Sept. 30, 2007, and it even endured a partial shutdown last summer when talks in Congress over a short-term extension collapsed . The most contentious issue in recent negotiations revolved around efforts by House of Representatives Republicans to overturn a 2010 rule change by the National Mediation Board (NMB) lowering the threshold for an airline employee groups to unionize .

Republicans have apparently backed away from that demand, accepting that airline unionization votes will require a majority of those voting (not a majority of all workers in an employee group, as had been the case before 2010). In return, Senate Democrats will apparently accept a provision increasing the percentage of workers needed to formally request a unionization vote.

Nevertheless, a Senate staffer told ATW that "another stop-gap measure" will need to be passed by Congress before the latest temporary funding extension expires Jan. 31. If all goes according to plan, Congress will then hammer out a full FAA bill and move to pass it in February.

"I am pleased that we were able to resolve the major obstacles to an agreement in a manner that protects American workers and clears the way for a long-term extension of the Federal Aviation Administration," Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-N.M.) said in a statement.

It is still far from certain that Congress will be able to pass a three- to four-year FAA reauthorization bill by next month. It is possible that a long extension, rather than a full reauthorization, will be passed to keep FAA running for the rest of 2012, which would push the issue past November's Congressional and presidential elections.

While the NMB issue may have been settled, there are other areas of contention over which no agreement has been announced . These include distributing slots at Washington National (DCA), Airport Improvement Program funding levels and Essential Air Service subsidy cuts.