The Senate on Wednesday took the first step toward approving a five-year reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the last must-pass piece of legislation until the fall.
Senators voted 89 to 10 to clear the first procedural hurdle and move toward consideration of the package before the May 10 deadline.
“Both parties have an incentive to work together to complete the FAA as quickly and smoothly as possible to keep our skies safe and our federal employees well taken care of,” said Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (DN.Y. ), on the ground at the beginning of the day.
“Achieving FAA reauthorization will provide more air traffic controllers, more factory safety inspectors and better customer service standards, all of which are so needed,” he continued. legislation done with as much bipartisan goodwill as possible.”
But lawmakers acknowledge it could be a difficult journey.
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters that Republicans have called for more than 20 votes on amendments, both related and unrelated to the bill in question.
Headlining the unrelated category is Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who he said he will not agree to speed approval without a vote on an amendment to extend federal benefits to victims of nuclear radiation. A stand-alone bill to do so passed the Senate in early March but was not approved by the House.
“Obviously, we have people on both sides who want votes on amendments,” Thune said, noting that the bill passed regular order and already includes a large number of amendments offered by people inside and outside the Senate Commerce Committee.
Outside of Hawley’s push, only a few other non-FAA bills may receive consideration.
“Ultimately, I don’t think we’re going to have a lot of amendments,” said one Senate Republican.
The bill is considered the last piece of must-pass legislation that lawmakers will consider until September, meaning it could be their last chance to get priority legislation for many months.
One way to promote these priorities could be a package for managers that includes items that have broad support across the Chamber.
Among them is the Kids’ Online Safety Act, a bill supported by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), of which Schumer is a strong supporter.
The plan would create new guidelines for tech giants to help protect children from being harmed by content that could be harmful and would implement new parental controls on social media apps. The project has more than 60 co-sponsors, making it a prime location for possible inclusion.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the Senate’s top Republican on the Commerce Committee, said Wednesday that an amendment from the manager is highly considered.
Cruz added that the process seems “unclear”, although he is pushing for a “robust” amendment speech.
An urgent amendment likely to be voted on would eliminate language from the bill, adding five slots, or 10 flights, at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).
The effort to remove the provision is being led by senators from the District of Columbia metropolitan area – Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Mark Warner ( D-Va.) – who argued that the airport can’t handle any more traffic.
“We understand the senators’ desire to shorten the journey home, but this proposal would benefit few and impact many, mainly in security, but also in delays and reduced economic competitiveness of smaller destinations within the perimeter”, they wrote to their Senate colleagues recently. “The senators who represent the region and the people who use this airport the most stand against a provision negotiated without us that will guarantee more unacceptable delays and compromise passenger safety.”
DCA was designed to handle primarily short-haul flights, with Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) handling the vast majority of longer flights. However, lawmakers from outside the 1,250-mile perimeter of flights in and out of DCA called for more flights to the airport closest to the Capitol.
Delta Air Lines has strongly supported the addition of flights, while United Airlines has lobbied heavily against it. IAD is a United hub.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
