The Senate’s push to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is coming to an end this week as they struggle to reach a timing agreement and try to avoid a program lapse before the Friday deadline.
Top senators said that while progress has been made toward extending the FAA’s authority for five years, there remain landmines that they are trying to avoid in order to complete their work by the end of the week. These are in the form of non-pertinent amendments that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are requesting as part of a last chance to shift priorities from the final must-pass proposal that Congress will work on until the fall.
“It’s not clear at the moment. Uncertain. There are a lot of restrictions, so to speak,” Senator John Thune (SD), the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, said of the situation.
Leaders on both sides are trying to prevent unrelated amendments from receiving votes and being attached to the final product, and argue that if one member receives a vote, hordes of others will oppose it, further complicating the bill’s passage. .
This makes it increasingly unlikely that any non-pertinent changes will be included in the bill. As of Tuesday night, there were up to a dozen holds in the package, with Thune adding that completing the work will depend on “people’s willingness to stick around.”
“It will take a lot of cooperation to complete this complicated project,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) said on the floor. “I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to prioritize getting a result so we avoid running over the deadline.”
Schumer on Tuesday night prepared the package for a procedural vote on Thursday. The package will need 60 votes to advance.
This measure came after progress on multiple fronts for negotiators. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), the top Republican on the panel, released an updated provision in the bill that corrects language related to automatic refunds for those who have delayed or canceled flights to more closely align with the new rule the Biden administration recently released.
The inclusion also reflects an amendment proposed by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).
Cruz, who attended Tuesday’s Republican Party leadership meeting, also told reporters that the final plan will also feature an administrative package that includes nine bipartisan amendments. All nine changes are related to aviation or travel.
The Texas Republican indicated that the FAA proposal should be completed by the end of the week and that a short-term extension would be unnecessary.
“I think we have a very good prospect of approving the project by the end of the week. That’s what I would like to see happen,” Cruz told reporters.
Negotiators are still searching for a temporal agreement to speed up approval of the final version, but this is unlikely to come, given the number of members who are adamant in seeking votes on amendments.
Lawmakers had hoped to use the bill to pass a series of unrelated items, including the Children’s Online Safety Act and the House-passed tax bill.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) maintained Tuesday that he will not allow members to rush approval without a vote on his legislation to renew a $50 billion compensation program to help victims of nuclear radiation.
“I go [object]. …If they don’t give me a vote [the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act], there will be no schedule agreement on my part,” Hawley said. “They will not get my consent.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
