House rejects Obama-backed labor amendment in FAA bill

The House on Friday morning rejected a controversial amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization bill that would have made it easier to form air and rail unions. Failure to pass the amendment will make it much harder to win Senate passage of the FAA bill and sets up a likely veto of the bill even if the Senate were to approve it.

The amendment, from Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio), would have allowed a National Mediation Board (NMB) decision from 2010 to stand. That decision allowed unions to be formed based only on the votes of voting workers. Prior to last year's change, non-voting workers were counted as "no" votes.

The FAA bill, H.R. 658, repeals the NMB decision, and LaTourette's amendment would have removed this language from the bill. Earlier this week, the White House warned it would veto the FAA bill unless the labor language was removed.

Only 16 Republicans voted for the LaTourette amendment, which failed in a 206-220 vote.

The House on Friday also rejected three other amendments to the FAA bill, and then approved the bill in its entirety in a 223-196 vote. That vote sends the bill to the Senate, which is only considering a two-year extension, compared to the four-year extension authorized by the House bill.

By a 207-215 vote, the House rejected an amendment from Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) that would allow the transfer of ownership of a road from a New Mexico county to a company. During Thursday debate, Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) argued this is an earmark because it benefits a specific entity in Pearce's district.

By a 178-243 vote, the House rejected an amendment from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) that would allow some airports to set nighttime curfews.

The House also rejected an amendment from Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) that would have prevented FAA funding from being used to enforce Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements in FAA contracts. That amendment fell in a 183-238 vote, as 51 Republicans stood with all Democrats in opposition.

The House approved one amendment Friday from Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) that would require the FAA to take different segments of the aviation industry when writing regulations and doing cost/benefit analyses before issuing regulations. This amendment was approved in a 215-209 vote.

-- This story was updated at 12:42 p.m.