FAA reauthorization bill could be ready this week

A reconciled bill to fund the Federal Aviation Administration could be ready this week. 

Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said he expects a final product on the long-delayed bill to be ready for Senate floor action by the middle of the week. 

Rockefeller will give Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) a bill this week he hopes will pass by the August recess, a Senate aide told The Hill. 

The union issue with FedEx and UPS will be handled on the floor, most likely in a separate vote from the main bill, Rockefeller told The Hill.

The House’s FAA bill shifts FedEx ground operations jurisdiction that would put FedEx and UPS under the same rules. FedEx has called it a “bailout” for UPS.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) has pushed for the language, but it’s not likely to pass muster in the Senate.

The Senate passed a two-year $34.5 billion measure in March and the House passed a $70 billion bill last year that covers 2009-2012.

The Senate is in session for three more weeks and the House plans to leave by the end of next week, giving lawmakers a tight timeframe to move the measure. But a Senate leadership aide said Monday that the bill could be considered in this work period. 

Overall, the FAA bill calls for the air traffic control system to switch from World War II-era radar technology to a satellite-based system by 2014 at the busiest airports, and nationwide by 2020.