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Temporary FAA funding approved by House panel
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03/16/11 02:29 PM ET
A bill funding the Federal Aviation Administration through May 31 was approved Wednesday by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
The Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2011, H.R. 1079, extends FAA programs at current funding levels for 60 days.
A longer-term bill, the FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011, H.R. 658, would fund the FAA for the next four years. But that measure has been caught up in union objections to provisions in the bill they say would make it harder for airline and railroad workers to organize unions.
The four-year FAA bill changes rules adopted last year by the National Mediation Board rules that said absentee votes in collective bargaining elections were not counted as votes against forming a union.
Previously, a majority had to be all of workers, not just all workers present.
Union groups have called the proposed return to the old rules undemocratic.
The Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2011, H.R. 1079, extends FAA programs at current funding levels for 60 days.
A longer-term bill, the FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011, H.R. 658, would fund the FAA for the next four years. But that measure has been caught up in union objections to provisions in the bill they say would make it harder for airline and railroad workers to organize unions.
The four-year FAA bill changes rules adopted last year by the National Mediation Board rules that said absentee votes in collective bargaining elections were not counted as votes against forming a union.
Previously, a majority had to be all of workers, not just all workers present.
Union groups have called the proposed return to the old rules undemocratic.
Prior to the union flap, Democrats had pushed the FAA measure as an “aviation jobs bill.”
The long-term FAA bill reduces the agency's spending to 2008 levels, which amounts to about a $4 billion cut.
“This extension will keep our aviation programs funded through the end of May, and I have renewed confidence that, with the Senate having already passed its bill and our reauthorization headed to the floor in the next couple weeks, this should be our final extension,” Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Tom Petri (R-Wisc.) said in a statement. “I know the Senate is as eager as we are in the House to get a long-term reauthorization in place.”
