House to announce FAA funding extension

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) said during a Thursday hearing that he would likely announce a bill to extend the funding of the Federal Aviation Administration this week.

The beleaguered FAA is currently operating under a short-term extension of the funding levels that were approved for it in 2004. That funding is set to expire Sept. 16.

The last time the agency’s funding ran out, an impasse in Congress over the current extension led to the agency being partially shut down for nearly two weeks in August. About 4,000 workers were furloughed.

Unions for aviation industry employees have been pushing lawmakers to approve a long-term funding bill for the FAA, which has been passed in different forms by both the House and Senate. But Mica indicated Thursday that there would be another short-term extension, a 22nd for the agency whose last full authorization bill expired in 2007.

At a news conference this week at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, members of the Air Line Pilots Association, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the Association of Flight Attendants and the Allied Pilots Association said the FAA needed the assurance of long-term funding to avoid potential standoffs over funding similar to last month’s.

“We cannot continue to function with this band-aid approach to aviation funding and safety,” Air Line Pilots Association President Lee Moak said.

Mica is consulting with Republicans leaders in both the House and the Democratic-controlled Senate on the details of the bill, an aide confirmed to The Hill.

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