With the mid-term election looming over them, Congress is going to be worrying about and focusing on policy changes and legislation that will create jobs. The bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration fits nicely into this niche. And airports are not the only one’s saying so: Teamsters President James P. Hoffa recently wrote “And it’s why angry voters will be sending more newcomers to Congress unless lawmakers address the issue of jobs. A good place to start is by passing a bill known as “FAA Reauthorization,” which has been lying around the Senate for three years. It would modernize this country’s aerospace infrastructure, stabilize the airline industry and improve runway safety and flight efficiency. And it is estimated that it would create at least 125,000 jobs a year for two years.”
Additionally Ed Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the AFL-CIO told the Senate Democratic Steering Committee on January 27 that Congress needed to pass the FAA Reauthorization bill because it was “another jobs bill.”
Airports success with the $1.1 billion for Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funding and the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) holiday on private activity bonds (PABs) in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) proved airports can and do create jobs quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, the increase in the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) included in H.R. 915 will allow us to create tens of thousands of jobs while improving our airport infrastructure.
In 2009, the Senate Commerce Committee reported out their version of FAA Reauthorization, S. 1451 in July, but were not able to bring it to the floor because the Senate Finance Committee needed to take action on the revenue piece of the bill. Unfortunately, health care subsumed this issue as well as everything else in its path last fall. The bill has been put on the fast-track for 2010 with senior democratic leadership staff telling ACI-NA that the bill is on a list of priorities to be considered by the full Senate before the end of March. The Buffalo News reported on Friday, February 12th that New York Senator Charles Schumer had been promised a week of floor time for the FAA Reauthorization bill by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).
ACI-NA also continues to work got make the two-year AMT holiday on PABs included in ARRA permanent. In July, McCarran’s Randy Walker and ACI-NA President Greg Principato participated in a Senate Democratic Steering Committee meeting focused on transportation infrastructure. In addition to discussing the need to increase the PFC and pass an FAA bill, Walker talked about McCarran’s $2.3 billion terminal construction project. He explained that had it not been for the AMT holiday included in ARRA, which allowed LAS to sell $500 million in bonds, 1600 jobs would have been lost immediately as they would have been forced to shut down the project.
Senator Harry Reid recounted McCarran’s AMT success, as well as commented on his recent visit to view the project, on January 27, 2010 at another Steering Committee meeting that ACI-NA Chairman Hardy Acree attended. Acree had a similar story to share as Sacramento would have had to stop a $1 billion terminal renovation without the AMT holiday which allowed them to sell $440 million in bonds last July thereby saving 1200 jobs. Sacramento’s story made a big impression. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, spoke with Chairman Acree after the meeting and told him he planned to speak with Finance Chairman Max Baucus about making the AMT relief permanent.
ACI-NA also continues to work closely with our two congressional champions on this issue – Congressman Richard Neal (D-MA), a members of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Senator John Kerry (D-MA), a member of the Senate Finance Committee. ACI-NA sent a joint letter, along with the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), and the Education Finance Council (EFC) asking for support in permanently extending the AMT exemption for PABs, while allowing for full refinancing of current debt. We are urging all of our members to ask their Senators to cosponsor Senator Kerry’s AMT bill, S. 138, and their House members to cosponsor Congressman Neal’s bill, HR 425.
In December, the House considered and passed a second jobs bill. ACI-NA lobbied Secretary LaHood for more AIP funding before the White House Jobs Summit, the House’s bipartisan Jobs Now! Caucus and the leadership of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee based on the airport industry’s track record of success with the funding provided in ARRA. The Jobs for Main Street Act, as passed by the House, includes $500 million for AIP.
We’ve been working the Senate and know the Senate Commerce Committee included funding for AIP in the list they sent to the Democratic Leadership of what could and should be done in the next jobs bill. On February 4th, the Senate Democratic Leadership announced they would be doing a series of small jobs bill, starting with a tax bill focused on providing incentives to small businesses. Funding for aviation infrastructure was included on their proposed list of transportation infrastructure improvements, which will be considered separately.
On February 1, the Obama Administration released its Fiscal Year 2011 budget proposal. Of note, they included a three year freeze on discretionary spending, excluding Defense, Homeland Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. It was not an across-the-board freeze but it does mean the Congress is going to have to make cuts in programs if they want to follow the President’s guidance.
The budget called for level funding AIP at $3.5 billion, and $1.1 billion to help speed the development and implementation of NextGen – a 32 percent increase for that program. It also provided $182 million for the Essential Air Service, and proposed – once again – ending the Small Community Airport Service Development Program (SCADS). We’ve already started talking with the Appropriations committees about funding levels for FAA programs and are asking for AIP to be funded at $4.1 billion, the dollar figure authorized in S. 1451. SCASD has helped numerous small communities secure enhancements that are responsive to their air transportation needs and whose benefits are expected to continue after the initial expenditures expire, and we are lobbying for $50 million in funding for Fiscal Year 2011 – the same dollar amount authorized in both the House and Senate FAA Reauthorization bills.
It is going to be a very busy year for ACI-NA legislatively, and we are counting on our grassroots efforts by members across the country to help us carry the FAA Reauthorization bill and the AMT relief across the finish line and onto the President’s desk for signature.