Airport Alert: Senate Appropriations Committee Advances FY25 DOT/FAA Spending Bill
Airport Alert: Senate Appropriations Committee Advances FY25 DOT/FAA Spending Bill
July 25, 2024
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved, by a nearly unanimous vote, its version of legislation that would fund the Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration for the upcoming fiscal year which begins on October 1. The Senate FY2025 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations bill, includes several airport priorities including an increase in AIP funding, supplemental AIP grants and funds for the PFAS transition grant program.
The Senate FY25 DOT/FAA spending bill proposes a total of $4.52 billion for the Airport Improvement Program (AIP), including $4 billion for the traditional AIP account, which is consistent with the authorized funding levels included in the recently enacted FAA reauthorization bill. The Senate bill also includes an additional $450 million which we expect will be for supplemental grants and congressionally directed spending. The bill would also allocate $70 million to the PFAS replacement grant program that was authorized in the FAA reauthorization bill. The House version of the THUD bill includes the $4 billion for AIP and $257 million for airport earmarks, but no funding for supplemental grants or additional funding to help airports transition to fluorine free firefighting foam.
Overall, the Senate bill provides $22 billion for the FAA, an increase of $1.931 billion over fiscal year 2024, including $13.603 billion for FAA operations, which will allow the FAA to continue its air traffic controller hiring surge by adding 2,000 new controllers and to improve training facilities at the air traffic controller academy. The bill also allocates $3.6 billion for FAA facilities and equipment, to help address the backlog of facility, radar, and equipment repair and replacement, as well as accelerate critical next-generation programs.
Ultimately, lawmakers will have to reconcile differences between the House and Senate bills, a process that is unlikely to be completed before the November election. While the House leadership had planned to complete floor consideration of the transportation spending bill and its remaining appropriations bills prior to the August recess, the House has had challenges passing some of their bills on the House floor, completing 5 of the 12 annual bills. It is unlikely the Senate will consider any of their bills on the floor during the September session and we expect Congress to focus on a continuing resolution to fund the government after October 1st once lawmakers return from August recess.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to make the specific language of the bill publicly available, which is expected to include additional details on programmatic funding and a list of airport earmarks. We will provide an update and more information as soon as this information is available.
July 25, 2024
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved, by a nearly unanimous vote, its version of legislation that would fund the Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration for the upcoming fiscal year which begins on October 1. The Senate FY2025 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations bill, includes several airport priorities including an increase in AIP funding, supplemental AIP grants and funds for the PFAS transition grant program.
The Senate FY25 DOT/FAA spending bill proposes a total of $4.52 billion for the Airport Improvement Program (AIP), including $4 billion for the traditional AIP account, which is consistent with the authorized funding levels included in the recently enacted FAA reauthorization bill. The Senate bill also includes an additional $450 million which we expect will be for supplemental grants and congressionally directed spending. The bill would also allocate $70 million to the PFAS replacement grant program that was authorized in the FAA reauthorization bill. The House version of the THUD bill includes the $4 billion for AIP and $257 million for airport earmarks, but no funding for supplemental grants or additional funding to help airports transition to fluorine free firefighting foam.
Overall, the Senate bill provides $22 billion for the FAA, an increase of $1.931 billion over fiscal year 2024, including $13.603 billion for FAA operations, which will allow the FAA to continue its air traffic controller hiring surge by adding 2,000 new controllers and to improve training facilities at the air traffic controller academy. The bill also allocates $3.6 billion for FAA facilities and equipment, to help address the backlog of facility, radar, and equipment repair and replacement, as well as accelerate critical next-generation programs.
Ultimately, lawmakers will have to reconcile differences between the House and Senate bills, a process that is unlikely to be completed before the November election. While the House leadership had planned to complete floor consideration of the transportation spending bill and its remaining appropriations bills prior to the August recess, the House has had challenges passing some of their bills on the House floor, completing 5 of the 12 annual bills. It is unlikely the Senate will consider any of their bills on the floor during the September session and we expect Congress to focus on a continuing resolution to fund the government after October 1st once lawmakers return from August recess.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to make the specific language of the bill publicly available, which is expected to include additional details on programmatic funding and a list of airport earmarks. We will provide an update and more information as soon as this information is available.
