Airport Alert: Lawmakers Restore $2 Billion for Airports; Reach Agreement on COVID-19 Relief Package

After plans to zero out funding for airports surfaced on Friday, Congressional leaders tonight reached an agreement on a $900 billion coronavirus relief package that includes $2 billion for airports and concessionaires.  

Legislative text has yet to be released.  But the final agreement includes $45 billion for transportation – the same overall amount that a bipartisan and bicameral group of lawmakers recommended as part of their coronavirus relief framework. Of that amount, $2 billion would go to airports, $15 billion for the airlines to continue the Payroll Support Program, and $1 billion for airline contractors.
 
Outside of aviation, the transportation section includes $10 billion for highways and state DOTs; $14 billion for transit; $2 billion for the private motorcoach, school bus, and ferry industries; and $1 billion for Amtrak. We will have more to report as soon as legislative text and details become available.
 
Lawmakers are planning to pass the coronavirus relief package and the FY21 omnibus spending package soon. However, Congress is planning to clear a one-day continuing resolution tonight to keep the government operating past midnight when the current stop-gap measure is set to expire. No votes on the package are expected tonight in the House or Senate.