Airport Alert: Senate Passes Continuing Resolution Extending Federal Funding Through March 11
February 17, 2022
The Senate has just voted to approve the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) that extends funding for the federal government, which was set to expire tomorrow night, through March 11. With passage of the CR, lawmakers now have three additional weeks to finalize a fiscal year 2022 (FY22) spending deal. The President is expected to sign the temporary extension quickly.
While the House passed the CR last week, action in the Senate has been delayed by various demands from Republican lawmakers for votes on a slew of topics ranging from federal funding for drug paraphernalia to enforcement of vaccination mandates. Before passing the CR, the Senate held votes on three Republican amendments that proposed to: 1) require the federal government to pass a balanced budget, 2) defund enforcement of the Biden Administration's vaccine mandates for federal workers and contractors, and 3) ban federal funding for schools and childcare centers that enforce vaccine mandates on students and children. Ultimately, none of these amendments were adopted.
Last week, Congressional leaders reached an overarching agreement on a spending framework that finalized overall spending top lines for defense and non-defense spending, thereby paving the way for a comprehensive deal to fund the government into the fall. These bipartisan negotiations continue to be on track for the final FY 22 spending package to be completed by the new, mid-March deadline. Additional funding for defense programs is expected to exceed the $25 billion increase authorized in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that was passed in December. With a fixed overall spending limit, any boost in defense spending will come at the expense of nondefense spending, including transportation-related funding, thereby potentially limiting the increases that were in both the House and Senate appropriations bills.
Even so, airport funding priorities are well positioned in the pending FY22 spending bills that have worked their way through the process to this point. The House and Senate versions of the FY22 DOT/FAA spending bill proposed $3.35 billion for AIP, between $400 million and $603.5 million for supplemental AIP funding, and at least a $5.2 million increase for the Contract Tower Program.
The House and Senate versions of the FY22 DHS/TSA/CBP spending bill proposed continued funding for TSA's law enforcement officer (LEO) reimbursement grants ($46.4 million); continued TSA staffing at exit lanes instead of shifting those requirements to airports; funding to procure and deploy 126 base and full-sized computed tomography (CT) systems to enhance the effectiveness of equipment used to screen carry-on baggage and to meet current and emerging threats ($104.5 million); and continued funding to reimburse airports that purchased and installed partial or complete in-line baggage systems prior to August 3, 2007 ($30 million). For CBP, the administration requested, and appropriators funded, current CBP activities at airports.
The Senate has just voted to approve the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) that extends funding for the federal government, which was set to expire tomorrow night, through March 11. With passage of the CR, lawmakers now have three additional weeks to finalize a fiscal year 2022 (FY22) spending deal. The President is expected to sign the temporary extension quickly.
While the House passed the CR last week, action in the Senate has been delayed by various demands from Republican lawmakers for votes on a slew of topics ranging from federal funding for drug paraphernalia to enforcement of vaccination mandates. Before passing the CR, the Senate held votes on three Republican amendments that proposed to: 1) require the federal government to pass a balanced budget, 2) defund enforcement of the Biden Administration's vaccine mandates for federal workers and contractors, and 3) ban federal funding for schools and childcare centers that enforce vaccine mandates on students and children. Ultimately, none of these amendments were adopted.
Last week, Congressional leaders reached an overarching agreement on a spending framework that finalized overall spending top lines for defense and non-defense spending, thereby paving the way for a comprehensive deal to fund the government into the fall. These bipartisan negotiations continue to be on track for the final FY 22 spending package to be completed by the new, mid-March deadline. Additional funding for defense programs is expected to exceed the $25 billion increase authorized in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that was passed in December. With a fixed overall spending limit, any boost in defense spending will come at the expense of nondefense spending, including transportation-related funding, thereby potentially limiting the increases that were in both the House and Senate appropriations bills.
Even so, airport funding priorities are well positioned in the pending FY22 spending bills that have worked their way through the process to this point. The House and Senate versions of the FY22 DOT/FAA spending bill proposed $3.35 billion for AIP, between $400 million and $603.5 million for supplemental AIP funding, and at least a $5.2 million increase for the Contract Tower Program.
The House and Senate versions of the FY22 DHS/TSA/CBP spending bill proposed continued funding for TSA's law enforcement officer (LEO) reimbursement grants ($46.4 million); continued TSA staffing at exit lanes instead of shifting those requirements to airports; funding to procure and deploy 126 base and full-sized computed tomography (CT) systems to enhance the effectiveness of equipment used to screen carry-on baggage and to meet current and emerging threats ($104.5 million); and continued funding to reimburse airports that purchased and installed partial or complete in-line baggage systems prior to August 3, 2007 ($30 million). For CBP, the administration requested, and appropriators funded, current CBP activities at airports.
