Action Alert: Please Urge Your Lawmakers to Support Airport Priorities in FY22 Appropriations Bills
April 5, 2021
As Congress prepares to gear up for the Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations process, we need your help as we urge lawmakers to increase funding for the Airport Improvement Program, the FAA Contract Tower Program, and adopt other airport priorities in the annual Department of Transportation and Homeland Security spending bills.
The Biden Administration has yet to release the outline for its FY22 budget request, and possible action on an infrastructure bill could change some authorization levels. However, our key priorities remain the same. On the security front, we are requesting full funding for TSA law enforcement officers and calling for TSA to continue staffing exit lanes. Below is a complete list of our priorities for the FY22 DOT and DHS appropriations bills.
Request: We need your help to convince lawmakers to fund our priorities in the upcoming appropriations process. Please reach out to your representative and your two senators and ask them to support airport priorities in the FY22 DOT and DHS appropriations bills. A draft letter that you can send to your House and Senate lawmakers may be viewed here. (Please fill in your specific airport information.) Contact information for your House member and Senators is available via these links.
Key Airport Appropriations Priorities
FY 2022 DOT/FAA Funding Bill
As Congress prepares to gear up for the Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations process, we need your help as we urge lawmakers to increase funding for the Airport Improvement Program, the FAA Contract Tower Program, and adopt other airport priorities in the annual Department of Transportation and Homeland Security spending bills.
The Biden Administration has yet to release the outline for its FY22 budget request, and possible action on an infrastructure bill could change some authorization levels. However, our key priorities remain the same. On the security front, we are requesting full funding for TSA law enforcement officers and calling for TSA to continue staffing exit lanes. Below is a complete list of our priorities for the FY22 DOT and DHS appropriations bills.
Request: We need your help to convince lawmakers to fund our priorities in the upcoming appropriations process. Please reach out to your representative and your two senators and ask them to support airport priorities in the FY22 DOT and DHS appropriations bills. A draft letter that you can send to your House and Senate lawmakers may be viewed here. (Please fill in your specific airport information.) Contact information for your House member and Senators is available via these links.
Key Airport Appropriations Priorities
FY 2022 DOT/FAA Funding Bill
- Increase Funding for the Airport Improvement Program: We are urging Congress to provide full funding for the traditional AIP account and for supplemental discretionary grants in FY22. Congress previously authorized approximately $1.1 billion for supplemental AIP grants in FY22. However, authorization levels for airport funding could rise as part of an upcoming infrastructure package. H.R. 2, the infrastructure bill that the House passed last year, proposed to increase traditional AIP funding from $3.35 billion to $4 billion annually. The measure also included an additional $3 billion to $4 billion annually for supplemental discretionary grants. Funding at those proposed levels would help close the enormous airport infrastructure funding gap and ensure that airports are prepared for the return of more robust air traveler numbers.
- Enhance Aviation Safety by Increasing Funding for the Contract Tower Program: We are urging lawmakers to include $178 million and statutory bill language to provide dedicated funding for the FAA Contract Tower Program in FY22. The FAA Contract Tower Program provides 257 smaller airports in 46 states with cost-effective air traffic control services that enhance aviation safety and help connect smaller airports and rural communities with our national air transportation system.
- Help Small Communities Retain Commercial Air Service: During the pandemic, airlines reduced or eliminated commercial air service to communities around the county. Congress can help by increasing funding for programs that help small communities maintain commercial air service. Specifically, we recommend increasing funding for the Essential Air Service and Small Community Air Service Development programs. Both help to ensure that people who live in rural and less populated areas have access to our national aviation system.
FY 2022 DHS/TSA/CBP Funding Bill
- Fully Fund TSA LEO Reimbursement Program: We urge Congress to fully fund TSA's law LEO reimbursement program in FY22. These grants partially reimburse airports for LEOs who respond to possible threats during the checkpoint screening process because TSA screeners do not have authority to detain or make arrests. Previous efforts to eliminate these annual reimbursements while still requiring airports to provide TSA with law enforcement resources at checkpoints were rejected in recognition of the fact that such an approach could weaken security by forcing airports to divert resources from other security purposes, like patrolling public areas.
- Require TSA to Continue Staffing Exit Lanes: Despite federal law requiring TSA to permanently monitor exit points from sterile areas where the agency was performing those duties on December 1, 2013, there have been repeated attempts to shift these responsibilities to airports. We urge Congress to continue to require TSA to staff exit lanes and provide the necessary resources to do so.
- Properly Staff TSA Security Checkpoints and CBP Air Ports-of-Entry: We urge Congress to provide TSA and CBP with the resources they need for more officers, canine teams, and new technologies to screen travelers and their baggage effectively and efficiently.
