Airport Alert: House Democrats Unveil $3 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Package

May 12, 2020

House Democrats today unveiled the "Heroes Act," a $3 trillion coronavirus relief package that would provide funds to state and local governments and a long list of other Democratic priorities. The 1,815-page proposal is light on transportation and aviation-related initiatives. As we expected, it does not contain another round of direct funding for airports.

While disappointing, the lack of additional airport support at this point is not surprising given the impending distribution of CARES Act funding. Last week, AAAE President and CEO Todd Hauptli made the case for additional support to airports in testimony before the Senate, and we will continue to press for action as Congress continues to debate future relief and recovery efforts.

Aviation-Related Provisions

Airport and Airway Trust Fund Fix: The bill would appropriate general fund revenue to offset declining revenue in the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. The summary points out that "the combination of reduced air passenger traffic and the suspension of certain aviation taxes through January 2021 in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) (P.L. 116¬-136) will significantly reduce aviation¬-related excise tax revenue remitted to the AATF and may result in the AATF being unable to rely solely on aviation taxes to meet its obligations, such as grants to airports, air traffic control operations, and research in fiscal year 2020."

FAA Operations: The bill includes $75 million for FAA to "prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus." Of that, $1 million would be designated to conduct a study on "whether the environmental controls systems in commercial airliners recirculate pathogens in the cabin air and to assess existing and potential technological solutions...."

National Aviation Preparedness Plan: The bill would require DOT "in coordination with heads of other Federal departments and agencies, to develop a national aviation preparedness plan for communicable disease outbreaks, as the Government Accountability Office recommended in 2015, to ensure that Federal, State, and local governments, airports, airlines, and other aviation industry and labor stakeholders are better prepared for a future public health crisis."

Working and Travel Conditions: The bill "mandates that airlines, during the COVID¬19 pandemic: (1) require flight attendants and passengers on airplanes to wear masks or other face coverings; (2) require pilots to wear a mask or face covering while outside the flight deck and submit to the Federal Aviation Administration a proposal and safety risk assessment to allow pilots to wear such materials while in the flight deck; (3) provide pilots, flight attendants, and customer¬-facing employees with masks or protective face coverings, gloves, hand sanitizer, and alcohol wipes; (4) ensure aircraft and enclosed facilities are cleaned, disinfected, and sanitized frequently in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance; (5) ensure cleaning workers are provided masks or protective face coverings and gloves; and (6) establish guidelines for notifying employees of a confirmed COVID¬19 diagnosis."

Protection of FAA Employees: The bill would require the FAA to "(1) provide air traffic controllers and airway transportation systems specialists with masks or protective face coverings, gloves, hand sanitizer, and alcohol wipes; (2) ensure air traffic control facilities are cleaned, disinfected, and sanitized frequently in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance; and (3) ensure cleaning workers are provided masks or protective face coverings and gloves."

Pandemic Relief for Aviation Workers and Passengers: According to a summary, the bill would "extend the prohibition on involuntary furloughs of employees of airlines or contractors that receive financial assistance (i.e., payroll grant) under the CARES Act through full exhaustion of such assistance, rather than ending on September 30, 2020."

Transparency of Financial Assistance: The bill calls for improving "the transparency of the Treasury Department's issuance of payroll grants to airlines and contractors under the CARES Act by requiring the Department to publish descriptions of each issued grant, including the grant recipient and amount, on the Department's public website within 72 hours of issuance."

Air Carrier Maintenance Outsourcing: The bill would prevent carriers that receive financial assistance in the CARES Act from "increasing their share of heavy maintenance work done overseas."

Transportation Provisions

Highways: The bill includes $15 billion for "the ongoing work of State, Tribal, and Territorial Departments of Transportation and certain local governments to mitigate the effects of coronavirus including the salaries of staff and other administrative expenses."

Transit: The measure also includes $15.75 billion for "operating assistance grants to support the transit agencies that require significant additional assistance to maintain basic transit services."

Miscellaneous Provisions

Disaster Relief: The bill would "adjust the cost share for assistance provided under any Stafford Act declaration for the COVID-19 pandemic from 75% Federal/25% non-Federal to 100% Federal."

Small Businesses: The bill includes $10 billion to help small businesses that have suffered financial losses as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

State Governments: The bill includes $500 billion "to assist state governments with the fiscal impacts from the public health emergency caused by the coronavirus."

Local Governments: The measure includes $375 billion to assist local governments.

Homeowners: The bill includes $75 billion to help "homeowners struggling to afford their housing due directly or indirectly to the impacts of the pandemic by providing direct assistance with mortgage payments, property taxes, property insurance, utilities, and other housing related costs."

Postal Service: The bill includes $25 billion for the Postal Service to cover "revenue forgone due to the coronavirus pandemic...."

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: The bill includes $10 billion "to support anticipated increases in participation and to cover program cost increases related to flexibilities provided to SNAP by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act."

What's Next?

The House is expected to consider the "Heroes Act" on Friday. However, Republicans are throwing cold water on another massive coronavirus relief bill, especially since the administration has yet to distribute all the funding in the CARES Act. So, we don't expect the Senate Republicans to consider the measure or to negotiate with their Democratic counterparts on another big relief package anytime soon.

Meanwhile, AAAE and airports are urging Congress to provide additional funding to airports impacted by the global pandemic should lawmakers consider another relief package or a separate infrastructure bill. Hauptli urged key lawmakers to continue helping commercial service and general aviation airports and the rest of the aviation ecosystem when he testified last week.

"I recognize that it isn't popular to be asking for more help," Hauptli told lawmakers. "But the scale and scope of this crisis requires it and we have to get past the 'sticker shock' and get to 'yes.'"

Additional Resources

The Democratic bill may be viewed here.
A summary may be viewed here.
Todd Hauptli's testimony from the May 6 Senate Commerce Committee hearing may be viewed here.