Airport Alert: Senate Republicans Unveil Infrastructure Roadmap in Latest Back and Forth with White House
May 27, 2021
Today, Senate Republicans released their latest offer in the ongoing bipartisan negotiations on infrastructure. In response to the Biden Administration's $1.7 trillion counteroffer released last week, Senate Republicans proposed an eight-year, $928 billion roadmap, which includes baseline spending and increased funding in areas they consider "core" infrastructure. As a reminder, the original Republican Framework was a five-year, $568 billion package.
For airports, the Republican roadmap provides $56 billion, which we understand assumes current, baseline spending for the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) over eight years totaling $31 billion, plus a one-time increase of $25 billion. This tracks closely with President Biden's American Jobs Plan, which proposed $25 billion in new funding to upgrade airports, including $10 billion for AIP, $10 billion for "airport terminal renovation grants," and $5 billion for "FAA National Airspace System Facilities."
In order to pay for this package, Republicans target unspent, COVID relief money that was originally part of the six COVID relief bills passed over the past year. In particular, Republicans are looking to repurpose funding that was part of President Biden's American Rescue Plan (ARP). For instance, they have identified $746 billion in ARP funds, set to be spent in future years in areas like the Child Tax Credit Expansion and Multiemployer Pensions, that they contend could be reallocated for infrastructure.
While the White House and Congressional Democrats will welcome the higher topline in this proposal, the two sides are still miles apart, especially given the fact that President Biden's $1.7 trillion proposal is completely new spending on top of current baseline spending on infrastructure. Additionally, given that ARP is President Biden's greatest legislative achievement so far, he is unlikely to support Republicans siphoning billions of dollars from ARP to pay for any infrastructure package.
Some Congressional Democrats have already called for the White House to abandon bipartisan negotiations, and instead, use the partisan reconciliation process as the mechanism to pass the original, $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan. On the other hand, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Mitt Romney (R-UT), are working on a backup infrastructure bill in the event that ongoing discussions between the Biden Administration and Republicans fail.
As such, AAAE will continue to advocate for additional airport funding – including increased federal support and an overdue adjustment to the federal cap on local PFCs – in whatever package ultimately is agreed upon.
Today, Senate Republicans released their latest offer in the ongoing bipartisan negotiations on infrastructure. In response to the Biden Administration's $1.7 trillion counteroffer released last week, Senate Republicans proposed an eight-year, $928 billion roadmap, which includes baseline spending and increased funding in areas they consider "core" infrastructure. As a reminder, the original Republican Framework was a five-year, $568 billion package.
For airports, the Republican roadmap provides $56 billion, which we understand assumes current, baseline spending for the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) over eight years totaling $31 billion, plus a one-time increase of $25 billion. This tracks closely with President Biden's American Jobs Plan, which proposed $25 billion in new funding to upgrade airports, including $10 billion for AIP, $10 billion for "airport terminal renovation grants," and $5 billion for "FAA National Airspace System Facilities."
In order to pay for this package, Republicans target unspent, COVID relief money that was originally part of the six COVID relief bills passed over the past year. In particular, Republicans are looking to repurpose funding that was part of President Biden's American Rescue Plan (ARP). For instance, they have identified $746 billion in ARP funds, set to be spent in future years in areas like the Child Tax Credit Expansion and Multiemployer Pensions, that they contend could be reallocated for infrastructure.
While the White House and Congressional Democrats will welcome the higher topline in this proposal, the two sides are still miles apart, especially given the fact that President Biden's $1.7 trillion proposal is completely new spending on top of current baseline spending on infrastructure. Additionally, given that ARP is President Biden's greatest legislative achievement so far, he is unlikely to support Republicans siphoning billions of dollars from ARP to pay for any infrastructure package.
Some Congressional Democrats have already called for the White House to abandon bipartisan negotiations, and instead, use the partisan reconciliation process as the mechanism to pass the original, $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan. On the other hand, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Mitt Romney (R-UT), are working on a backup infrastructure bill in the event that ongoing discussions between the Biden Administration and Republicans fail.
As such, AAAE will continue to advocate for additional airport funding – including increased federal support and an overdue adjustment to the federal cap on local PFCs – in whatever package ultimately is agreed upon.
