Airport Alert: Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan Draws New Momentum; $25 Billion in New Funding Proposed for Airports
June 17, 2021
After a week where bipartisan infrastructure negotiations appeared to be trending downwards, a plan from a group of Democrat and Republican senators is picking up new support and momentum. Late last evening, a bipartisan group of senators released an updated proposal that calls for spending $1.2 trillion over eight years, including current baseline spending and $579 billion in new spending. It also lists 11 different funding sources, ranging from redirecting unused unemployment insurance relief funds to indexing the gas tax to inflation.
For airports, the proposal would provide $25 billion in new spending over eight years. This appears to be a $12 billion increase from the group's initial proposal released last week and puts the total spending for airports in line with President Biden's American Jobs Plan and Senator Shelley Moore Capito's (R-WV) Republican Roadmap.
Importantly, the proposal, which had originally been endorsed by five Republican and five Democratic Senators, has added the support of an additional 11 senators, including Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Todd Young (R-IN), Richard Burr (R-NC), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Chris Coons (D-DE), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Angus King (I-ME) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ). With 11 Republicans Senators now pledging their support for the bipartisan framework, there are now enough Republican votes for this infrastructure package to overcome a filibuster and pass the Senate if all members of the Senate Democratic Caucus were to get on board.
However, throughout this past week, progressive Democrats, and in particular, climate hawks, have expressed their disapproval of the bipartisan proposal as being insufficient in addressing the climate change challenge. While there is new funding in the updated proposal for Democratic priorities like electric vehicle infrastructure and reconnecting communities divided by highway construction, it remains to be seen whether it is enough to win the support of progressives.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has already met with the Democratic members of the Senate Budget Committee to begin the process for passing a budget resolution and reconciliation instructions, setting the stage for passing a massive infrastructure package with only Democratic votes. Schumer also plans to bring a scaled-down infrastructure package to the Senate floor under regular order, which he has referred to as the two-pronged approach. However, some Senate progressives have said they will not vote for a bipartisan infrastructure bill unless all 50 members of the Democratic caucus agree on the size and shape of a subsequent reconciliation bill that would likely include a broad array of Democrat priorities. This means that Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), who have routinely expressed reservations about using the reconciliation process for infrastructure, would have to provide guarantees that, so far, they have been unwilling to make.
The two authors of the bipartisan framework, Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) and Senator Sinema, plan to address the House Problem Solvers Caucus later this week with the hopes of marrying the two plans. As a reminder, the Problem Solvers released their own eight-year, $1.25 trillion proposal, which includes $762 billion in new spending, of which only $10 billion is designated for airports.
As evidence by the increase in proposed airport spending in this updated proposal, your engagement with your Congressional delegations remains critical until an infrastructure plan gets over the finish line. 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.
After a week where bipartisan infrastructure negotiations appeared to be trending downwards, a plan from a group of Democrat and Republican senators is picking up new support and momentum. Late last evening, a bipartisan group of senators released an updated proposal that calls for spending $1.2 trillion over eight years, including current baseline spending and $579 billion in new spending. It also lists 11 different funding sources, ranging from redirecting unused unemployment insurance relief funds to indexing the gas tax to inflation.
For airports, the proposal would provide $25 billion in new spending over eight years. This appears to be a $12 billion increase from the group's initial proposal released last week and puts the total spending for airports in line with President Biden's American Jobs Plan and Senator Shelley Moore Capito's (R-WV) Republican Roadmap.
Importantly, the proposal, which had originally been endorsed by five Republican and five Democratic Senators, has added the support of an additional 11 senators, including Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Todd Young (R-IN), Richard Burr (R-NC), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Chris Coons (D-DE), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Angus King (I-ME) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ). With 11 Republicans Senators now pledging their support for the bipartisan framework, there are now enough Republican votes for this infrastructure package to overcome a filibuster and pass the Senate if all members of the Senate Democratic Caucus were to get on board.
However, throughout this past week, progressive Democrats, and in particular, climate hawks, have expressed their disapproval of the bipartisan proposal as being insufficient in addressing the climate change challenge. While there is new funding in the updated proposal for Democratic priorities like electric vehicle infrastructure and reconnecting communities divided by highway construction, it remains to be seen whether it is enough to win the support of progressives.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has already met with the Democratic members of the Senate Budget Committee to begin the process for passing a budget resolution and reconciliation instructions, setting the stage for passing a massive infrastructure package with only Democratic votes. Schumer also plans to bring a scaled-down infrastructure package to the Senate floor under regular order, which he has referred to as the two-pronged approach. However, some Senate progressives have said they will not vote for a bipartisan infrastructure bill unless all 50 members of the Democratic caucus agree on the size and shape of a subsequent reconciliation bill that would likely include a broad array of Democrat priorities. This means that Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), who have routinely expressed reservations about using the reconciliation process for infrastructure, would have to provide guarantees that, so far, they have been unwilling to make.
The two authors of the bipartisan framework, Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) and Senator Sinema, plan to address the House Problem Solvers Caucus later this week with the hopes of marrying the two plans. As a reminder, the Problem Solvers released their own eight-year, $1.25 trillion proposal, which includes $762 billion in new spending, of which only $10 billion is designated for airports.
As evidence by the increase in proposed airport spending in this updated proposal, your engagement with your Congressional delegations remains critical until an infrastructure plan gets over the finish line. 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.
