July 24, 2025
The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved a Fiscal Year 2026 transportation spending bill by a vote of 27 to 1 that includes $4 billion for the Airport Improvement Program. The committee action comes as lawmakers in both chambers are trying to make progress on the annual spending bills before the upcoming September 30 deadline. The House Appropriations Committee approved its version of the FY26 DOT/FAA funding bill last week as we reported.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) said in a press release that “it is critical that we make significant investments to modernize our air traffic control systems and improve our airports, roads, railways, bridges, and ports.”
The Appropriations Committee has yet to release the bill text, the accompanying report, or the list of earmarks. However, the following includes a description of what we know so far based on today’s markup and committee summaries. We will provide more detailed information after we have a chance to review the actual bill text and report.
FAA Programs
FAA: The Senate bill includes $22 billion for the FAA, which is $1.4 billion above the current level.
Operations: It includes $13.8 billion for FAA operations. According to a summary from Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), this funding “will allow the FAA to hire 2,500 air traffic controllers, improve controller training, and hire 91 new aviation safety inspectors and engineers to strengthen oversight of Boeing and other manufacturers.”
Facilities and Equipment: The Senate bill includes a total of $5 billion for FAA facilities and equipment, “to improve critical systems that air traffic controllers rely on, fully implement NextGen technologies, and address the backlog of facility, radar, and equipment repair and replacement projects.”
During today’s markup, Appropriations Committee member and Aviation Subcommittee Chair Jerry Moran (R-KS) said the $5 billion for FAA facilities and equipment matches the president’s budget request and “compliments the $12.5 billion that was included in reconciliation” for ATC modernization.
Research, Engineering, and Development: The measure includes $290 million for research, engineering, and development -- $125 million more than the administration requested.
Airport Programs
Airport Improvement Program: The Senate bill includes $4 billion for the traditional AIP account in FY26 – the same amount authorized in the FAA bill. According to a press release from Chair Collins, the bill “includes $25 million in discretionary supplemental AIP funding” and “$25 million for a new discretionary rural airport grant program that targets those airports who have typically received a smaller amount of entitlement money based on their annual AIP formula amounts.” The measure also includes supplemental funding in support of a yet-to-be-released list of airport earmarks.
Essential Air Service: The Senate bill includes approximately $514 million in discretionary funds for the Essential Air Service Program. Coupled with an estimated $174.3 million from overflight fees, the overall funding level for EAS would rise to about $688 million in FY26. According to Vice Chair Murray, this funding level rejects “President Trump’s budget request to cut the program by 50%—and it prevents DOT from haphazardly terminating any EAS contracts.”
Contract Towers: We expect the Senate bill will include approximately $279 million for the FAA Contract Tower Program. That amount will fund all 265 contract towers currently in the program and allow the FAA to add other airports to the program during the next fiscal year.
Airborne Situational Awareness Technology: The report includes a USCTA-backed proposal from Senator John Hoeven (R-ND) that calls on the FAA to move forward expeditiously with airborne situational awareness technology in contract towers and to ensure airports can use discretionary and entitlements to acquire that equipment.
Miscellaneous
DCA: According to Vice Chair Murray, the bill “includes $2 million for an independent study on the airspace in the National Capital Region and the coordination between the FAA and Department of Defense in response to the tragic Flight 5342 accident in January.”
Additional Info