Senate GOP Blocks Vote On FAA Bill; Chances Now Slim

Tue. May 6, 2008


Republicans today blocked Democrats from limiting debate on FAA legislation, potentially deflating the bill's chances of moving forward this year. Democrats fell short, 49-42, of the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture on a bill aimed at advancing the transformation from a ground-based to a satellite-based air traffic control system and providing consumer confidence amid rising concern over airline safety and congestion. While there is more widespread agreement on modernizing FAA policies and funding, Republican leaders have protested a move by Majority Leader Reid to limit amendments and include highway trust fund reimbursements and other non-aviation language.

Minority Leader McConnell said Democrats "bogged [the bill] down with extraneous provisions that do nothing to improve airline safety and that don't belong on this bill." The Finance Committee, with bipartisan backing, included a $5 billion reimbursement of the highway trust fund; a doubling of the 5-cent-per-barrel oil spill tax; tax-credit bonds for rail infrastructure; $2 billion to New York City for transportation infrastructure projects; and an offset shutting down the ability of a U.S. company to incorporate in a tax haven to minimize U.S. tax on its U.S. operations. McConnell criticized Reid for "a procedure that used to be rare, to block amendments and improvements to the bill." Reid moved last week to "fill the amendment tree" to keep off non-FAA-related amendments, but he also offered to allow McConnell to help sign off on an amendment list. The vote today was the first since the Senate agreed on April 28 to limit debate on proceeding to the bill. Floor debate was stalled much of last week because of disagreements over both policy and procedure. "Last week was the most frustrating week I've spent in the Senate in my 24 years here," said Senate Commerce Aviation Subcommittee Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va.

Meanwhile, Commerce Aviation Subcommittee ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, accused Reid today of "blocking amendments, preventing debate, forcing a cloture vote and hoping the Republicans vote against it." She called the current bill an "omnibus tax and special projects package" and has offered a bill that would bring back up the initial Finance-Commerce bill that began floor debate last week without "unrelated and extraneous tax provisions" and Finance-backed pension language. The question now is how long Congress will temporarily extend FAA funding and taxes, which will signal whether lawmakers believe a compromise can still be reached this year. There did not appear to be an agreement reached this morning on the next extension. "I'm willing to come back on this bill at a moment's notice," Rockefeller said. Lawmakers have extended FAA funding and taxes four times since they first expired at the end of September, and the current extension runs through June.

A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Whip Durbin said before the vote that the bill would be indefinitely pulled from the floor if the cloture vote were unsuccessful. "I haven't heard of any plans to bring it back," the spokeswoman said. Senate GOP aides are saying Congress will eventually extend FAA funding and taxes until September 2009, but there did not appear to be a bipartisan agreement to do that before the cloture vote.

by Darren Goode

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