NBAA expects the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill could be delayed yet again and be pushed into 2010.
The US Congress has been debating a reauthorization bill for over three years, forcing the FAA to be funded since 2007 through a series of interim measures. A bill was finally expected to pass both sides of Congress by the end of this year, but NBAA president Ed Bolen says this now seems unlikely because the Senate Finance Committee is tied up debating health care reform.
"I'm not sure we're gong to get this done by the end of the calendar year," Bolen says.
He adds that the full House bill and the Senate Commerce Committee's version of the bill are ready - neither of which include user fees. But the Senate Finance Committee has not yet had a chance to draft its version because "a lot of oxygen" tied up with health care reform.
If a bill is not signed into law by the end of this year, another interim extension will be required. The FAA is now being funded by the eighth interim extension. "We've been debating FAA authorisation for a very long time," Bolen says.
Source: Flight Daily News
