The aviation community is preparing for at least one and potentially a series of short-term extensions of the FAA’s authorization after the House last week recessed for the August break without taking action on the comprehensive six-year reauthorization bill that includes the controversial air traffic control reorganization proposal.

House Transportation and Infrastructure chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pennsylvania), the chief architect of the proposal to create a user-funded independent ATC organization, had hoped to bring the bill to the floor for a vote, but was unable to secure enough votes.

Shuster has continued to push to sway members on the issue, and that effort is expected to continue throughout the August break. But with just 12 legislative days left in September before the current authorization is set to expire, little time exists to not only get the bill through the House but also the Senate and come to a compromise agreement.

Unlike the House bill, the Senate bill does not include an independent ATC measure. But the Senate bill has stalled as well, with no Senate floor action yet.

Despite the lack of action on the respective floors and the likelihood of a short-term extension, business and general aviation advocates are continuing to urge their members to voice opposition to the ATC proposal. “Shuster…is not giving up the effort, telling reporters it needs just a few more members of Congress to commit to supporting it before it can be scheduled for a vote in September,” the National Air Transportation Association warned its members.

NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen, meanwhile, has been making the rounds on the radio to voice his opposition. “This is not a situation where it is true privatization,” Bolen said during a recent edition of "The Lars Larson Show." “What we’re talking about here is taking an air traffic control monopoly—it is a monopoly and always will be a monopoly—taking this public asset and turning it over to a private board of 13 special interest groups. That is not a conservative principal, and we think it is a very dangerous principle.”

ATC reform proponents are continuing to highlight new backers. Media mogul Steve Forbes recently wrote about the “woefully dysfunctional air traffic control system” and said the solution “is to divorce ATC functions from FAA’s mission of ensuring air safety.”