The FAA is poised to receive a small funding bump in Fiscal Year 2016 under a House bill released Tuesday by the House Appropriations Committee. The transportation appropriations bill—marked up by the transportation, housing and urban development appropriations subcommittee yesterday—would provide $15.9 billion to the FAA in FY2016, $159 million more than FY2015's budget and $40 million more than the Obama Administration's request.

It would also continue the ban on aviation user fees, direct the FAA to continue blocking aircraft tail numbers at an operator’s request and include $154.4 million for the contract tower program. Absent from the House bill so far is the mandatory weight limitation at Teterboro Airport, a measure that in the past had been pushed by former Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.) and included in most House bills since 2003.

The ban on new user fees has been a staple in recent appropriations bills. But this year marked one of the few times that the Obama Administration did not include these fees in its released budget documents. In addition, the bill would include $9.87 billion for FAA operations, of which $8.831 billion would be paid through the aviation trust fund. Now that it has been cleared by the House subcommittee, the bill heads to the full Appropriations Committee for consideration.