Lawmakers Set To Extend U.S. Gov't Funding Until December
A full transportation funding bill, including the fiscal 2017 FAA budget, could be considered in December.

The U.S. Senate has scheduled a procedural vote today to clear the way for consideration of a short-term funding extension that would keep the government operating until after the November elections. The continuing resolution (CR) measure, which would extend government funding at current levels through December 9, is expected to clear both the Senate and the House this week as lawmakers set hopes of recessing shortly and going home to campaign.


Funding bills typically begin in the House, but House Republicans have been split on the length of time of a CR, with many pushing to extend government funding into the new Congress next year. Others, however, hold out hopes of passing full appropriations bills in the lame-duck session following the elections. The transportation funding bill, which would include the FAA’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget, is considered among the least controversial bills this year and could be among the first batch of funding bills considered in a lame-duck session.


The FAA is set for a small increase in its budget under a full funding bill. House and Senate versions of a full FY2017 funding bills include various measures to address to certification reform and inspector staffing, as well as continuation of the mandate for the agency to honor requests to block access to registration information on real-time flight-tracking programs.


Notably, a CR averts the prospect of another government shutdown; the government currently is funded only through September 30. During last week’s Airlines for America (A4A) Commercial Aviation Industry Summit, A4A president and CEO Nicholas Calio raised the specter of a government shutdown as another reason for reform of the nation’s air traffic control system.


“Do I think the government will shut down? No, but I’ve said that before, and I was wrong, because logic doesn’t always prevail,” Calio said.  “But there is the exhausting potential for it to happen again…This cycle of dysfunction in funding perfectly underscores the critical flaws in the current system why A4A is advocating for air traffic control modernization.”