A bill to shield the FAA from future government shutdowns took a step forward with today’s voice vote passage by the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee. T&I chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) and aviation subcommittee head Rick Larsen (D-Washington) introduced the bill, H.R.1108, in early February in the wake of the historic 35-day shutdown that began late last year and carried in through January.

The bill would enable the FAA to continue to receive funding from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) and continue operating at current funding levels in the event of another government shutdown.

That bill has received strong support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle—including T&I ranking Republican Sam Graves (Missouri)—and 138 House members have signed on as co-sponsors. In addition, 40 aviation organizations have signed a letter of support.

Both DeFazio and Graves spoke in support of the legislation before today’s voice vote, stressing the importance of keeping the air traffic control system running as efficiently as possible.

The T&I leaders also jointly supported an amendment that was approved to the bill that would boost airport funding by $650 million a year to $4 billion. That amendment was approved a day after the committee held a hearing on the importance of investing in airports. Graves said the funding would affect all airports, from the $130 million that would be directed to general aviation to $170 million for noise abatement, among other funding.

Also today, the committee agreed by voice vote to a bill (H.R.1775) that calls for the creation of a task force on Notam improvements. National Transportation Safety Board members were sharply critical of the Notam system following the investigation of the July 7, 2017, incident at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in which an Air Canada Airbus A320 nearly landed on a crowded taxiway. The crew mistook the taxiway as their cleared runway—28R—because Runway 28L was closed. The pilots failed to catch that note on page eight of the 27-page Notam.

DeFazio cited concerns surrounding the lengthiness of the Notams and about how information is displayed. Graves agreed, saying “this has been a problem for a while,” and said the bill would improve safety.