Senate leaders race to pass FAA bill, while House passes short-term extension

Top Senate leaders are plotting a path forward on legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration, even as the House passed a one-week extension to avoid the air travel funding legislation from expiring at midnight Friday.

While leaders have said progress has been made toward extending the FAA’s authority for the next five years, senators are struggling to strike a time agreement to try to avoid a lapse of the program ahead of Friday’s deadline. Dozens of amendments have piled on, threatening to derail the legislation and raising concerns about the potential of a compromise ahead of the Friday deadline.

“There’s a sense of urgency around it, but there’s also this sense that people want to feel like they have their voices heard,” said Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the No. 2 Senate Republican, speaking with the Washington Examiner.

While Thune said there’s a possibility the Senate may need to pivot to a short-term resolution, he said negotiators are still attempting to find a way forward this week, and there could be objections to a short-term resolution. 

“I think there’s a lot of hope that when Thursday and Friday rolls around, people will find a way to get this done, this week,” Thune said. “I think that’s certainly the hope, the optimistic view of this.”

It has taken months for top lawmakers in both chambers to strike a deal on a 1,068-page aviation bill. Now, those who have not been involved in negotiations are looking for modifications, and in some cases, to add provisions unrelated to the overarching bill. 

“It incorporates more than 200 priorities from different senators, both on the Republican side and the Democratic side,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, who has been playing a role as a deal-maker in an attempt to get the bill through the Senate.

“After it came out of committee, we did a couple of things. I reached out to every Republican senator that is not on Commerce and solicited their amendments,” Cruz explained. “I have been pressing consistently for a robust amendment process.”

“I think we are going to end up with a strong bipartisan vote at the end of the day, obviously on cloture last week, the vote was 89 to 10 and I think that augurs well for the ultimate disposition.”

However, even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is unsure how lawmakers will arrive at a resolution ahead of the deadline.

“We absolutely have to do something by the end of the week,” McConnell said, speaking to reporters on Wednesday. “I couldn’t tell you how it’s going to play out.”

Without an agreement to vote on the full measure, the House opted to make other plans. Lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a short-term bill to extend the FAA’s authority for one week on Wednesday to allow the Senate more time to negotiate. Congress has already punted FAA reauthorization three times.

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Senators on both sides of the aisle have already indicated they would not agree to fast-track a one-week extension unless their various amendments would ultimately receive votes. The next procedural hurdle is expected on Thursday when the Senate is holding the first of two required cloture votes. Almost two dozen amendments have been filed in recent days.

Ramsey Touchberry contributed to this report.