[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 129 (Thursday, September 23, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H6943-H6945]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AIRPORT AND AIRWAY EXTENSION ACT OF 2010, PART III
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 6190) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to
extend the funding and expenditure authority of the Airport and Airway
Trust Fund, to amend title 49, United States Code, to extend the
airport improvement program, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 6190
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Airport and Airway Extension
Act of 2010, Part III''.
SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF TAXES FUNDING AIRPORT AND AIRWAY TRUST
FUND.
(a) Fuel Taxes.--Subparagraph (B) of section 4081(d)(2) of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking
``September 30, 2010'' and inserting ``December 31, 2010''.
(b) Ticket Taxes.--
(1) Persons.--Clause (ii) of section 4261(j)(1)(A) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking
``September 30, 2010'' and inserting ``December 31, 2010''.
(2) Property.--Clause (ii) of section 4271(d)(1)(A) of such
Code is amended by striking ``September 30, 2010'' and
inserting ``December 31, 2010''.
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section
shall take effect on October 1, 2010.
SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF AIRPORT AND AIRWAY TRUST FUND
EXPENDITURE AUTHORITY.
(a) In General.--Paragraph (1) of section 9502(d) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended--
(1) by striking ``October 1, 2010'' and inserting ``January
1, 2011''; and
(2) by inserting ``or the Airport and Airway Extension Act
of 2010, Part III'' before the semicolon at the end of
subparagraph (A).
(b) Conforming Amendment.--Paragraph (2) of section 9502(e)
of such Code is amended by striking ``October 1, 2010'' and
inserting ``January 1, 2011''.
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section
shall take effect on October 1, 2010.
SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF AIRPORT IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM.
(a) Authorization of Appropriations.--
(1) In general.--Section 48103 of title 49, United States
Code, is amended--
(A) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (6);
(B) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (7) and
inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by inserting after paragraph (7) the following:
``(8) $925,000,000 for the 3-month period beginning on
October 1, 2010.''.
(2) Obligation of amounts.--Subject to limitations
specified in advance in appropriation Acts, sums made
available pursuant to the amendment made by paragraph (1) may
be obligated at any time through September 30, 2011, and
shall remain available until expended.
(b) Project Grant Authority.--Section 47104(c) of such
title is amended by striking ``September 30, 2010,'' and
inserting ``December 31, 2010,''.
SEC. 5. EXTENSION OF EXPIRING AUTHORITIES.
(a) Section 40117(l)(7) of title 49, United States Code, is
amended by striking ``October 1, 2010.'' and inserting
``January 1, 2011.''.
(b) Section 41743(e)(2) of such title is amended by
striking ``2010'' and inserting ``2011''.
(c) Section 44302(f)(1) of such title is amended--
(1) by striking ``September 30, 2010,'' and inserting
``December 31, 2010,''; and
(2) by striking ``December 31, 2010,'' and inserting
``March 31, 2011,''.
(d) Section 44303(b) of such title is amended by striking
``December 31, 2010,'' and inserting ``March 31, 2011,''.
(e) Section 47107(s)(3) of such title is amended by
striking ``October 1, 2010.'' and inserting ``January 1,
2011.''.
(f) Section 47115(j) of such title is amended by inserting
``and for the portion of fiscal year 2011 ending before
January 1, 2011,'' after ``2010,''.
(g) Section 47141(f) of such title is amended by striking
``September 30, 2010.'' and inserting ``December 31, 2010.''.
(h) Section 49108 of such title is amended by striking
``September 30, 2010,'' and inserting ``December 31, 2010,''.
(i) Section 161 of the Vision 100--Century of Aviation
Reauthorization Act (49 U.S.C. 47109 note) is amended by
inserting ``, or in the portion of fiscal year 2011 ending
before January 1, 2011,'' after ``fiscal year 2009 or 2010''.
(j) Section 186(d) of such Act (117 Stat. 2518) is amended
by inserting ``and for the portion of fiscal year 2011 ending
before January 1, 2011,'' after ``October 1, 2010,''.
(k) Section 409(d) of such Act (49 U.S.C. 41731 note) is
amended by striking ``September 30, 2010.'' and inserting
``September 30, 2011.''.
(l) The amendments made by this section shall take effect
on October 1, 2010.
SEC. 6. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS.
Effective as of August 1, 2010, and as if included therein
as enacted, the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation
Administration Extension Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-216) is
amended as follows:
(1) In section 202(a) (124 Stat. 2351) by inserting ``of
title 49, United States Code,'' before ``is amended''.
(2) In section 202(b) (124 Stat. 2351) by inserting ``of
such title'' before ``is amended''.
(3) In section 203(c)(1) (124 Stat. 2356) by inserting ``of
such title'' before ``(as redesignated''.
(4) In section 203(c)(2) (124 Stat. 2357) by inserting ``of
such title'' before ``(as redesignated''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Georgia (Mr. Lewis) and the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Boustany)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Georgia.
General Leave
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to give
Members 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the
bill, H.R. 6190.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Georgia?
There was no objection.
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 6190, the Airport and
Airway Extension Act, Part III. The Airport and Airway Trust Fund taxes
and spending authority are scheduled to expire on September 30. This
bill extends its authority through December 31, 2010, while we work
together on a long-term solution.
This extension is critical for our airports and communities across
our country. Our aviation system is also key for our economy and jobs.
For example, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, located
in my congressional district, is the busiest passenger airport in the
world. Over 250,000 passengers travel through the airport each day. The
Atlanta airport has a direct impact of more than $32 billion on
Georgia's economy and employs almost 60,000 people throughout our
State. Extending this authority provides the necessary revenue to
maintain our Nation's airports and air traffic control system.
Madam Speaker, I ask all of my colleagues to come together and
support this very simple, commonsense, necessary legislation.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BOUSTANY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
(Mr. BOUSTANY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. BOUSTANY. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6190.
This is a straightforward bill to extend for 3 months, through
December 31, the existing FAA authorization law, the excise taxes that
support the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, and the trust fund's
expenditure authorities. The current FAA authorization, as well as the
excise taxes and spending authorities, are currently scheduled to
expire on October 1.
For the past several months, the House and Senate have been
negotiating on a long-term FAA reauthorization bill, but those
negotiations have not yet come to a close. This extension will give
Congress additional time to try to resolve the differences between the
Chambers' bills and to determine whether modifications to the financing
structure of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund are appropriate.
[[Page H6944]]
I would note, however, that because the majority has chosen to extend
the FAA authority only through the end of the year, they are ensuring
that Congress must return for a lame duck session to prevent the FAA
authorization from expiring. Many of my colleagues on this side of the
aisle have voiced legitimate concerns about the mischief that could be
made in an extended lame duck session, with various pieces of must-pass
legislation being held hostage to unpopular tax increases and spending
increases that the majority might decide to postpone until after the
election.
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Despite this risk, it is important that we take the necessary steps
to extend the current FAA authorization and its related excise taxes
and expenditure authorities on a temporary basis, and I join with my
colleagues across the aisle in support of this legislation.
With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield as much time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Illinois, the chairman of the Aviation
Subcommittee, Congressman Costello.
Mr. COSTELLO. I thank my friend from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) for
yielding.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 6190, the Airport and
Airway Extension Act of 2010, Part III. I want to thank Chairman
Oberstar of the full Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,
Chairman Levin and Congressman Lewis of the Committee on Ways and Means
for bringing this bill to the floor today.
Two months ago, we passed bipartisan legislation, H.R. 5900, the
Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of
2010, which was signed into law. It included important airline safety
and pilot training provisions from House passed H.R. 3371, the Airline
Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act of 2009. I am pleased that
President Obama signed the legislation, H.R. 5900, into law, and I am
proud of our efforts to work together in a bipartisan manner to produce
the strongest aviation safety legislation in decades.
In addition to the aviation safety provisions, H.R. 5900 included a
clean extension of the FAA reauthorization bill until September 30. We
passed another extension because the leaders in the other body said
they could not reach an agreement with their members and they were at
an impasse.
We have reached consensus on the majority of the items from both
bills and only a few issues remain which I believe can be worked out.
It is unfortunate that we have reached this point after nearing the end
of working through both of these bills.
In the interest of keeping the FAA and the aviation transportation
system operating safely, we cannot let this reauthorization expire on
October 1. H.R. 6190 extends the FAA reauthorization through the end of
the calendar year.
There are many important provisions in the FAA reauthorization bill,
such as binding arbitration for the air traffic controllers, addressing
the consolidation and realignment of FAA facilities, and making
investments in NextGen and the air traffic control modernization
program. I am committed to passing a comprehensive FAA reauthorization
bill next year so that we can provide stability to the FAA and our
Nation's aviation system.
With that, Madam Speaker, I urge support and ask my colleagues to
vote for this legislation.
Mr. BOUSTANY. Madam Speaker, I am now pleased to yield such time as
he may consume to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri).
Mr. PETRI. I thank my colleague from Louisiana.
In May 2009, the House passed H.R. 915, the FAA Reauthorization Act
of 2009. In March of this year, the Senate passed its own FAA
reauthorization bill which the House took up, amended, passed and sent
back to the Senate. Since that time, we have been in informal
discussions to reconcile the two versions of the bill. While these
discussions have led to tentative agreements on nearly all of the
provisions, a few controversial issues have stalled progress on a final
agreement. Therefore, with the FAA's authorities set to expire on
September 30, we again find it necessary to consider another extension
bill. Likes the 15 earlier extensions over the past 3 years, H.R. 6190
would provide a short-term extension of the taxes, programs, and
funding of the FAA, this time through the end of this year, 2010.
I remain very disappointed that a few issues in the reauthorization
package are holding up final agreement on a comprehensive FAA
reauthorization bill. However, in order to ensure the safe operation of
the national airspace system while Congress continues to debate a full
reauthorization package, I support passage of today's extension.
I urge my colleagues to support the resolution.
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield as much time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Minnesota, the hardworking chairman of
the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Mr. Oberstar.
Mr. OBERSTAR. I thank the gentleman for that very thoughtful comment.
I consider myself hardworking. It's nice to have that affirmation from
the gentleman who himself knows the value of, and puts in, hard work.
Perhaps the best news this afternoon was the announcement we just
heard from the other body that the Senate has passed, by consent, H.R.
4853, the Airport and Airway Extension Act, with a substitute amendment
carrying through the authorities through the end of this calendar year.
That's good news. The unfortunate news that Mr. Costello has amply
outlined and as Mr. Petri has also underscored is that the full
authorization is still held up over disagreements in the other body. We
passed this bill, we on the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure under Mr. Costello's diligent leadership, by hard work,
dozens of hearings and meetings and conferences and discussions to lead
to the long-term authorization--then it was about $60 billion--
investing in the future of air traffic control, modernizing yet again.
It's in a state of constant modernization. You can't say we do it once
and then it's done. It's in a constant state of modernization.
Resolving very thorny issues within the air traffic control workforce
and the previous administration. We put all those together in a
package, it passed the House and didn't pass the other body.
And then there was a threat from the previous administration, well,
if the bill in its present form reaches the President, he'll veto it.
Nonetheless, we had a bipartisan effort. Mr. Mica, Mr. Petri, Mr.
Costello and I and the representatives from the White House; the
Secretary of Transportation, Ms. Peters; the head of the FAA. We met
for days, week after week after week, to try to resolve the issue of
controller pay, try to resolve a number of other issues that were in
the bill. And, as we quaintly say in this body, we came to no
resolution thereon.
Now we're close. We're so very close. But there are just a couple of
items that have nothing to do with the air traffic control system,
nothing to do with the air traffic control workforce. This
administration came in in January of last year and the first thing the
President, the White House did, with the vigorous support of Mr.
Costello and me, and I think even encouragement from Mr. Mica and Mr.
Petri, settled the air traffic controller pay issue. That was the first
thing they did. They tackled it head-on. They had a 95 percent support
vote from the members of NATCA; and things are moving ahead. But now a
dispute over whether one airline, who has the dominant position at
National Airport, should have further dominance in long-haul service
out of National Airport, that's got the other body all in a tangle.
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We have not had a formal conference. We have not sat opposite face-
to-face to discuss options. There is a flat-out resistance in the other
body to increasing the Passenger Facility Charge so that airports, at
their discretion, may choose to raise that fee and generate the roughly
$2 billion that the capacity facility charge generates to invest in
modernization of the airport facilities, improve the terminals in the
parking areas and the hard side of the airport, runways and taxiways
and parking aprons. All that money goes directly into investments and
creates jobs, economic opportunity.
But they are hung up over there, just one person holding this and
another
[[Page H6945]]
person holding something else and a third one holding something else
and then have the secret holds and the hot holds and the threats of
filibuster. The other body is just all tangled up in themselves. That's
just an exasperating condition.
I have seen this over 25 years, back to the time when I chaired the
Aviation Subcommittee, but we were always able to work it out. I have
never seen such a tangle like this.
So I urge the other body to rise above themselves, get over these
little petty differences, come to agreement in the greater good of this
country. Aviation is 9 percent of the gross domestic product of the
United States.
Last year a billion people traveled by air worldwide, 750 million
moved in the U.S. airspace. We account for three-fourths of all air
travel worldwide. Every other nation in the world wants to get into the
U.S. and wants to serve our constituents because it is such a lucrative
market.
But if we don't invest in the future and continuing the modernization
of air traffic control, we are not going to be the leader in the world.
That is what this legislation does. It lays down the charts, the path
forward for continued modernization of the air traffic control system
of the United States, which is the most robust in the world.
So you might ask, well, why are we doing just this short-term
extension through the end of the year? Because I am confident that
sanity will prevail, that equity will abound in the other body, and
they will find themselves, and they will come to agreement in the post-
election session, maybe before then, and then we could do the full, 4-
year authorization bill.
So we must proceed on the course we have laid before you today.
I thank my colleagues on the committee, Mr. Mica, Mr. Petri. Mr.
Boustany, thank you, from Ways and Means, a refugee from the Committee
on Transportation and Infrastructure who has, as has Mr. Lewis, also a
graduate of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, gone on
to Ways and Means, where we still have the partnership. I am glad we
are all together. At least on this side, we are all together moving in
the right direction.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 6190, the ``Airport
and Airways Extension Act of 2010, Part III''. This bill ensures that
aviation programs, taxes, and Airport and Airway Trust Fund expenditure
authority will continue without interruption pending completion of
long-term Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization
legislation. Because the long-term bill will not be completed before
the current authority for aviation programs expires next week, H.R.
6190 is needed to extend aviation programs, taxes, and expenditure
authority for an additional three months, through December 31, 2010.
The most recent long-term FAA reauthorization act, the Vision 100--
Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act (P.L. 108-176), expired on
September 30, 2007. Although the House passed an FAA reauthorization
bill during the 110th Congress, and again last year, the Senate failed
to act until March of this year. The FAA has, therefore, been operating
under a series of short-term extension acts, the most recent of which
expires on September 30, 2010.
Since passage of the Senate bill in March, we have been working
diligently to resolve the differences between the House and Senate
bills. As it stands now, the negotiated bill would provide the aviation
sector with the stability of a multi-year authorization, safety
reforms, record-high capital investment levels, acceleration of the
Next Generation Air Transportation System effort, and a passenger bill
of rights. Moreover, a comprehensive multi-billion dollar FAA
reauthorization would create tens of thousands of well paying aviation
sector jobs.
This would build upon the aviation investments funded by the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. We know that Recovery Act
aviation investments have been a tremendous success. Work is underway
or completed on 758 aviation projects ($1.2 billion), representing 96
percent of the total available Recovery Act aviation funds. Within this
total, work is underway on 205 projects ($627 million), and work is
completed on an additional 553 projects ($622 million). Aviation
investments will result in 155 runway improvements at 139 airports that
accommodate 11 million annual takeoffs/landings ($483 million); 83
taxiway improvements at 78 airports that accommodate 8.1 million annual
takeoffs/landings ($220 million); and 25 projects to modernize air
route traffic control centers ($50 million). This record of success
underscores the need to build upon these efforts and pass a long-term
FAA reauthorization act.
Unfortunately, since July, the FAA reauthorization bill has been hung
up in the Senate, primarily over a provision that would significantly
increase the number of long-distance flights at Washington National
Airport. The Senate provision was included in neither the House-passed
nor the Senate-passed FAA bill, and it is strongly opposed by Members
of Congress and Senators who represent the Washington, D.C.
metropolitan region. They argue it would create a burden on Washington
National Airport by creating congestion at terminals and that it would
siphon passengers away from Washington Dulles International Airport. I
also have concerns that the provision, as written, would unduly benefit
the dominant incumbent carrier at National Airport, US Airways.
We will continue to work as hard as we can on behalf of the American
public for a strong, comprehensive FAA reauthorization bill, which I
still remain confident that we can deliver this Congress.
Mr. BOUSTANY. I have no further requests for time, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I fully support H.R. 6190. I
urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote ``yes''
for this important piece of legislation.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 6190.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________