Congressional Record, Volume 158 Issue 10 (Tuesday, January 24, 2012)

[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 10 (Tuesday, January 24, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H135-H137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

AIRPORT AND AIRWAY EXTENSION ACT OF 2012

Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 3800) 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 authorizations for 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. 3800

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 2012''.

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
``January 31, 2012'' and inserting ``February 17, 2012''.
(b) Ticket Taxes.--
(1) Persons.--Clause (ii) of section 4261(j)(1)(A) of such
Code is amended by striking ``January 31, 2012'' and
inserting ``February 17, 2012''.
(2) Property.--Clause (ii) of section 4271(d)(1)(A) of such
Code is amended by striking ``January 31, 2012'' and
inserting ``February 17, 2012''.
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section
shall take effect on February 1, 2012.

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 ``February 1, 2012'' and inserting
``February 18, 2012''; and
(2) by inserting ``or the Airport and Airway Extension Act
of 2012'' 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 ``February 1, 2012'' and
inserting ``February 18, 2012''.
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section
shall take effect on February 1, 2012.

SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF AIRPORT IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM.

(a) Authorization of Appropriations.--
(1) In general.--Section 48103(9) of title 49, United
States Code, is amended to read as follows:
``(9) $1,344,535,519 for the period beginning on October 1,
2011, and ending on February 17, 2012.''.
(2) Obligation of amounts.--Subject to limitations
specified in advance in appropriation Acts, sums made
available for a portion of fiscal year 2012 pursuant to the
amendment made by paragraph (1) may be obligated at any time
through September 30, 2012, and shall remain available until
expended.
(b) Project Grant Authority.--Section 47104(c) of such
title is amended by striking ``January 31, 2012,'' and
inserting ``February 17, 2012,''.

SEC. 5. EXTENSION OF EXPIRING AUTHORITIES.

(a) Section 40117(l)(7) of title 49, United States Code, is
amended by striking ``February 1, 2012.'' and inserting
``February 18, 2012.''.
(b) Section 41743(e)(2) of such title is amended by
striking ``and $2,016,393 for the portion of fiscal year 2012
ending before February 1, 2012,'' and inserting ``and
$2,295,082 for the portion of fiscal year 2012 ending before
February 18, 2012,''.
(c) Section 44302(f)(1) of such title is amended--
(1) by striking ``January 31, 2012,'' and inserting
``February 17, 2012,''; and
(2) by striking ``April 30, 2012,'' and inserting ``May 17,
2012,''.
(d) Section 44303(b) of such title is amended by striking
``April 30, 2012,'' and inserting ``May 17, 2012,''.
(e) Section 47107(s)(3) of such title is amended by
striking ``February 1, 2012.'' and inserting ``February 18,
2012.''.
(f) Section 47115(j) of such title is amended by striking
``February 1, 2012,'' and inserting ``February 18, 2012,''.
(g) Section 47141(f) of such title is amended by striking
``January 31, 2012.'' and inserting ``February 17, 2012.''.
(h) Section 49108 of such title is amended by striking
``January 31, 2012,'' and inserting ``February 17, 2012,''.
(i) Section 161 of the Vision 100--Century of Aviation
Reauthorization Act (49 U.S.C. 47109 note) is amended by
striking ``February 1, 2012,'' and inserting ``February 18,
2012,''.
(j) Section 186(d) of such Act (117 Stat. 2518) is amended
by striking ``February 1, 2012,'' and inserting ``February
18, 2012,''.
(k) Section 409(d) of such Act (49 U.S.C. 41731 note) is
amended by striking ``January 31, 2012.'' and inserting
``February 17, 2012.''.

SEC. 6. FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION OPERATIONS.

Section 106(k)(1)(H) of title 49, United States Code, is
amended to read as follows:
``(H) $3,692,555,464 for the period beginning on October 1,
2011, and ending on February 17, 2012.''.

SEC. 7. AIR NAVIGATION FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT.

Section 48101(a)(8) of title 49, United States Code, is
amended to read as follows:
``(8) $1,044,541,913 for the period beginning on October 1,
2011, and ending on February 17, 2012.''.

SEC. 8. RESEARCH, ENGINEERING, AND DEVELOPMENT.

Section 48102(a)(16) of title 49, United States Code, is
amended to read as follows:
``(16) $64,092,459 for the period beginning on October 1,
2011, and ending on February 17, 2012.''.

SEC. 9. ESSENTIAL AIR SERVICE.

Section 41742(a)(2) of title 49, United States Code, is
amended by striking ``and $50,309,016 for the period
beginning on October 1, 2011, and ending on January 31,
2012,'' and inserting ``and $54,699,454 for the period
beginning on October 1, 2011, and ending on February 17,
2012,''.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Wisconsin (Mr. Petri) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Costello)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin.

General Leave

Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have
5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on the bill, H.R. 3800.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Wisconsin?
There was no objection.
Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I would like to include in the Congressional Record an exchange of
letters between the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure concerning H.R. 3800.
I am pleased to report that we are currently in the final
negotiations of completing an FAA reauthorization bill with the Senate,
with only a few open issues left to be resolved. I am confident that we
will be able to complete negotiations and produce a conference report
in the very near future.
However, given the congressional schedule and the limited legislative
days before FAA's current authority expires, we will not be able to
consider the final agreement on the conference report until February.
Since current funding expires at the end of this month, it is necessary
for us to pass a

[[Page H136]]

clean, short-term extension of the FAA's funding and programs through
February 17 at current funding levels.
This extension is a prudent precaution to ensure that the FAA is able
to continue its funding and programs while negotiations are completed
and the House and Senate consider the FAA conference report.

House of Representatives,

Committee on Ways and Means,

Washington, DC, January 24, 2012.
Hon. John Mica,
Chairman, Committee on Transortation and Infrastructure,
Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Mica: I am writing concerning H.R. 3800, the
``Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2012'' which is
expected to be scheduled for floor consideration this week.
As you know, the Committee on Ways and Means has
jurisdiction over the Internal Revenue Code. Sections 2 and 3
of this bill amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 by
extending the current Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF)
expenditure authority and the associated Federal excise taxes
to February 17, 2012. In order to expedite H.R. 3800 for
Floor consideration, the Committee will forgo action on the
bill. This is being done with the understanding that it does
not in any way prejudice the Committee with respect to the
appointment of conferees or its jurisdictional prerogatives
on this or similar legislation.
I would appreciate your response to this letter, confirming
this understanding with respect to H.R. 3800, and would ask
that a copy of our exchange of letters on this matter be
included in the Congressional Record during Floor
consideration.
Sincerely,
Dave Camp,
Chairman.
____

House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure,
Washington, DC, January 24, 2012.
Hon. Dave Camp,
Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, Longworth House Office
Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: Thank you for your letter regarding H.R.
3800, the ``Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2012.'' The
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure recognizes the
Committee on Ways and Means has a jurisdictional interest in
H.R. 3800, and I appreciate your effort to facilitate
consideration of this bill.
I concur with you that forgoing action on H.R. 3800 does
not in any way prejudice the Committee on Ways and Means with
respect to its jurisdictional prerogatives on this bill or
similar legislation in the future, and I would support your
effort to seek appointment of an appropriate number of
conferees to any House-Senate conference involving this
legislation.
I will include our letters on H.R. 3800 in the
Congressional Record during House Floor consideration of the
bill. Again, I appreciate your cooperation regarding this
legislation and I look forward to working with the Committee
on Ways and Means as the bill moves through the legislative
process.
Sincerely,
John L. Mica,
Chairman.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the
balance of my time.
Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of H.R. 3800, the Airport and Airway Extension Act
of 2012. This bill contains a clean extension of the Federal Aviation
Administration's authority to spend from the Airport and Airway Trust
Fund to carry out airport improvement projects at current funding
levels through February 17, 2012.
Mr. Speaker, this short-term extension will hopefully provide us
enough time for the House Republican leadership to finally appoint
conferees to the FAA reauthorization bill, which we passed almost a
year ago, work through the remaining policy issues with the other body,
and send a comprehensive bill to the President.
Although this has been an unnecessarily difficult and controversial
process during the first session of the 112th Congress to move the
multiyear FAA reauthorization measure, I'm pleased that the House and
Senate leadership recognized the importance of getting a bill completed
and stepped in to help in the process.
While I will reserve judgment on a final conference report, it
appears as though we are making progress, and we certainly need to
avoid a repeat of the disastrous outcome that occurred this summer when
the FAA was partially shut down for 2 weeks, costing taxpayers almost
$400 million in lost revenue for infrastructure investment. As we move
to conference, we need to enact a fair and comprehensive bill that
creates jobs, furthers aviation safety, and advances our transition to
the Next Generation Air Transportation System.
Mr. Speaker, I support this short-term FAA extension in the interest
of preventing another FAA shutdown in order to give us a few more weeks
to produce a bipartisan reauthorization conference report that the
President can sign into law.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3800, the Airport
and Airway Extension Act of 2012, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. PETRI. Does the gentleman have any further requests for time?
Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Speaker, we have one speaker.
Mr. PETRI. I will continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COSTELLO. At this time, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from
the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton), a valued member of the
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Ms. NORTON. I thank the gentleman from Illinois. This compromise only
reminds me of how much I regret that he has decided to retire. He was
such a valuable chair of our subcommittee and member of the
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. I can only wish him all
the good fortune his extraordinarily productive years in the Congress
have earned him.

{time} 1310

But I thank both sides of the aisle for this short-term extension,
short-term, I am assured, to wrap up some details. This is a bill that
is really a great deal more bipartisan than it would appear. Yes, there
were some tough items, as in any piece of major legislation.
I do regret the major reason for the standoff. This bill, it seems to
me, could have been before us long ago but for at least one provision
which could have been settled, and that was the provision in the bill
that would have insisted that no-shows be counted in labor elections,
the no-shows be counted as for one side or the other. And in this case,
they would have been counted as a ``no'' vote against joining the
union.
You know, you could argue just the opposite, that if you really were
against the union, you're the ones who show up. So it seems to me that
was a thumb on the scale, but you don't know how it would come out. And
some kind of compromise has been reached on that. I will have to wait
on that compromise. But I'm very pleased that we've moved ahead on a
compromise because the President had said over and over again he was
going to veto the bill if it had that provision in it. So since we knew
it was going to be vetoed, it was up to us to get to a compromise much
earlier and to get on to other tough issues in the bill. And I
recognize that more time is needed on those issues.
One of those issues, by the way, has to do with just how much traffic
we are going to tolerate at Reagan Airport, with the idea that if an
individual Member from the west coast would prefer the convenience of
landing at Reagan, then the whole bill should bend in that way. I ask
that we consider----
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Mr. COSTELLO. I yield another 1 minute to the gentlewoman.
Ms. NORTON. So, in winding up the bill, I ask that we keep in mind
the fact that a very fragile compromise has been reached to allow the
three other airports in this region and the economic assumptions
involved to divide up the air traffic as has been allowed.
I also want to say that when we get to these union provisions, do
remember that in every society, one of the cardinal tests of whether or
not you have a free society is whether there is a right to organize a
union.
Mr. PETRI. I yield such time as he may consume to our colleague from
Texas, Representative Farenthold.
Mr. FARENTHOLD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to do something that I
don't particularly like to do, supporting in kicking the can down the
road another time. But I'm excited about kicking the can down the road
this time. We've had 23 extensions of the FAA bill, but this time, as
we kick the can down the road, we actually see the end of the road.
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has worked in a
bipartisan manner to come up with a bill

[[Page H137]]

that I think is going to be phenomenal once we get it out of the House
and Senate conferees. It's taken some time to get us to the point where
we can find the efficiencies and savings that we need and continue to
provide the level of service we expect in our air transportation system
in this country. My fear is we're going to come up with this bipartisan
bill and it's going to get stalled again though.
As we stand here on the eve of the State of the Union address, we
have the politics of a do-nothing Congress. I hope that that narrative
doesn't stop this bill from moving forward as it comes up and we don't
have to extend this again.
This is something we've been able to do in a bipartisan nature.
Historically, transportation bills have been bipartisan. Let's not let
this get stopped and have to kick the can down the road. Let's get our
conferees done. Let's get this passed.
I urge everybody, my colleagues, to support this extension. Let's
make it the last and get the long-term bill passed for the betterment
of this country and everyone in it.
Mr. COSTELLO. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. PETRI. I yield such time as he may consume to the chairman of the
full Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, our colleague from
the State of Florida, John Mica.
Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Petri, our chair of
the Aviation Subcommittee. I see Mr. Costello, the ranking member,
former chair of the subcommittee. Thank you for your work.
We're here to extend FAA for the 23rd time. The consequences of that
can, I hope, be positive, that we can conclude this long overdue and
very important authorization.
Members of Congress, we must authorize every program. That's part of
our constitutional responsibility.
I had the privilege, when I chaired the Aviation Subcommittee, to
write a lot of what was in the last bill which we authored in 2003. It
expired in 2007. The other side of the aisle had 4 years in which they
controlled the body, 2 of which they controlled every branch of
government, and were unable to pass that. They passed 17 extensions.
We've had to pass--it will now be five--but we can get this done. This
should be a bipartisan and must be a bicameral jobs bill.
The aviation industry in our country accounts for between 7 and 8
percent of our gross domestic national economic activity, and for us
not to have passed an authorization that updates the safety, all of the
programs, the next generation of air traffic control, things that are
so important to have a dynamic industry, and then an area of our
economy that we have led in in the world. The biggest area of exports
is aviation. That's huge for jobs in this country.
So this is going to be the last extension. It's done in, again, a
bipartisan effort to conclude the negotiation.
Let me say in conclusion, there are some tough issues on labor that
have held us up--4 years with the Democrats, the last year with us--and
I want to commend Speaker Boehner for his leadership working with the
leadership of the Senate. The Speaker and his staff and others have
worked day and night through the holidays and right up to now to
conclude what I think is a very fair compromise. And it must be a
compromise.
This is part of our business is to do the best business we can for
the American people and getting this economy working and getting in
place the framework for one of the most important aspects of our
industry. If we want to see Americans back to work, we'll pass this
legislation by the 17th of February, and then we'll come back in the
next week or two, and we will pass a long-term infrastructure
transportation measure, and we will and we can get Americans working.
So I ask for continued cooperation to complete this important
process.
Mr. PETRI. I have no further requests for time, and reserve the
balance of my time.
Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Speaker, let me commend Chairman Mica and Chairman
Petri for working in a bipartisan way. We've attempted to work with the
other body in working on an agreement. We are very close to agreement.
As I said in my statement, I reserve judgment on the final conference
agreement, but I certainly want to commend our friends on the other
side of the aisle for working to move this legislation forward.
With that, I urge the passage of this legislation, and I yield back
the balance of my time.

{time} 1320

Mr. PETRI. I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 3800.
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.

____________________