NATA News

In preparation for what is expected to be a busy year, House and Senate leadership are slowly beginning to publicize committee assignments and leadership for the 116^th Congress. In the House, it is anticipated that the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will grow substantially in size, to as many as 72 committee members. Incoming Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO) will be busy battling numerous debates that will contribute to a massive infrastructure package. A Democratic majority means Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY) has taken control of the powerful Appropriations Committee, with Kay Granger (R-TX) serving as Ranking Member in the coming year. In the Senate, incoming Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) will have to work with Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) on revamping legislation related to driverless cars, currently not scheduled to be completed this year. The Senate Appropriations Committee leadership will remain the same, with Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-VT) continuing to head the panel. NATA will continue to monitor more committee leadership and membership assignments and will work with them to ensure issues important to aviation businesses are included in legislation in the 116^th Congress.

Congress has until midnight on Friday, December 21^st, to fund seven agencies whose spending bills have not yet been enacted into law, including the Department of Transportation (DOT), or risk a partial government shutdown. The delay in passing any appropriations legislation centers around border wall funding and the question of who will budge in foregoing what they want—either President Trump not getting his desired $5 billion to dedicate for the wall, or Congressional Democrats going against their party and relenting to the President. Late last week however, President Trump indicated that he might be willing to delay border wall negotiations until January to prevent a shutdown and allow Congress to do what is necessary to keep the government running past next Friday. Time will tell—under a new Congress, with Democratic leadership in the House, the President will have even more of an uphill battle to secure funding for the wall. Questions remain over whether Congress will agree to pass a Continuing Resolution of current funding levels for the seven unfunded agencies or an omnibus spending bill, a comprehensive package of seven mini bills that will provide new funding levels for the unfunded agencies for FY2019. If Congress and the Administration cannot agree on a path forward, a partial government shutdown will occur and many programs under the DOT’s purview, including the FAA, will be affected. Follow NATA’s social media for up-to-date information on Congress’s next steps.