Update on Controversial FAA Bill

Here are a few interesting articles about the FAA reauthorization bill that is being hotly debated by the U.S. Congress- and a link that should interest anyone who has thought about exploring different parts of the world but hasn't had the means to do so.


- By Bart Jansen, USA TODAY

Congress will consider this week whether to extend the Federal Aviation Administration until Jan. 31 to give lawmakers more breathing room to settle long-simmering disputes about the agency.

The agency, which has staggered along under 21 temporary extensions since 2007, faces a potential shutdown Friday because of the legislative impasse.

But Rep. John Mica, the chairman of the House transportation committee, is sponsoring legislation that would allow nearly five months for haggling over labor rules, subsidies for rural airports and the number of flights at Reagan National Airport. The goal is for a policy that would last as long as four years.

"I'm willing to compromise," Mica says. "But having a 23rd extension would be tough."

His latest proposal posted on the House Rules Committee website would keep most policies the same. It also authorizes $150 million in subsidies for rural airports, which remains a point of contention between the House and Senate.

Senate Democrats, including Mica's counterpart, Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia, have defended the program as important to remote communities. Rockefeller had urged Mica to offer a several-month extension so lawmakers could iron out the disputes.

The congressional wrangling hasn't been obvious to airline passengers because air-traffic controllers remained on the job during the shutdown. But a partial shutdown from July 23 through Aug. 5 furloughed 4,000 FAA workers and shuttered 200 construction projects.

Passengers might not have noticed FAA's inability to collect taxes during the shutdown because most airlines kept prices as if the taxes remained.

Congress reinstated the taxes retroactively after the shutdown, so people who bought tickets before July 23 and flew during the shutdown couldn't get refunds. But the Internal Revenue Service also decided not to collect taxes for tickets sold during the shutdown, which lawmakers said was about $400 million.

"I was really ticked," says Kate Hanni, executive director of the passenger-advocacy group FlyersRights.org. "The airlines made bank. The IRS didn't collect the money. The airlines didn't make refunds."

Link to original post: http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/09/mica-willing-to-compromise-on-faa-extension/546922/1

More about this topic: http://www.npr.org/2011/09/10/140355546/deal-reached-to-avert-faa-shutdown?ft=1&f=1001

For a surprising look at rural airport subsidies: http://news.yahoo.com/govt-pays-empty-flights-rural-airports-212212863.html


-On a different note-
Anyone interested in traveling to unique spots around the world for free (hold it- while working as a volunteer) check out this article: http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/09/mica-willing-to-compromise-on-faa-extension/546922/1