{"id":11913,"date":"2019-02-11T18:40:45","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T18:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/?p=11913"},"modified":"2019-02-11T18:40:47","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T18:40:47","slug":"nasao-supports-legislation-to-protect-u-s-aviation-from-future-government-shutdowns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/national-news\/nasao-supports-legislation-to-protect-u-s-aviation-from-future-government-shutdowns\/%20","title":{"rendered":"NASAO Supports Legislation to Protect U.S. Aviation from Future Government Shutdowns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Rep. Peter DeFazio and Shelly Simi<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Chairman of the House\nTransportation & Infrastructure Committee, and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA),\nAviation Subcommittee Chairman introduced H.R. 1108, the Aviation Funding\nStability Act of 2019. The act serves to protect FAA programs and personnel,\nand the U.S. aviation industry as a whole, from future Federal Government\nshutdowns. In the aftermath of the last shutdown, which negatively impacted all\naspects of U.S. aviation \u2013 including airlines, airports, manufacturers, flight\ncrews, passengers, and the pipeline of new critical aviation safety employees –\nthe bill has become a necessary focal point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO)\nendorses the Aviation Funding Stability Act. \u201cThis is a common-sense piece of\nlegislation that ensures that all of the critical components of our national\nairspace system remain fully operational, without interruptions, in a safe and\nsecure manner, regardless of the political environment,” said Shelly Simi,\nNASAO President and CEO. “As demonstrated by the recent shutdown, aviation\nhas a broad reaching effect in serving the needs of our citizens and\ncommunities across the nation and directly impacts the economy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The importance of the Aviation Funding Stability Act:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States is home to the world’s largest, busiest,\nand most complex airspace system. Civil aviation alone has a $1.5 trillion\nimpact on the economy, creating more than 11 million jobs, according to\nindustry groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The effects of the recent shutdown will be felt for years to\ncome, and may even have led to gaps in aviation safety that put U.S. travelers\nat risk. Chairman DeFazio stated that \u201cthousands of FAA safety personnel\nresponsible for providing critical oversight of the U.S. aviation industry were\nfurloughed. Our 14,000 air traffic controllers, and thousands of aviation\nsafety and security professionals worked without pay. The effects of this most\nrecent shutdown will be felt for years to come. This must not happen again. Our\nlegislation ensures that in any future government shutdowns, all FAA programs\nwill function uninterrupted and that all FAA employees can remain at work and\npaid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the legislation proposes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c2\u00b7       Authorizes the\nFAA to continue to draw from its Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) during a\nlapse, with no General Fund contributions. The AATF generates enough revenue\nfrom the domestic passenger ticket tax, commercial fuel tax, general aviation\ngasoline tax, and cargo tax, among other sources, to sustain all of the\nagency’s programs without a General Fund contribution needed during a lapse.\nBecause users of the National Airspace System pay for the system, they deserve\nfor it to function without interruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c2\u00b7       Allows the\nentire agency to operate at current funding levels, with no Congressional\naction required. This ensures that all FAA programs function uninterrupted and\nthat all FAA employees are paid for their important work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cU.S. aviation is the gold standard of flight because of our\nskilled workforce, including the dedicated air traffic controllers and\nessential safety personnel who work at the FAA. Their work keeps the aviation\nsystem running efficiently and ensures passengers can safely reach their final\ndestinations without incident\u201d stated Rep. Larsen, driving home the necessity\nof the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Subcommittee on Aviation will hold a hearing \u201cPutting\nU.S. Aviation at Risk: The Impact of the Shutdown\u201d this coming Wednesday,\nFebruary 13 at 10AM in HVC 210, Capitol Visitor Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), Aviation Subcommittee Chairman introduced H.R. 1108, the Aviation Funding Stability Act of 2019. The act serves to protect FAA programs and personnel, and the U.S. aviation industry as a whole, from future Federal Government shutdowns. In the aftermath […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11913"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11915,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11913\/revisions\/11915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}