WASHINGTON – The Senate has passed a $105 billion bill aimed toward improving airline safety and customer support for air travelers, a day before laws regulating the Federal Aviation Administration expires.
The bipartisan bill, passed after a series of close encounters between planes on the country's airports, would increase the variety of air traffic controllers, improve safety standards and make it easier for purchasers to get refunds when flights are delayed or canceled.
It passed the Senate by a vote of 88-4. The laws now goes to the House of Representatives, which isn’t in session until next week. The Senate also passed a one-week extension that might give the House time to pass the bill while ensuring the FAA isn’t forced to furlough around 3,600 employees.
The bill stalled for several days this week after senators from Virginia and Maryland objected to a provision that might allow a further 10 flights per day to and from busy Reagan Washington National Airport. Other senators also tried so as to add unrelated provisions, seeing them as a major opportunity to advance their legislative priorities.
But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called a vote Thursday evening after it became clear that senators wouldn’t give you the chance to agree on changes to the bill before it expires. After the bill passed, leaders from each parties considered how they may pass an extension and make sure the law didn't expire on Friday. The House of Representatives passed a one-week extension earlier this week.
The FAA has been under scrutiny because it approved Boeing jets involved in two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019. The Senate laws would regulate the FAA's operations for the following five years and establish several recent safety standards.
The bill would increase the variety of air traffic controllers and require the FAA to make use of recent technology designed to stop collisions between aircraft on runways. To help investigators, recent aircraft could be required to have cockpit voice recorders that would save 25 hours of audio (down from the present two hours).
It would also seek to enhance customer support for passengers by requiring airlines to reimburse customers for flight delays – three hours for a domestic flight and 6 hours for a world flight. Lawmakers this week tweaked the bill to make it even easier for purchasers to get refunds by revising language that might have placed the brunt of the burden on customers in requesting those refunds. The change makes the Senate bill more consistent with recent rules issued last week by President Joe Biden's administration.
Additionally, the bill would prohibit airlines from charging additional fees for seating families together and triple the utmost penalties for airlines that violate consumer laws. And the Transportation Department would want to create a “dashboard” so consumers can compare seat sizes across different airlines.
The FAA says its 3,600 employees could be furloughed starting midnight when the law expires Friday, with no guarantee of repayment. Additionally, the agency could be unable to gather every day airport fees that help fund operations, and ongoing airport improvements would come to a halt.
No one in “safety-critical” positions — comparable to air traffic controllers — could be affected by a missed deadline, the FAA says, and the protection of the flying public wouldn’t be in danger.
Still, failing to pass the favored bipartisan bill by May 10 could be the most recent setback after months of delays on the measure and one other example of Congress struggling to pass major laws even when it has broad support.
At the opening of the Senate on Thursday, Schumer urged senators to achieve an agreement soon. “Absolutely no one should want us to exceed the deadline because that would unnecessarily increase the risks for so many travelers and so many federal employees,” he said.
Several Western lawmakers have advocated for more flights on the airport, saying it’s unfair to consumers that there’s a limit on long-haul flights. The provision's most important proponent is Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the highest Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, who has argued that San Antonio must have a direct flight from the airport. Cruz blocked a vote on the Kaine-Warner amendment when Schumer tried to bring it up shortly before final passage.
The airlines also disagree on the concept of additional flights at Reagan National. Delta Airlines has advocated for more flights, while United Airlines, with a big operation at Dulles Airport further away, has lobbied against the rise.
The House of Representatives passed its own version of FAA laws last yr without additional Reagan National flights after intense last-minute lobbying by the Virginia delegation – a bipartisan vote on a change to the FAA law that members did not comply with Party, but moderately based on geographical location. Lawmakers continuously use the airport since it is Washington's closest airport to the Capitol, and Congress has long sought to have a say on which routes are flown there.
“Some of our colleagues were too afraid to let the experts call,” Kaine and Warner said in a press release Thursday evening. “They did not want to show the American people that they care more about the desire of some lawmakers for direct flights than the safety and convenience of the traveling public. This is shameful and embarrassing.”
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