The FAA Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2881) will take center-stage again today in the Senate, possibly for the last time. As we reported last week, the Senate is scheduled to vote this afternoon on a procedural (cloture) motion to limit debate on the measure. If this motion does not pass, Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) indicated the bill may be pulled off the floor and not brought back this year.
The big question is how Republican members will vote. Without their support, the procedural motion will fail as it requires a supermajority (60 affirmative votes) to pass. Many are siding with objections to provisions in the bill led by President Bush. CongressDaily reports that those provisions include: reimbursements into the highway trust fund (around $5 billion), new rail infrastructure tax bonds and the doubling of an oil spill tax from 5 cents to 10 cents a barrel. The controversial provision that would require some airlines to pay more into their pension funds by not allowing them to count certain past contributions has been removed from the bill.
If agreements on these provisions, or at least the ability to modify them with amendments, are not reached then it appears likely that Republican members will block work on the bill.
CongressDaily also reports that Senator Hutchison (R-TX) has filed a bill that would contain similar provisions to the current legislation but remove most non-aviation provisions such as those that are not supported by the President. These would include several unrelated tax provisions, among other things. Were the bill to continue being debated, this language could be offered in the form of an amendment.
As with anything in the Senate, none of this is set in stone. But this does appear to be the state of play as we stand right now.
Update: View our post, linked here, for a report on the results of the FAA procedural vote.
