March 29, 2019 – In response to the two recent Boeing 737 MAX plane crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, the Subcommittee on Aviation and Space held a hearing Wednesday, March 27, titled, “The State of Airline Safety: Federal Oversight of Commercial Aviation.”
March 29, 2019 – It’s no secret a lot has changed since passengers first took to the sky, both in terms of regulation and operation, and not just when it comes to affordability. After years of progress, women are now in the cockpit and the boardroom, Elaine Chao heads the Department of Transportation (DOT), and women are making names for themselves in a previously male-dominated industry.
March 28, 2019 – The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee met March 27th to consider eight bills in a markup session, including bills to provide stopgap funding for the FAA and Coast Guard during government shutdowns.
March 29, 2019 – On March 26, the House Aviation Subcommittee hosted a hearing, “The Cost of Doing Nothing: Why Investment in Our Nation’s Airports Matters.”
March 28, 2019 – The Senate subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies held a hearing on March 27 inviting Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao as a witness to review the FY20 budget request for USDOT.
March 29, 2019 – The recent government shutdown was just the latest of many instances in which FAA, its workforce, and the aviation industry have been held hostage by a political disagreement that has nothing to do with aviation.
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” — The Bible “All this has happened before, and all of it will happen again.” — Battlestar Galactica The skyrocketing deficits of the mid-1980s led Congress to enact the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings law in 1985, which […]
March 21, 2019 – President Trump on March 19 made the long-awaited announcement that he will nominate Stephen Dickson, a longtime pilot and executive with Delta Air Lines, to be Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.
March 21, 2019 – On Tuesday, March 12 the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation held a hearing on the Future of Aviation touching on a mélange of emerging trends in aviation and aerospace.
March 20, 2019 – The President’s fiscal year 2020 budget request for the Department of Homeland Security includes proposals for a small cut in Transportation Security Administration operational funding, a large cut in Coast Guard procurement, and a two-thirds cut in Federal Emergency Management Agency transportation security grants.
Tuesday, March 26 – House Transportation and Infrastructure – Subcommittee on Aviation – subcommittee hearing on investment in airports (witness list here) – 10:00 a.m., HVC-210, Capitol Visitors Center. Tuesday, March 26 – House Appropriations – Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing – subcommittee hearing on budget requests from House members – 11:00 a.m., 2358-A Rayburn.
March 20, 2019 – What a difference a year makes. In 2019, the Trump Administration requested zero new funding for discretionary grant programs. In 2020, they are requesting $4 billion.
March 19, 2019 – In the full fiscal year 2020 federal budget request released this week, the assumptions for the tax receipts of transportation excise taxes over the next decade made by the White House Office of Management and Budget are significantly above the estimates for those taxes made by the Congressional Budget Office. And the Administration once again boosts its overall receipt totals by requesting new transportation user fees that Congress is unlikely to approve.
March 11, 2019 – President Trump has released a fiscal year 2020 budget request today that calls for $84.1 billion in gross budgetary resources for the U.S. Department of Transportation today, a $3.5 billion decrease from 2019.
Tuesday, March 12 – House Transportation and Infrastructure – Subcommittee on Aviation – subcommittee hearing entitled “Looking Forward: Aviation 2050” (witness list here) – 10:00 a.m., HVC-210 The Capitol.
February 13, 2019 – Last week, House Transportation and Infrastructure chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Aviation Subcommittee chairman Rick Larsen (D-WA) introduced a bill (H.R. 1108) to allow the Federal Aviation Administration to continue operations – and continue to pay all its employees and contractors – during a government shutdown.
February 9, 2019 – The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the 116thCongress formally kicked off its work yesterday with a marathon seven-hour hearing entitled “The Cost of Doing Nothing: Why Investing in Our Nation’s Infrastructure Cannot Wait.”
Wednesday, February 13 – House Transportation and Infrastructure – Subcommittee on Aviation – subcommittee hearing on the impact of the government shutdown on aviation (witness list to be posted here) – 10:00 a.m., HVC-210, Capitol Visitors Center (not the usual committee room).
January 31, 2019 – Projections for transportation excise tax receipts are up substantially in several areas in the new CBO ten-year baseline projections.
January 23, 2019 – The all-too-regular budgetary shenanigans highlight once again that the nation’s aviation system should not be subject to the whims and uncertainties of political battles. It’s time for reform.