Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2024, Part II

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 8289) to extend authorizations for the airport improvement program, to extend the funding and expenditure authority of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record on H.R. 8289.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 8289 extends the statutory authorities of the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, through May 17, 2024. While this extension provides for key extensions of FAA authorities, such as the continued collection of aviation excise taxes that the safe operation of the national airspace is very dependent on, it is largely needed to accommodate the Senate's inability to successfully pass the conferenced FAA bill in time for the House to take a final vote before Friday.

The House did its part to provide for a long-term reauthorization of the FAA on time and well ahead of schedule when we passed H.R. 3935 last summer in an overwhelming bipartisan fashion with more than 350 votes. It is unfortunate that the Senate's process for considering its FAA bill continues to be plagued by delays necessitating this extension.

I know my colleagues in the House are ready to send the compromise bill to the President once and for all. The good news is that we are so close to doing that.

Setting aside the Senate's ability to act in a timely manner, the stark reality is that the FAA is set to expire on May 10, and we must act to pass another extension to maintain safety in the National Airspace System.

The Senate and House have worked tirelessly since the Senate Commerce Committee marked up its FAA bill in February. We have worked tirelessly to reconcile differences and produce a comprehensive FAA bill that provides certainty to the agency and the entire aviation community for the next 5 years.

The negotiated bill provides the long-term certainty to ensure the safety and prosperity of the American aviation industry for decades to come. Extensions don't provide any certainty, nor do they provide for the robust investments airports across the country need to ensure the continued transportation of goods and services to our communities.

For those reasons, both Chambers remain committed to passing a long- term bill.

In the meantime, this extension buys the Senate a little bit more time to do their job while keeping the national airspace safe and ensuring that airlines don't get a $50 million-a-day tax break.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage all Members to support this extension so that we can consider the conferenced bill next week.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, again, I urge all Members to support this must-pass bill so we can keep our aviation system operating safely and focus on passing a long-term FAA bill next week.

H.R. 8289 provides for a clean extension of FAA authorities. It does not include policy riders.

Failure to extend FAA's authorities will cost the Federal Government more than $50 million a day in lost revenues. Enacting a long-term comprehensive FAA bill is the goal of both the House and Senate, and I look forward to presenting that critical piece of legislation to you next week.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. President, I submit to the Senate a budget scorekeeping report. The report, which covers fiscal year 2024, was prepared and submitted as a letter by the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 308(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. This information assists the Senate Budget Committee in determining if budgetary points of order lie against pending legislation.

CBO's report shows the effect on spending and revenues of congressional action through April 15, 2024. Between CBO's last report on December 13, 2023, and April 15, 2024, Congress passed eight pieces of legislation with effects on direct spending or revenue. These include two appropriations bills passed in March, P.L. 118-42 and P.L. 118-47, that completed the fiscal year 2024 appropriations cycle in line with the bipartisan agreement enacted last summer.

CBO's report included three tables, tables 1, 2, and 3. Tables 1 and 2 show that current budgetary levels are within allowable amounts for budget authority and outlays. The allowable levels include an adjustment for the Senate-passed national security supplemental, P.L. 118-50, which had not yet

been enacted into law when the table was prepared. These tables also show that revenue is below the allowable amount, due to the rescissions of IRS mandatory funding in the last appropriation bill, P.L. 118-47, which reduces revenue and increases the deficit.

Table 3 shows the Senate's Pay-As-You-Go scorecard, which reflects $36.4 billion of net deficit increase, entirely due to IRS funding rescissions.

The Democratic staff of the Budget Committee prepared three addendum tables to supplement CBO's report, tables A, B, and C.

Table A compares the mandatory spending of each authorizing committee against the enforceable allocations under section 302 of the Congressional Budget Act. It shows that 11 of the 16 authorizing committees are compliant with their allocations, either because no legislation with significant budgetary costs was enacted, the legislation was deficit-neutral and qualified for an allocation adjustment that was subsequently filed, or the legislation reduced spending.

Table B updates CBO's table 1, the Senate current level report for spending and revenues, to reflect the enactment of P.L. 118-50, the national security supplemental, which was passed by the House and Senate and was signed into law by the President after CBO prepared its report.

Table C updates CBO's table 3, updating the Senate Pay-As-You-Go scorecard to reflect six bills that have passed by the House and Senate since the release of CBO's report, five of which have been signed into law by the President.

I ask unanimous consent that CBO's letter, accompanying tables, and the addendum be printed in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 8289, which extends the authorization to FAA and its related authorities for 1 week to give the Senate the time it needs to wrap up its consideration of this bicameral and bipartisan comprehensive FAA reauthorization bill.

This legislation reflects an agreement between the House and Senate. It will protect the safety of the flying public and ensure the future of the U.S. aviation industry.

Think back to last July, Mr. Speaker, when the House passed its version of this bill 351-69, a strong bipartisan bill.

Since then, I am actually pleased with the progress that we have made and that we were able to come to an agreement with our Senate counterparts last Sunday. We have been in close contact with the Senate as they have continued to consider this legislation.

This is, and will be next week, a bipartisan, bicameral product, and Members should not be surprised about what is included in it.

Unfortunately, the Senate is still working through its process and may not be able to send us the bill before the current authorization expires on Friday.

Nonetheless, I want to assure Members that Chairman Graves and I have fought hard for House Member priorities. I am very pleased to report that the vast majority of those priorities remain intact in the final package. Members' voices were heard as we worked hard to address the longstanding issues in our aviation system.

The Senate just needs a little bit more time. I fully expect the Senate to complete consideration and send the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 to the House well before May 17, the time at which this extension expires.

Mr. Speaker, I support the short-term extension, and I urge my colleagues to do the same. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, new and persistent challenges facing the U.S. aviation system have made clear the status quo is unsustainable. We have to avoid a lapse in authorities of FAA. This current extension does that for 1 week and gives the Senate the short time it needs to deliberate and vote on the final bill.

Mr. Speaker, I support this extension, and I urge my colleagues to do the same. I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 8289, which was received from the House and is at the desk.

I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, just for the information of Senators and everyone else, that was the extension that came over from the House. So it makes sure that the FAA will be in continuous service and there will no gap.

Earlier tonight, we passed the full authorization FAA bill, and that, of course, will make things permanent. But because of the gap because the House is not here, we have to pass this.

Before I get into the rest, I just want to say, Madam President, you as the chair have done just such an amazing job on these bills. They are not easy bills. They have many just cross-cutting issues involving almost every Member of the Senate. And these days it is harder than ever with so much polarization and procedural objection. So it is an amazing task that you have accomplished, and I think America and your State of Washington owe you a debt of gratitude.

Mr. Speaker, due to a medical procedure and at the advice of my doctor, I was unable to cast my votes today in the House of Representatives. Had I been present, I would have voted: YEA on Roll Call No. 187, on suspending the Rules and passing H.R. 8289; YEA on Roll Call No. 188, on the motion to table H. Res. 1209; NAY on Roll Call No. 189, on passage of H.J. Res. 109; YEA on Roll Call No. 190, on the motion to recommit H.R. 2925; NAY on Roll Call No. 191, on passage of H.R. 2925; YEA on Roll Call No. 192, on the motion to recommit H.R. 7109; NAY on Roll Call No. 193, on passage of H.R. 7109; YEA on Roll Call No. 194, on suspending the Rules and passing the House Amendment to S. 870; and YEA on Roll Call No. 195, on suspending the Rules and passing H.R. 4143, as amended.