On January 27, Bill Shuster, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, announced that he will no longer insist on restructuring of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control operations in conjunction with reauthorization of FAA and other federal civil aviation programs. Representative Shuster's statement clears the way for House and Senate negotiators to reconcile other differences between House and Senate bills that would reauthorize FAA and other aviation programs.

There are numerous other differences between H.R. 2997, reported by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in September 2017, and S. 1405, ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in June 2017. Disagreement regarding air traffic control reforms has stalled action on a long-term FAA bill, leading the 114^th Congress to approve a one-year aviation extension (P.L. 114-190) that expired at the end of FY2017 and the 115^th Congress to adopt a subsequent six-month extension (P.L. 115-63) that will expire at the end of March 2018.

Funding Issues

Whereas S. 1405 would fund FAA programs through FY2021, H.R. 2997 would extend funding through FY2023 (see Table 1). Since the House committee bill provides that the proposed corporation would take over air traffic services starting in FY2021, it would eliminate all Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) financing for FAA operations and air traffic facilities and equipment beyond FY2020. Consequently, taxes on airline tickets, cargo, and commercial fuel would be reduced by roughly 80% starting in FY2020. These temporary tax reductions would expire after FY2023, and would therefore need to be revisited in subsequent FAA reauthorization debate. AATF funding of facilities and equipment not directly tied to air traffic functions and general fund financing of aviation safety programs would continue through FY2023 under the House bill.

Table 1. FAA Major Account Funding Authorization

(in millions of dollars)

	FY2018	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023
Operations
H.R. 2997	10,132	10,349	10,571	1,957	2,002	2,047
General Fund	2,059	2,126	2,197	1,957	2,002	2,047
Airport and Airway Trust Fund	8,073	8,223	8,374
S. 1405	10,123	10,233	10,341	10,453
P.L. 115-63 (Oct. 1, 2017-Mar. 31, 2018)	4,999
FY2019 Budget Request^a	9,958	9,931
Airport Improvement Program
H.R. 2997	3,597	3,666	3,746	3,829	3,912	3,998
S. 1405	3,350	3,750	3,750	3,750
P.L. 115-63 (Oct. 1, 2017-Mar. 31, 2018)	1,670
FY2019 Budget Request	3,350	3,350
Facilities and Equipment
H.R. 2997	2,920	2,984	3,049	189	193	198
S. 1405	2,877	2,899	2,906	2,921
P.L. 115-63 (Oct. 1, 2017-Mar. 31, 2018)	1,424
FY2019 Budget Request	2,836	2,767
Research, Engineering, and Development
H.R. 2997	181	186	190	126	130	132
S. 1405	175	175	175	175
P.L. 115-63 (Oct. 1, 2017-Mar. 31, 2018)	88
FY2019 Budget Request	175	74
TOTALS
H.R. 2997	16,649	16,999	17,366	5,975	6,107	6,243
S. 1405	16,525	17,057	17,172	17,299
P.L. 115-63 (Oct. 1, 2017-Mar. 31, 2018)	8,181
FY2019 Budget Request	16,319	16,122

Sources: CRS analysis of H.R. 2997, S. 1405, and P.L. 115-63 (H.R. 3823), U.S. Department of Transportation, Budget Estimates: Fiscal Year 2019, Federal Aviation Administration.

a. FY2018 data reflect the annualized continuing resolution amounts as reported in the FAA FY2019 budget estimate.

Potential Controversy over Airline Pilot Qualifications

An amendment incorporated into the Senate committee's bill would modify training standards for airline pilots, allowing FAA to consider alternatives to the existing 1,500-flight-hour requirement. In particular, the measure would allow FAA to modify the current rules to give credit for "structured and disciplined training courses," instead of strictly adhering to the minimum flight hour criteria. This issue was a source of disagreement within the Commerce Committee, with proponents arguing that the increased flexibility could help regional airlines address pilot hiring needs and opponents contending that doing so could erode safety improvements made following the February 2009 crash of a commuter flight near Buffalo, NY. Since then there have not been any accidents involving U.S. airliners resulting in passenger fatalities, but the exact role that the 1,500-flight-hour rule has played in improving airline safety is difficult to say. Senator John Thune, chairman of the Commerce Committee, has reportedly suggested a willingness to drop the issue in order to move the FAA reauthorization measure forward.

Other Key Issues

While both the House and Senate committee bills pave the way for delivery services using small drones and facilitate small commercial drone operations in low-altitude airspace, both bills would continue to limit FAA's authority to regulate model aircraft and drones operated strictly for hobby or recreation.
The House committee bill includes a significant increase in discretionary funding for Essential Air Service (EAS) starting in FY2021 to make up for the absence of overflight fees that would no longer be collected by FAA after the proposed air traffic control reform. The Senate committee bill authorizes appropriations for EAS at an annual level of $175 million for FY2018-FY2021, unchanged from the amount appropriated in FY2017. However, the Trump Administration's FY2019 budget seeks to scale back the program.
Both bills would ease restrictions on the ability of airports to impose passenger facility charges to fund airport improvements. However, the current limit of $4.50 per flight segment would remain.
Both bills address complaints about crowding aboard airplanes. H.R. 2997 would require FAA to issue regulations establishing minimum dimensions for passenger seats, including legroom, within one year of enactment. S. 1405 would require FAA to initiate a study of minimum seat pitch within 18 months of enactment and review whether changes in seat size and legroom affect the ability to evacuate an aircraft in an emergency.