Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leaders today introduced the bipartisan Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2018, legislation that provides for improvements to the Nation’s ports, inland waterways, locks, dams, flood protection, ec...
Let’s outsmart disasters before they strike By Rep. Lou Barletta – Thursday, May 3, 2018 The Washington Examiner It seems like you can’t turn on the TV without seeing some sort of disaster destroying communities, whether it’s a hurricane, earthquake...
By a vote of 393 to 13, the House of Representatives today approved the bipartisan FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (H.R. 4), a five-year bill to reauthorize the programs of the Federal Aviation Administration, provide much needed long-term stability ...
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee today posted background information and bill text for H.R. 4, the “FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018,” to its website. The page can be easily accessed through either a direct link to www.transportation.ho...
Infrastructure is not a Republican or Democratic issue - it's an American issue Rep. Bill Shuster, PA-09 Wednesday, March 21, 2018 Now that the president has released his principles on infrastructure, it is up to him, as a builder who understands th...
2017 was a record year for our economy. Thanks to tax reform, and this administration’s aggressive regulatory reduction, our economy is growing at an exponential rate. 2018 presents a great opportunity to push the throttle on our economic growth as we move to our next big priority: infrastructure.
Infrastructure is pure commerce. Everything in this country moves. So an efficient transportation network is vital to our economic future. However, federal funding for infrastructure is not unlimited.
America is long overdue for an overhaul of our radar-based air traffic control system. Yet federal modernization efforts are plagued by delays, cost-overruns, and shifting goals and requirements. Congress and regulators have been lackluster at managing and upgrading the 24/7 business of air traffic control, according to reams of government audit reports.
That's why many policymakers, air traffic managers, free-market organizations, Clinton and Obama administration transportation experts, the Department of Defense, airlines, and even labor unions are supporting a proposal to restructure air traffic control around recognized best practices of the International Civil Aviation Organization. The U.S. is the last major industrialized country yet to reform air traffic control in this manner and the House is expected to vote soon on these reforms as part of the 21st Century AIRR Act.
The United States has the busiest airspace in the world.
But instead of maintaining an aviation management system compatible with its standing, the nation relies on outdated technology long since discarded by the rest of world — under the control of a government bureaucracy rather than an independent entity.
Those two facts are not unrelated. Congress controls the purse strings of air traffic management through the Federal Aviation Administration, but its cumbersome budgeting and funding process has failed to keep up with modern advances in aircraft tracking and communications. At the current pace, it will take U.S. aviation more than 10 years to catch up with the technology used today by other advanced nations.
The House has been working for months behind the scenes on the most significant improvement to commercial air travel in decades: Converting Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air-traffic control into an operation governed by pilots, airlines, controllers and other industry experts. This would be good news for the economy and the traveling public, if Republicans don’t wig out.
House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster’s legislation would set up a nonprofit entity that manages air-traffic operations, while FAA continues regulating safety and certifying equipment. Instead of taxes, the services would be funded by user fees. This arrangement has allowed Canada to lower levies by about one-third and manage routes and landings more efficiently. Canada’s air-traffic outfit even sells technology to other countries.
