Transportation & Infrastructure Committee

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But instead of maintaining an aviation management system compatible with its standing, the nation relies on outdated technology long since discarded by the rest of world — under the control of a government bureaucracy rather than an independent entity.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.

NetJets Aviation, Inc., the world leader in private and business general aviation, today announced its support for the 21st Century AIRR Act (H.R. 2997), bipartisan FAA reform and reauthorization legislation expected to be taken up in the House of Representatives this month.

A letter from NetJets to Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) cites the United States’ outdated air traffic control system and budget uncertainties as reasons for NetJets’ support of the bill.

Bipartisan legislation that provides sweeping, transformational reform of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was introduced in the House of Representatives today.

The 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization Act – the 21st Century AIRR Act – is sponsored by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA), Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), U.S. Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), Aviation Subcommittee Vice Chair Paul Mitchell (R-MI), U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI), and U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).

President Trump often sounds off about America’s terrible roads or “third-world airports,” and he’s landed on one excellent idea: Spinning off air-traffic control from the Federal Aviation Administration. A new report explains how this could bring innovation and efficiency to airspace that the federal government is struggling to manage.

Mr. Trump’s budget proposes converting the FAA’s air-traffic outfit into “an independent, non-governmental organization,” as Canada has done, and dozens of other countries have similar models. House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster last year introduced a bill to turn air-traffic control over to a nonprofit corporation run by a board with seats for airlines, the pilot’s union, hobbyist aviators and more, but it stalled without presidential support.

The House of Representatives today approved comprehensive water resources infrastructure legislation that addresses the needs of America’s harbors, locks, dams, flood protection, and other water resources infrastructure.

The House passed the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act on a bipartisan basis by a vote of 360 to 61, sending the bill to the Senate.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA), Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-OK), House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), and House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) today announced an agreement on comprehensive water resources infrastructure legislation.

The legislation, the “Water Infrastructure Improvements Act for the Nation (WIIN) Act,” includes the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which authorizes port, waterway, and flood protection improvements for the country. The WIIN Act also includes the Water and Waste Act of 2016 to help communities meet the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act and authorize state regulation of coal ash. In addition, the legislation addresses significant tribal and natural resources issues.

The House of Representatives today approved the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2016 (H.R. 5303), comprehensive, bipartisan legislation to address the needs of America’s harbors, locks, dams, flood protection, and other water resources infrastructure.

The legislation passed the House by a vote of 399 to 25.

“This bill is fundamental to America’s competitiveness, and gets Congress back to the regular business of addressing some of our most pressing infrastructure needs. An efficient maritime and waterways transportation system is fundamental to the country’s economy,” said Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA), sponsor of the legislation. “The process reforms Congress put in place in the 2014 water resources bill are working. Enacting a WRDA bill every two years is essential to maintaining an efficient transportation system, moving commerce effectively, and promoting economic growth throughout the country.”