US: Lawmakers advance $17.7b FAA budget proposal

The US House Appropriations Committee has approved legislation granting $17.7b to FAA in FY2020, advancing the bill to the full chamber where it is scheduled to be taken up later in June. The measure was approved mostly along party lines in a 29-21 vote, with many Republicans seeking reductions in spending elsewhere in the overall appropriations bill. The $17.7b earmarked for FAA is roughly $267m more than the enacted 2019 level and $614m more than the administration’s request. The committee indicated in report language attached to the bill that it boosted funding for aviation safety in part in anticipation of the findings of multiple, ongoing reviews of FAA’s aircraft certification process, saying it expects the probes to “result in the need for greater technical competency at the FAA and deep, substantive responses to the recommendations from these reviews.” Of the $10.7b proposed for FAA’s operations budget, the vast majority—$9.83b—comes from the Airports and Airways Trust Fund. The operations budget is mostly flat from 2019, although spending on aviation safety rose to $1.6b from $1.3b. “Incorporating a ‘safety first’ approach into the FAA and its operations is essential and takes precedence over the commercial success of any technology, manufacturer, carrier or airport,” the report says.<br/>The budget would send $3b to FAA for its facilities and equipment budget, as well as $191m for research, engineering and development, both unchanged from 2019 levels.<br/>