Senate sends FAA bill to Obama (Politico)

After 1,590 days and 23 short-term extensions, Congress finally gave the?FAA a long-term funding bill.

The Senate voted, 75-20, Monday evening to send the conference report to the White House, where President Barack Obama is expected to sign it. The House passed the bill Friday.

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The $64 billion, four-year bill should officially restore stability to the beleaguered FAA. In the past year, the agency has experienced both a two-week partial shutdown that put thousands out of work and the resignation of FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt in December after his arrest on suspicion of drunken driving.

Lawmakers are giving themselves a pat on the back.

?It didn?t give everybody everything they wanted. But that's the way legislation is,? said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on the floor Monday. ?I?m very happy that Democrats and Republicans have finally reached this compromise.?

The bill would tighten some barriers to labor elections, trim the Essential Air Service program, allow eight new daily round trip long-distance flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and codify 90 percent of Obama?s ?Passenger Bill of Rights.?

But the bipartisan compromise was not without critics. Many labor groups, including the Communication Workers Association, bashed the labor compromise. CWA President Larry Cohen said it amounted to ?a deliberate attack on workplace rights,? concerning Democrats, of whom only 24 voted for the bill in the House.

And the bill doesn?t codify the Obama administration?s rule requiring planes to return to the terminal after excessive delays on the tarmac.

?Seven-hundred?million airline passengers are going to be real upset if the ultimate result is that the DOT rule gets overturned with new administration,? said Kate Hanni of Flyers Rights.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 6:07 p.m. on February 6, 2012.

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