September 25, 2017 

Today Dina Titus, Representative of Nevada’s First Congressional District and member of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee’s Aviation Subcommittee, released the following statement in response to the failed vote on the six-month extension of the current Federal Aviation Administration authorization. By failing to take long-term action, Republicans are hamstringing the growth of the aviation industry and providing no stability for businesses, states, and innovators. The current funding measure for the FAA expires on September 30, 2017.  

“We’ve been operating under an outdated FAA authorization since the last long-term bill was signed into law more than five and a half years ago. This failure of Republican leadership is undermining American aerospace manufacturing, handcuffing needed reforms to the procurement and budgeting process at the FAA, and stymying our efforts to bring unmanned aircraft systems into full commercial integration. Our progress on these fronts is being held up, just as it was two years ago, by a scheme to hand the national air traffic control system over to a private corporation with financial interest conflicts. If the votes for this privatization scheme were there, we wouldn’t be in this situation for the second time in as many years. It’s Groundhog’s Day, again. I urge Chairman Shuster and Speaker Ryan to drop the ATC privatization scheme from the bill and allow the House to get a bipartisan bill to the President’s desk without delay. ”

The 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization (21st Century AIRR) Act passed the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee in June of 2017. The bill includes a number of bipartisan provisions sponsored by Representative Titus including;

• A provision to extend the expiring authorization for the Nevada UAS Test Range for an additional 6 years insuring uninterrupted completion of vital research programs in coordination with NASA.
• A provision to encourage testing of advanced UAS operations at the Nevada UAS Test Range including for beyond-visual-line-of-sight and the sense and avoid technologies.
• A provision to streamline the approval process for airport improvement projects at McCarran International Airport and other major airports across the United States. This provision will speed up the often-times year’s long process to get projects approved at large airports.

The short-term FAA extension released by House Leadership today does not include any of these provisions.