The Senate Commerce Committee plans to consider its version of the bill this month, and then the two sides must compromise on their proposals by the end of September.While the drama in the House has been resolved, the Senate still must overcome several hurdles, and it’s looking unlikely the bill will be passed before the upper chamber’s August recess, which typically lasts five weeks.
“My message to both Leader Schumer and Chairwoman Cantwell has been unequivocal. Don’t mess around with our airports. Don’t do it,” said Sen. Tim Kaine on Thursday, who has been fiercely advocating against the change. “If we add in extraneous issues, like flights into DCA, it delays by years given the FAA reauthorization.”
Capital Access Alliance, a coalition of business groups including Delta Airlines, is also signaling the fight is far from over. “The FAA’s own data shows that DCA is underutilized in at least three key time blocks each day and has the ability to handle a modest number of new flights which is why this has been endorsed by former FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and other aviation experts,” Walsh said.
It’s still unclear how the issue will be handled in the Democratically-controlled Senate. Currently, the Senate bill does not touch this issue.The House ultimately voted to retain current pilot training rules after an effort to allow additional flight simulator time to count toward the 1,500-hour training requirement was stripped out of the FAA reauthorization.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth , the chairwoman of the aviation subcommittee, is advocating to maintain the current training standards. The former Army helicopter pilot preemptively introduced a bill this week in an effort to highlight the issue and protect the rule.