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Hopes for quick passage of a stopgap bill to extend current federal aviation programs were jeopardized Thursday morning when two Democratic senators said they would not agree to fast-track the legislation unless they first secured a commitment to vote on eliminating more flights into and out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Lawmakers have been trying to pass a comprehensive Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, which would guide aviation policy for the next five years and includes a plan to fill a shortfall of 3,000 air traffic controllers, prevent planes from colliding on runways and set policies for airline refunds.
The more than 1,000-page legislation is ultimately expected to pass with bipartisan support, but debate is continuing over some of its provisions, and current FAA programs are set to expire on Friday. To give lawmakers additional time to negotiate, the House on Wednesday passed a one-week extension for federal aviation programs, sending it over to the Senate, where unanimous consent will be required if it is to be approved ahead of the deadline.
One of the sticking points in the present debate is over flights at the DC-area Reagan National Airport. A group of Washington-area Senate Democrats who oppose adding more longer-distance flights in and out of the airport are pressing for an amendment vote to strip it out of the larger package currently being debated.
Two of those senators, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both of Virginia, said Thursday morning that they will not grant unanimous consent on the stopgap bill unless they are promised a vote on the amendment. They cited a close call at Reagan National last month in which two jetliners almost collided after they were cleared onto the same runway.
“Last month’s near miss at DCA is a flashing red warning light that this airport is overburdened and that cramming more flights onto the busiest runway in America is a terrible idea,” Kaine and Warner wrote in a statement Thursday morning. “But now, the same senators who crafted a provision in the FAA bill to do just that, behind closed doors and against the advice of all four capital region senators, are asking us to smooth a procedural path to the finish line for that bill without a promise to bring our amendment — or any amendment — up for a vote. We can’t in good conscience greenlight that plan until we have a commitment that there will be an opportunity to put our amendment to a vote, and to persuade our colleagues to prioritize the safety of millions of passengers over a few senators’ desire for a direct flight home.”
At the end of the workweek, lawmakers’ cars line up in DC to hustle them to nearby airports for flights home. The most convenient is Reagan National, a short drive into Virginia. The region’s other two airports — Dulles International and Baltimore/Washington International — are at least a 40-minute drive from downtown DC.
But a decades-old perimeter rule limits the length of flights departing Reagan National to a 1,250-mile radius from DC. That means lawmakers west of Minneapolis, Oklahoma City and Dallas must catch a flight at one of the other two airports. (Over the years, a few exceptions – such as direct flights to Salt Lake City and Seattle – have been added at Reagan National.)
The compromise bill presently being negotiated would allow for five additional flights into and out of Reagan National daily — far fewer than some had wanted.
The airport authority operating Reagan National and Dulles International, however, says the main runway at Reagan is the nation’s busiest and operates at full capacity. Lawmakers’ proposals to add additional flights, it says, would increase the congestion.
Republican Sen. Mike Lee — from Utah, outside the perimeter — drafted a proposal for adding 56 flights, with a limit of eight per hour.
CNN’s Clare Foran, Haley Talbot and Kristin Wilson contributed to this report.
