The analogy of a ticking timepiece arose more than once last week as the U.S. Congress neared its self-imposed September 16 deadline to extend funding authorization of the FAA. In the absence of long-term reauthorization legislation, the agency has operated through 21 funding extensions since September 2007, and signs pointed to Congress passing yet another extension.
“The clock is ticking…and we have not made enough progress to achieve bipartisan agreement” on a reauthorization bill, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Democratic chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said September 8. Echoing earlier comments by President Obama, he implored the Republican-controlled House to pass a “clean extension” of FAA funding–one without conditions that postponed agreement over the current extension and partially shuttered the FAA for two weeks in late July. Republican Rep. John Mica, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, pledged to work with Democrats toward “a 22nd funding extension.”
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