House Passes Legislation to Improve Air Travel, Sending Bill to Biden’s Desk
The bipartisan vote to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration also greenlit measures to strengthen consumer protections and address safety and work force issues plaguing the skies.
The House on Wednesday passed legislation to reauthorize federal aviation programs and improve air travel at a time of intense passenger woes and dysfunction in the system, sending the bill to President Biden, who was expected to sign it into law.
The measure provides more than $105 billion to the Federal Aviation Administration and another $738 million to the National Transportation Safety Board for safety programs, airport modernization and infrastructure projects, technology upgrades and next-generation aviation systems. It also supports the hiring and training of air traffic controllers, codifies airlines’ refund obligations to passengers, restricts seating fees for families with children, strengthens protections for passengers with disabilities, bolsters aviation work force development programs and protects access to air travel at rural airports.
“For over a century, the United States has led the world in aviation safety and innovation, and this bill is critical to ensuring America remains the global leader in aviation,” Representative Sam Graves, Republican of Missouri and chairman of the Transportation Committee, said in a statement after the vote. “It’s vital to our economy, to millions of American jobs and to the millions of passengers that depend on our National Airspace System every single day.”
