Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters after a Democratic strategy session at the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
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J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters after a Democratic strategy session at the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
WASHINGTON – The Senate has passed a $105 billion bill aimed at improving safety and customer service for airline passengers, a day before the law governing the Federal Aviation Administration expires.
The bipartisan bill, which comes after a series of end call between planes at the nation’s airports, aims to increase the number of air traffic controllers amid shortages, improve safety standards and make it easier for customers to get refunds after flights. Flight delays or cancellations, along with other measures.
After passing the legislation by a strong 88-4 vote, the Senate approved a one-week extension to ensure that the law does not expire before the House considers the bill next week. The FAA said it would have to temporarily lay off about 3,600 workers if the rule expires at midnight Friday.
The bill stalled for several days this week after senators from Virginia and Maryland objected to a provision that would allow 10 more flights per day to and from the heavily trafficked Reagan Washington National Airport. crowded. Other senators also tried to add unrelated provisions, seeing this as a prime opportunity to enact their legislative priorities.
But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called a vote Thursday night after it became clear that senators would not be able to agree on amendments to the bill before the law expires. . The Senate then approved the one-week extension that the House had approved, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk.
The FAA has come under scrutiny since the agency cleared Boeing jets that were involved in two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019. The Senate bill would govern the FAA’s operations over the next five years and introduce a number of new safety standards.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell, D-Wash, said the bill “gives the FAA the stability it needs to fulfill its primary mission – enhancing aviation safety – while making travel easier.” more convenient and accessible.”
The act aims to increase the number of air traffic controllers, provide more safety inspectors at manufacturing facilities, and require FAA uses new technology designed to prevent collisions between aircraft on the runway. It would require new airliners to have cockpit voice recorders capable of storing 25 hours of audio, up from two hours currently, to help investigators after safety incidents.
It will try to improve customer service for flyers by requiring airlines to refund customers if flights are delayed – three hours for domestic flights and six hours for international flights . Lawmakers tweaked the bill this week to make it easier for customers to get refunds, amending language that would have placed most of the onus on customers to claim them. The change brings the Senate bill more in line with new regulations issued by the Biden administration last week.
Additionally, the bill would ban airlines from charging extra for families sitting together and triple the maximum fines for airlines that violate consumer laws. And it would require the Department of Transportation to create a “dashboard” so consumers can compare seat sizes on different airlines.
The law will also improve accessibility for passengers with disabilities, require airlines to accommodate seating requirements for disability-related needs, and set new training standards for airline employees. does not handle and store wheelchairs and provides subsidies to improve airport accessibility.
Failure to pass the popular bipartisan bill by May 10 would be the latest setback after months of delaying the measure, and the last-minute agreement to pass the bill is the most recent example of Congress Congress is working to pass major legislation that has broad bipartisan support. .
Schumer, who called on lawmakers to drop their objections and come to agreement on the legislation, said after passage that “passing this FAA bill is the best thing Congress can do to bring give Americans the peace of mind they deserve.”
Virginia Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both Democrats, pushed for a vote on their amendment to block additional long-haul flights at Virginia’s Reagan National. They say the airport is of limited size and already overcrowded, pointing to a collision between two planes in early April that they said was a “flashing red warning light.”
Some Western lawmakers have argued for more flights at the airport, saying it is unfair to consumers to have restrictions on long-haul flights. The main proponent of the provision is Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, who is up for re-election this year and has argued that San Antonio should get the flight straight from the airport. Cruz blocked a vote on Kaine and Warner’s amendment when Schumer tried to introduce it just before final passage.
Like lawmakers, airlines are divided over the idea of adding flights at Reagan National. Delta Airlines has argued for more flights, while United Airlines, with its main operations at Dulles Airport further away, has lobbied against an increase.
The House last year passed its own version of the FAA law without adding Reagan National flights after intense last-minute lobbying from the Virginia delegation — a bipartisan vote on the amendment The FAA bill shows membership not by party but by geographic location. Lawmakers use the airport frequently because it is the closest Washington airport to the Capitol, and Congress has long sought to have a say in the routes serviced there.
“Some of our colleagues are too afraid to let the experts make the decisions,” Kaine and Warner said in a joint statement Thursday night, after Cruz blocked a vote on their amendment. “They don’t want to show the American people that they care more about the desire of some lawmakers for direct flights than the safety and convenience of the traveling public. That’s shameful and embarrassing.” .”
Kaine, Warner and Maryland’s two senators, Democrats Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, were the only four senators to vote against final passage.
