Roll Call - Valerie Yurk
Transportation leaders in Congress are queuing up a host of bills over the summer legislative season aimed at overhauling the aviation system, reauthorizing pipeline infrastructure programs, ramping up rail safety and addressing supply chain woes and competition with China.
The most pressing legislation for both Graves and Cantwell is the reauthorization of the FAA. Current authority is set to expire Sept. 30.
Both committee leaders have devoted multiple hearings to the package with a focus on increasing safety, strengthening the aviation workforce and modernizing the agency. Both have said they are working with ranking members Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to bring a bipartisan FAA reauthorization package to their chamber floors.
Graves said in an interview that he expects the House and Senate FAA packages to be “very different” despite bipartisan support within each chamber. He expects Cantwell’s to be much more focused on consumer protections, especially as she and other Democrats have backed bills aimed at eliminating airlines’ “junk fees” and ensuring that passengers get fair compensation. The House version, he said, will be more “technical.”
