AAAE: House Subcommittee Clears FY 2019 DOT/FAA Spending Bill

The House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee has just approved a Fiscal Year 2019 spending bill for the Department of Transportation that includes an additional $500 million for airport infrastructure projects and a $3 million increase for the Contract Tower and Contract Tower Cost-Share Programs. A summary of the bill may be viewed here.

Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) urged his colleagues to support the FY19 DOT spending bill. He noted that the measure includes $500 million for additional discretionary airport grants and reflects a two-year budget agreement that calls for additional infrastructure spending.

"There is nearly unanimous consensus that we need to make major investments in our roads, in our bridges, and our railways, seaports, and airports," Diaz-Balart said. "This bill shows that we don't need to wait to do a separate infrastructure bill. This is the infrastructure bill."

Subcommittee members quickly approved the FY19 DOT spending bill by voice vote. Panel members refrained from offering any amendments during tonight's quick session. But we expect lawmakers will propose changes to the bill when the full Appropriations Committee considers the measure next week.

As we reported yesterday, the House bill proposes $3.35 billion for the traditional Airport Improvement Program in FY19 and an additional $500 million for airport infrastructure projects that the FAA would be required to distribute as discretionary grants. The supplemental funding, which would come from the General Fund instead of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, would remain available for the FAA to distribute through September 30, 2021.

The FY18 omnibus spending bill, which Congress passed earlier this year, similarly included an additional $1 billion for airport grants. The previous bill requires the FAA to give "priority consideration" to certain nonprimary, nonhub, and small hub airports. The FY19 DOT spending bill does not include the same "priority consideration" language. But the new House bill would retain the 100 percent federal share for nonprimary airports that receive some of the proposed additional funding.