Subcommittee on Aviation

Thomas E. Petri, Chairman

The Subcommittee oversees aviation safety and infrastructure, as well as the impacts of transportation security on safety and the aviation industry.

FAA Modernization and Reform Act: On February 14, 2012, the Committee saw its major initiative to improve the nation’s airport and aviation infrastructure, create jobs, modernize our antiquated pre-World War II air traffic control system, improve aviation safety, and save taxpayers money through significant reforms of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) signed into law. The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (H.R. 658) sets the long-term federal policy for a vital segment of the nation's economy. (more information)

Key provisions in the FAA Modernization and Reform Act include:

Ticket Subsidy Reform: A key reform in the new law brings an end to outrageous ticket subsidies, some as high as $3,720 per ticket, for air service to some small airports under the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. (more information)

Air Traffic Control Modernization (NextGen): Important provisions in the law provide a blueprint for modernizing the nation's pre-World War II air traffic control system, which will help reduce air traffic delays, cut down on emissions and pollution, and lower costs for consumers. (more information)

Labor Reforms: The law includes unprecedented reforms to bring much needed equity, transparency, and oversight to labor relations in the aviation industry, as well as the rail industry, which are governed by the National Mediation Board (NMB). (more information)

Passenger Security Screening Reform: A key reform in the FAA law helps ensure that the nation's airports can “opt out” of federal security screeners and instead use the more cost-effective private-federal screening model in which certified private screeners operate under federal standards, supervision and oversight. (more information)

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Reform: The Transportation Security Agency, created in 2001 following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was intended to be a lean security agency with the flexibility to quickly respond and adapt to potential threats of terrorism. Instead TSA has mushroomed into a massive, inflexible, backward-looking bureaucracy of more than 65,000. Over its first ten years of existence, the agency and its numerous failures have cost taxpayers $57 billion.

TSA is a top-heavy agency in need of reform. Its ranks include 3,986 headquarters staff in Washington, DC making $103,852 per year on average, and 9,656 administrators in the field. The agency's primary objectives should be setting security standards, overseeing security performance, and analyzing intelligence, but it has become too focused on maintaining and growing its own bureaucracy. This is an agency that needs to get out of the personnel management business and into the security business. For example, if certified private screeners operated under federal supervision at the nation's airports, TSA could better focus on its security mission and taxpayers could save $1 billion over five years.

On May 9, 2012, an investigative report by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Government Reform and Oversight Committee found that TSA is wasting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars by inefficiently deploying screening equipment and technology to commercial airports. Investigators observed approximately 5,700 pieces of security equipment with an estimated purchase value of $184 million sitting in a Dallas warehouse. In addition to noting serious management and procurement challenges, the report also points out that TSA willfully delayed Congressional oversight of the agency’s logistics center twice in a failed attempt to hide the disposal of approximately 1,300 pieces of equipment. It also indicates that TSA management potentially violated U.S. law by knowingly providing inaccurate warehouse inventory reports to Congressional staff during an investigative visit. (more information)

The “European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition Act of 2011”: On October 24, 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted in favor of legislation prohibiting U.S. participation in the European Union’s costly Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that imposes emissions taxes on U.S. and other nations’ air carriers, regardless of whether the majority of a flight is in EU airspace.

The “European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition Act of 2011” (H.R. 2594) is bipartisan legislation that was introduced in the House by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Mica, Full Committee Ranking Democrat Rahall, Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Petri, Aviation Subcommittee Ranking Democrat Costello, Aviation Subcommittee Vice-Chair Cravaack, and other Members of the House. (more information)

Protecting GPS Reliability, Transportation Safety & Aviation Jobs: The Subcommittee continues to monitor the application by the company LightSquared to the FCC to operate a telecommunications system using radio spectrum adjacent to that used by the Global Positioning System (GPS). The FAA, Air Force, and other federal agencies have expressed significant concerns about the potential impacts of LightSquared’s plans on GPS reliability, and ultimately the safety and efficiency of transportation systems that rely on GPS.

The Subcommittee is working to ensure that any proposals do not negatively impact the safety, effectiveness and other benefits of transportation systems, and that aviation and other industry jobs are not threatened. (more information)

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Reauthorization: The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent agency responsible for investigating transportation accidents and making recommendations to improve safety. The Committee is working on a fiscally responsible reauthorization of the NTSB’s funding, staffing and programmatic authority in order to ensure the agency can fulfill its critical safety mission.