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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks to reporters after a Democratic strategy session on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks to reporters after a Democratic strategy session on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
WASHINGTON — The Senate has passed a $105 billion bill designed to improve safety and customer service for air travelers, a day before the law governing the Federal Aviation Administration expires.
The bipartisan bill, which comes after a series of close calls between aircraft at domestic 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 their flights are delayed or canceled Let's do it. , among other measures.
After passing the bill by a strong 88-4 vote, the Senate passed a one-week extension to keep the law from expiring before the House considers the bill next week. The FAA said it would have had to lay off about 3,600 employees if the law had expired at midnight Friday.
The bill stalled for days this week after Virginia and Maryland senators opposed a provision that would have allowed 10 additional flights per day to and from the heavily trafficked Reagan Washington National Airport. Other senators also tried to add unrelated provisions, seeing this as a golden opportunity to enact legislative priorities.
![FAA will require air traffic controllers to take more breaks as close calls increase](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/04/22/gettyimages-1455753951_sq-1dc8abe7b7c1de5bd4a59792a0f6a6229543a99c.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg)
But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for a vote Thursday evening after it became clear senators would not be able to agree on amendments to the bill before the law expires. The Senate then passed a one-week extension that the House had already passed, sending it to President Joe Biden's desk.
The FAA has been under scrutiny since approving Boeing jets involved in two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019. The Senate bill would govern FAA operations for the next five years and establish several new safety standards.
“This bill provides the FAA with the stability it needs to carry out its primary mission of improving aviation safety while making travel more convenient and accessible,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.
The bill would increase the number of air traffic controllers, provide more safety inspectors at manufacturing facilities and require the FAA to use new technology designed to prevent collisions between planes on runways. New aircraft require cockpit voice recorders that can store 25 hours of audio, up from the current two, to assist investigators after a safety incident.
It will try to improve customer service for flyers by requiring airlines to pay customers refunds (3 hours for domestic flights and 6 hours for international flights) for flight delays. Lawmakers amended the bill this week to make it easier for customers to get refunds, changing language that places most of the burden on customers. The changes bring the Senate bill more consistent with new regulations announced by the Biden administration last week.
The bill also prohibits airlines from charging extra fees for families to sit together and triples the maximum fines for airlines that violate consumer laws. And the Department of Transportation should create a “dashboard” so consumers can compare seat sizes on different airlines.
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The bill also improves accessibility for passengers with disabilities, requiring airlines to accommodate seat requests for disability-related needs, establishing new training standards for airline employees who handle and store wheelchairs, and providing for airport accessibility upgrades. We provide subsidies.
The failure to pass the popular bipartisan bill by May 10 would have been the latest setback after the bill had been delayed for months, and the last-minute deal to pass it would have been a major setback for Congress that had broad bipartisan support. It was the latest example of the struggle to get legislation passed. .
“Passing this FAA bill is the best thing Congress can do to give Americans the peace of mind they deserve,” Schumer, who had urged lawmakers to drop their objections and agree to a bill, said after passage.
Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner pushed for a vote on an amendment that would block additional long-haul flights from Virginia's Reagan National Airport. They said the airport was limited in size and already overcrowded, and that there had been a close call between two planes in early April and a “flashing red warning light”.
Some Western lawmakers have called for more flights from airports, saying restrictions on long-haul flights are unfair to consumers. A key supporter of the provision is Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, who has argued for San Antonio to have direct flights from the airport ahead of his re-election this year. Cruz blocked a vote on Kaine and Warner's amendment when Schumer attempted to raise it just before final passage.
Like lawmakers, airlines are divided about the idea of additional flights from Reagan National Airport. Delta Air Lines has argued for increased flights, while United Airlines, which operates major operations at Dulles Airport, has opposed the increase.
Last year, the House passed its own version of the FAA bill without additional Reagan National flights after intense, last-minute lobbying from the Virginia delegation. This was a bipartisan vote on an amendment to the FAA bill, with members aligned by geographic location rather than political party. Lawmakers frequently use the airport because it is the closest Washington airport to the Capitol, and Congress has long sought to have a say in what routes serve there.
“Some of our colleagues were too afraid to let the experts call,” Kaine and Warner said in a joint statement Thursday evening after Cruz blocked a vote on the amendment. “They didn't want to show the American people that they care more about the desires of some members of Congress for direct flights than they care about 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.