Dr. Coburn has filed five amendments to the FAA reauthorization bill (S.233) that address his primary concerns with the bill. Highlighted areas of concern include the following points:

• The Airport and Airway Trust Fund Has Been Drained,
• NextGen Development Has Been Slow,
• Wasteful Spending and Duplicative Spending Must Be Eliminated

Passing an FAA reauthorization bill is a national priority and one Congress has failed to address over the last three years. There are many good things included in the underlying bill the Senate is considering, including the creation of a new funding account for NextGen technology development, additional passenger rights protection, and numerous provisions ensuring NextGen development is prioritized and more effectively implemented by FAA.

Unfortunately, this bill also reauthorizes and increases spending for programs of questionable merit and federal policies that have helped drain the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) while increasing General Fund revenues for aviation projects and, consequently, our national debt.

While this bill increases taxes on smaller non-commercial air planes, it must also cut wasteful and duplicative spending to ensure national aviation priorities are adequately funded and our debt does not continue to increase. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a strong emphasis by the Senate to find ways to reduce waste and duplication as well.

Amendment #91: to decrease the federal share of project costs under the airport improvement program for non-primary airports. For additional background on this amendment, click here.

Amendment #64: to rescind unused earmarks. For additional background on this amendment, click here.

Amendment #80: to limit essential air space to locations that are 100 miles or more away from the nearest medium or large hub airport. For additional background on this amendment, click here.

Amendment #81: to limit essential air service to locations that average 10 or more enplanements per day. For additional background on this amendment, click here.

Amendment #82: to repeal the small community air service development program. For additional background on this amendment, click here.

Click HERE for a list of airports that would be affected by these amendments.