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The On the Hill: Breaking Down DC podcast is a collection of sharing more about what’s happening in DC without the bias, ways for you to get involved with the US government, and interviews with friends, colleagues who can help pull back the proverbial curtain of Washington, DC. Katherine Getty, host of the OTH podcast, is a 10-year Washingtonian who lives and breathes politics.
Katherine Getty 0:01
Hi, and welcome to the on the Hill podcast with me, your host, Katherine Getty. Each Thursday, I'll peel back the curtain of what happens in Washington, from breaking down current events without bias, to interviews with fellow political nerds, and even and maybe most importantly, ways for you to get involved with our US government. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The on the Hill podcast with me, your host, Katherine Getty. So we talk a lot about what's happening in Washington, what Congress is working on, and oftentimes over the this current Congress, so from January of 2023, to now it's been really dominated by, you know, funding fights or debt ceiling or different things that were related to how are we funding the government and there have been fewer reauthorizations than normal reauthorizations are really important. And we talked about these a little bit before. And I want to just refresher today. So what we're going to cover today is FAA reauthorization because it expires as of May 10. So I want to give you the 411 on what is the FAA, if you don't know, what is FAA reauthorization, and what do we expect to come and, you know, in the days to come, this is being recorded as of Monday. So, I say that because, you know, I want to give you the freshest information. And I will read the tea leaves often and kind of see what I think will happen, and hopefully it, it comes to fruition. And if it doesn't, I will course correct next week. So what is the FAA? So FAA, like, you know, acronym soup, that is Washington, DC stands for the Federal Aviation Administration, it's the agency of, you know, it's the agency within the Department of Transportation responsible for regulating and overseeing all aspects of Civil Aviation and the United States, civil aviation, because obviously, if there's military aviation, that is through DOD, the FAA s duties really include the safety of civil aviation, promoting air travel efficiency and managing the nation's airspace systems. FAA, I definitely think has become in the news a little bit more over the last few years, because you've been seeing maybe some near misses, there has been some changes that the D O T is really helping kind of, you know, you see Secretary Buttigieg, that Department of Transportation, really focus on civil aviation. So you've seen it more on the news. And so that's what FAA is, it's the Federal Aviation Administration. You know, they're really focusing on the safety, the efficiency, they certify pilots, aircraft, airports, develop and enforce regulations related to safety and security. So what is FAA reauthorization? And wait, Catherine, didn't you say it expires as of this Friday? So we've talked about before that reauthorizations happen roughly every five years, that's a typical timeframe of when reauthorizations happen. Now, this was due up to expire September 30, of 2023. You might be asking yourself, it is May of 2024. How is it continued on? Well, Congress can do this thing called extending to doing short term extensions, it's basically a bell saying, this is all going to continue for X period of time. And typically, it's a maybe it's a week, maybe it's three months, maybe it's six months, whatever it may be. And they've been doing short term extensions that have typically gone concurrently with the funding bells, they have set this FAA reauthorization bill into one of those funding bills. But funding bills, if you remember, got all done in March. And so this was one that was kind of outside of that normal March timeframe and had a May 10 deadline. And so Congress, both the House and Senate have been working in earnest to iron out those last minute differences and reauthorization really should be viewed through the prism of it's an opportunity to look at what's working, what's not working, what can we do better on what maybe isn't in was important five years ago, but maybe isn't as much. And some of these issues can include, you know, funding for the FAA programs like those authorization levels, air traffic control, modernization and upgrades, safety regulations, airport development, environmental consideration, aviation security measures, research and development. And so that's a very long list of saying FAA reauthorization should dig into all those different issues and stakeholders. May they be pilots, flight attendants, those who you know, are just you and me who, you know, get on airplanes. They all during that reauthorization process So that was really in earnest last year, for both the House and the Senate, is really an opportunity to kind of share feedback. And you know, I think my hope with this podcast is always to kind of give you a peek behind the curtains and see, you know, there are things that you're thinking, hey, this isn't really working. Well, maybe there's a reauthorization that you can see if there's others that feel the same way you can call a member of Congress. We've talked about that before. But, you know, FAA reauthorization over 2023 was really a back and forth process. And you saw the house, get a package through committee, and through the floor, you saw the Senate really saw. And, you know, I think the dynamics, think of it this way, the house is representing 800,000 people in a district. And then the senators are representing their statewide, maybe they have different constituencies that really need them to push back or push for something. And you're seeing that right now. You know, this extension was really expected over the last couple of weeks, a five year deal was rumored to have come together did come together. I don't know where it came together. And then there's been kind of a stalling in the Senate. And look, our democracy takes time. But it's also we have seen Congress do this before, there's a deadline, and they're reaching right for that deadline. It's not probably how we would all hope it to be, but it's this. It's kind of the reality because of the politics that are often involved. And so over this week, I expect FAA reauthorization is really seen as one of the last things to get across the line before the election day. And I know you're thinking it's May, how are we talking about Election Day? November? That's six months away. Yeah, that in an election year, we've talked about, it's less legislative days, there are less opportunities to get things across the floor. And so I think you'll see some, you'll you're seeing a lot of things bubble up. May that be, you know, there's a credit card swipe fee bill, there's a mental health package. There's a tax bill that was passed the House, and everyone saying, Okay, well, can we attach a death here, reauthorization, which makes it really difficult when FAA reauthorization already had some sticky issues of pilots age, or how many slots at different airports or training requirements when there's already sticky issues, adding other policy matters, too, it makes it difficult, but that's sometimes new see only one vehicle moving in Congress and vehicle being a bill. Sometimes we want to take it because things good policies can get attached to move along. So I think over this week, you'll see things shake out, I, you know, I would expect, I think they've extended us three times since September of 2023. I don't feel like there's a political will to extend it short term, again, you know, a deadline, like I said, is a way to kind of push to get something done. And look, members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, really want to ensure that the FAA has the authorities and the continuity and the certainty rally to continue on. And I think we all would want our Federal Aviation Administration to really be operating at its 100%. So what we've talked about today is one what is the FAA, the Federal Aviation Administration? We've talked about what FAA reauthorization where it stands that it expires and what and lastly, we've talked about where I think it might shake out this week. More to come. I will definitely give a recap of where it stands next week and another episode but just want to say thank you again, for joining this week's episode. I I so enjoy getting to share with you my nerd nerd interest and wanting to demystify what's happening in Washington because, look, I do this for a living. I love it. I'm an absolute nerd. You all know this by now. But I see the I see the headlines too. And it's hard and it feels like our politics is more changing than it is the same. But I think it's opportunities like this where we can come together and share what's happening without the bias that maybe we can come together. So please share this episode with someone you know, share it on your social media. Thank you so much for tuning in to this week's episode. And as always, tune in next Thursday to another episode of On the hill podcast. Thank you
Transcribed by https://otter.ai