House committee approves bill to reform FAA

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved its bill to reform the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday, which includes spinning off air traffic control into a private, non-government organization.

“We thoroughly debated the legislation, considered approximately 80 amendments, approved substantial improvements offered by Members from both sides of the aisle, and voted to move forward to give Americans the safe, efficient, modern aviation system they deserve,” said the Committee’s Chairman Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa, following the decision.

The committee voted 32-25 to approve the legislation, called the 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform and Reauthorization Act (21st Century AIRR Act) after a nearly 10 hour markup.

The bipartisan bill aims to provide a better flying experience gate to gate for customers, make air travel timelier and more efficient and modernize America’s air traffic control system—something the Trump administration has advocated for since the president took office.

Under the legislation, a non-profit organization would be created to operate air traffic control in the U.S., thus taking oversight out of the hands of the FAA.

Shuster told FOX Business in April that this reform would have a “very positive impact” on taxpayers.

“Taxpayers have spent over 30 years and billions upon billions of dollars on our air traffic control system,” he told FOX Business adding, “We have spent well over a billion dollars on next generation technology that was studied and scrapped without any use. We are literally throwing away taxpayer money.”