Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said today he plans to mark up an FAA reauthorization next month, with an eye toward taking it to the floor in July — though he’s still hoping to see the House move first.
“I’ve talked with [Rep. Bill] Shuster about it, but we’ve got to work, too,” Thune told POLITICO. “We want to get the bill on the floor in July, which means we need to mark it up in June.”
The FAA’s authorization expires Sept. 30, and lawmakers have a crunched summer calendar in which to squeeze in floor action, especially on a controversial issue like removing air traffic control operations from the agency, as Shuster has advocated.
Thune said he’s “trying to sort of sync up as much as we can” with the House, but a July target for floor action likely means the committee would have to hold a markup by the latter half of the month.
“I always said over here, if we did anything on that issue … I don’t think we probably have the votes to come out of the committee, so it would probably have to be a floor strategy or a conference or something,” he added. “But like I said, we’re trying to coordinate as much as we can from a timing standpoint with the House so that we’re at least on the same page.”
https://www.politicopro.com/transportation/whiteboard/2017/05/thune-eyes-june-faa-markup-088274