FAA Reauthorization Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in support of the Federal Aviation Administration, or the FAA, Reauthorization Act of 2018. This bill provides needed certainty in aviation and gives the FAA authority to enhance consumer protections and passenger safety. It also maintains critical investments that will help to modernize and maintain our aviation infrastructure.

This agreement is the product of bipartisan negotiations over the last several months. I am proud to serve on the Commerce Committee, which played a major role here. I thank Senator Thune and Senator Nelson for their work on this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

Minnesota has a long aviation tradition, from Charles Lindbergh to our Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Two years in a row, it was ranked as the best airport in America. We manufacture jets in Duluth at Cirrus. We manufacture parachutes that go with those jets in our State. We have first-rate military training bases for aviation in Bloomington and in Duluth. We have very strong regional airports, including Duluth and Rochester, which has recently expanded its airport. It matters in our State.

For too long, the aviation sector of our economy has had to rely on a series of short-term extensions. It is not good for workers, and it is not good for businesses. That is not good for travelers who use our services. For airports looking to expand or airlines looking to test new routes, these short-term bills created uncertainty that hampered growth and prevented new investments.

This 5-year reauthorization bill will provide the long-term stability needed to encourage investments and help maintain American leadership in the global aviation marketplace. We know a lot about that in our State, being a major Delta hub, as well as the home of Sun Country Airlines. We know the kind of global competition that we are up against all the time. That is a very important reason for America to be a leader in aviation and not a follower.

Changes in the airline industry in recent years have drastically altered the way consumers travel. New fees and complicated itineraries can make even routine travel confusing and expensive. Thankfully, this FAA bill builds on important work we have done in past reauthorizations to strengthen protections for consumers while shopping, booking, and traveling.

Most people know what it is like to show up to the airport and be shocked to find out that you have to pay extra for your seat or that checking a bag is going to cost you an arm and a leg. When consumers don't have this information up front, they can be left paying hundreds of dollars in fees they didn't budget for, which can mean the difference between a family trip being affordable or not.

It isn't just fees. In some instances, online travel websites have sold unnecessarily complicated passenger itineraries, provided outdated or incorrect travel information on their websites, and failed to provide appropriate disclosures for passengers. That is why I worked to include an amendment to provide a consistent level of consumer protections, regardless of where the airfares are purchased. This part of the bill will ensure that, whether a consumer books tickets directly with an airline or from a third party, the consumer will receive the same level of price disclosures and customer service.

This was a provision strongly supported by consumer groups because it is such a problem that there were different types of price disclosures and customer service, depending on how a consumer booked the flight. It doesn't matter where you book the flight or how you book the flight, you should have consumer protection. This bill includes that provision.

This bill will also make important improvements to the passenger experience on the plane. By directing the FAA to set standards for the size of airline seats, we will make sure passengers can travel safely and these seats will not get even smaller than they already are.

The agreement also includes a provision to make clear that once a passenger has boarded a plane, they can't be involuntarily bumped by an airline. Passengers deserve to be treated with respect throughout their entire journey, and this will end the practice of removing paying customers to accommodate airline employees.

The bill sets new requirements for airlines to promptly return fees for services, such as seat assignments or early boarding, when these services are purchased and not received by a customer.

In addition to the strong consumer protections, this bill makes new infrastructure investments that will help to ensure passengers have a safe and efficient travel experience.

Smaller regional airports provide a vital link to the rest of the world for many rural communities. In my State, both residents and businesses located near these rural airports rely on them to connect to the Twin Cities and beyond.

The Essential Air Service Program is a critical tool that supports rural air service. This bill boosts EAS funding to help maintain the operations of smaller, regional airports across Minnesota and across our country. Of course, funding alone isn't enough to improve aviation infrastructure. We need policies that support the unique infrastructure needs in different regions of the country.

In the 2012 FAA reauthorization, I included a provision to require that the Department of Transportation give priority review to construction projects in cold weather States with shorter construction seasons. For those of us who live in States that happen to have cold weather and snow, our construction seasons are shorter, and that means we have less time to work on these projects than maybe they do in Miami or in California. What we did here was to make sure that the FAA realized that in how they did grants and how they got these construction permits approved.

Anyone who has ever been to Northern Minnesota in April or October understands that our construction season is shorter. There is a reason we have cold weather testing facilities on the Canadian border in our State, because that is the coldest conditions you can possibly have for cars. That makes for this short construction season.

This provision was included again in the current bill, and it will help to ensure that cold weather States like Minnesota can make the most out of our limited construction seasons.

The investments made by this bill are an important down payment that will help to address the growing demand for air transportation. I look forward to building on the progress made by this bill with bipartisan infrastructure legislation to support 21st century aviation infrastructure that is prepared to meet the demands of the 21st century economy.

I wish to thank my colleagues again for their work on this bill. It makes important advances in security, consumer protections, and infrastructure development. I was proud to be a part of this, and I also am glad these provisions I worked hard on are included in the bill. The aviation industry and American air passengers will be safer because of this bill. I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan agreement so we can pass, finally, a long-term extension into law.

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