This bill is an ‘important step to ensuring safety and security for American travelers… [and] another example of how the Senate under Republican leadership is prioritizing America’s vital transportation network’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell praised Senate passage today of a bipartisan bill which aims to keep Americans safe in our airports and in the skies. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act, which will benefit communities and airports across the country, including those in Kentucky, is headed to the President for his signature.
“I applaud the Senate for passing this bipartisan aviation bill, which is an important step to ensuring safety and security for American travelers,” Senator McConnell said. “Recent terror attacks, like those at the airports in Brussels and in Istanbul, underline the importance of this bill, which represents the most significant airport security reform in a decade. Passage of this bill is yet another example of how the Senate under Republican leadership is prioritizing America’s vital transportation network.”
By shoring up security for international flights coming into U.S. airports, by enhancing vetting for aviation employees, and by improving security in pre-screening zones that are often vulnerable, the airport security bill works to protect airline passengers. The bill also takes steps to keep Americans safer from active shooter threats, by authorizing more so-called ‘VIPR’ teams. It will also help make sure airports are better equipped to respond to and disarm threats that come their way, by bolstering resources and training for security personnel.
In addition to these smart security enhancements, the bill also includes a number of key items to improve safety in our skies, such as ensuring that unmanned aerial vehicles don’t interfere with emergency response and improving mental health screenings for pilots. It also includes a number of consumer-protection provisions too, like refunds for lost or delayed baggage and improvements to travel for disabled passengers and parents with small children. The bill accomplishes all of this without raising fees or taxes on passengers, and without imposing heavy-handed regulations that threaten consumer choice.
Eric J. Frankl, A.A.E., Executive Director of the Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, said, “We were pleased to see the action taken by the Senate today to provide for much needed investment in our aviation infrastructure, and I sincerely appreciate Senator McConnell’s continued support and prioritization of our nation’s transportation infrastructure. This bill not only provides stability for aviation funding but it will reauthorize important programs that enhance security at airports and provide additional protections for airline customers.”
Skip Miller, Executive Director of the Louisville Regional Airport Authority, said, "The security measures in the FAA reauthorization bill will reassure air travelers that tools are in place to provide adequate protection. We are also grateful for the funding certainty provided by the reauthorization, as repeated short term extensions over the past year have been disruptive to financing our ongoing operational needs, and I want to thank Senator McConnell for his leadership on this vital issue.”
Juva Barber, Executive Director of Kentuckians for Better Transportation, said, “Passage of this FAA authorization bill will help Kentucky’s airports and the traveling public and we are very appreciative of Senator McConnell for continuing to prioritize Kentucky’s transportation infrastructure needs in Congress.”
NOTE: In 2015, Sen. McConnell helped shepherd through the Senate and to enactment a five-year highway and surface transportation bill, the longest-term transportation bill to pass Congress in almost two decades. Click HERE for a release on Senate passage of the FAST Act in December 2015.
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