September 28, 2018

The Federal Aviation Administration

This week the House passed H.R. 302, the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018. This legislation authorizes the programs, policies and administration of the FAA. It includes passenger protection provisions: it prohibits airlines from bumping travelers if their boarding passes have already been checked, bans cell phone calls on flights and creates the position of Aviation Consumer Advocate within the Department of Transportation to work with travelers who have registered complaints about their experience. H.R. 302 requires that commercial airports provide private rooms for nursing mothers.

The legislation includes provisions I authored to help reduce airport noise. The first provision relates to RNAV or “area navigational system” departure procedures. RNAV is being used by the FAA to narrowly direct airplanes over very specific flight paths. The unfortunate result is that some communities are experiencing an increase in flights over residential neighborhoods. My provision requires the FAA to consider “dispersing” flights to address noise concerns if the community and airport have requested it. Air traffic controllers can utilize dispersal to send flights over a broader area if too many flights are using a specific path at any given time. While it cannot eliminate the burden of airplane noise, it can spread the burden more fairly.

Another provision I authored in this legislation involves the way the FAA measures noise under flight paths. Currently, airports are required to offer mitigation to neighborhoods experiencing noise levels over 65 DNL. DNL is an average noise level, measured over 24 hours, with higher weights given to noise in the overnight and early morning hours. My provision requires the FAA to review noise exposure and its effects on communities around airports and report on whether the current 65 DNL standard should be updated. The limit was first set in the 1970’s. The science behind noise exposure has gotten more sophisticated and the FAA should update its approach.

The legislation also includes a provision I worked on with Rep. Stephen Lynch that will require the FAA to study the impact of airplane noise on the public health. This will include examining how noise impacts sleep patterns and blood pressure.

Through this legislation the FAA is now required to more closely study how RNAV and other policies are impacting the people who live below flight paths. Reasonable people understand that Logan Airport cannot be relocated and some airplane noise is an unavoidable part of urban living. This doesn’t mean however, that some communities should be unfairly burdened by airplane noise. I voted YES. H.R. 302 passed and the entire vote is recorded below:

The Federal Budget

The House on Wednesday considered the Conference Report to accompany H.R. 6157 – the Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act of 2019. This legislation funds portions of the federal budget for the fiscal year beginning on October 1st. The conference report also extends the Violence Against Women Act until December 7th. It includes a continuing resolution that funds unfinished appropriations bills through December 7th. I voted YES. The conference report passed and the entire vote is recorded below:

Misguided Effort to Increase Retirement Savings

Yesterday the House considered H.R. 6757, the Family Savings Act of 2018. This legislation establishes provisions proponents argue will help increase retirement savings. The problem with H.R. 6757 is that it adds $21 billion to the deficit and primarily benefits wealthier Americans. For example, the legislation establishes Universal Service Accounts (USA), which are a new type of tax-free savings account. Their primary purpose would be to allow wealthy individuals to shift their current savings from taxable accounts to these tax-free ones. This is essentially a tax shelter which alone will increase the deficit by over $8 billion. I voted NO. H.R. 6757 passed and the entire vote is recorded below:

Irresponsibly Adding to the Deficit

Yesterday the House also considered H.R. 6756, the American Innovation Act of 2018. This legislation enhances deductions for small businesses but increases the deficit by $5 billion. I voted NO. H.R. 6756 passed and the entire vote is recorded below:

More Tax Benefits for the Wealthy

Today the House considered H.R. 6760, the Protecting Family and Small Business Tax Cuts Act of 2018. The Joint Committee on Taxation has determined that this fiscally irresponsible legislation will add more than $600 billion to the deficit over ten years. Portions of this bill won’t go into effect until 2026. At that point, the Tax Policy Center concludes it will ultimately increase the deficit by over $3 trillion in the ten years after its implemented. H.R. 6760 makes some of the provisions from last year’s tax package permanent. Some of them primarily benefit the wealthy, such as the doubling of the estate tax exemption and lowering taxes on “pass-through” business income. Other provisions that this bill makes permanent increase tax burdens on the middle class. These include capping both the mortgage interest deduction and the state and local taxes deduction, both of which are important deductions for middle class families and they particularly impact those in states, like Massachusetts, where housing costs are high. I voted NO. H.R. 6760 passed and the entire vote is recorded below:

What’s Up Next

The next House session is currently scheduled to begin on Tuesday November 13th.