House Passes FAA Reauthorization Bill

 

On April 27, the House passed, by a vote of 393-13, the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (H.R. 4), which reauthorizes the Federal Aviation Administration through FY 2023; the current FAA authorization expires on Sept 30, 2018. Title VI of the bill includes the text of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act (DRRA), which includes "bipartisan FEMA reforms providing greater focus on pre-disaster mitigation in order to lessen the impacts of future disasters, saving lives and saving taxpayer dollars." A section-by-section summary of H.R. 4 is available here, and more detailed information on the FAA provisions of the bill and the DRRA are available here and here. The House also considered 113 amendments to H.R. 4, approving 105 and rejecting 8. The Trump Administration issued a Statement of Administration for H.R. 4, stating that " The Administration appreciates the House's commitment to passing a timely bill to reauthorize the FAA and looks forward to working with all Members to enact legislation that modernizes our aviation systems, appropriately strengthens the Government's ability to respond to and address UAS threats, reduces regulatory burdens, and protects taxpayer dollars." H.R. 4 now heads to the Senate for consideration within the next several months. Read more.

On April 24, U.S. District Court Judge John Bates ruled against the Trump Administration's justification for winding down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, saying the Department of Homeland Security's explanation was unpersuasive and too flimsy. The decision opened up the possibility that the administration could be ordered to take new DACA applications, which no other judge has required, if DHS does not come up with a new explanation for ending the program. Read more. 

On April 26, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 14-7 to approve a bill that would protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller from being fired without cause, even though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said the measure will not get a vote on the Senate floor. The bill, the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act ( S. 2644), was supported by all 10 Democratic Senators on the Committee, in addition to Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Jeff Flake (R-AZ). Read more. 

On April 24, former Republican state senator Debbie Lesko defeated Democratic physician Hiral Tipirneni in a special election in Arizona's 8th Congressional District to fill the vacancy left by former Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), who resigned on December 8, 2017 over sexual misconduct allegations. Lesko defeated Tiperneni by 5.2 percentage points ( 52.6% to 47.4%) in a Congressional District that President Trump won by 21 percentage points in 2016. Lesko will be sworn into the House on May 7. Read more. 

On April 25, the House passed, by a vote of 225-189, a bill ( H.R. 3144) to require dams along the Columbia River and its tributaries in the Pacific Northwest to continue using current practices regarding salmon until at least 2022, and block any action that restricts electrical generation at federal dams on the Snake River, a tributary of the Columbia River, without further congressional action explicitly authorizing it. The current Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) operation plan was struck down by the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon in 2016 after it found that the plan was inadequate and jeopardized the existence of several listed salmon and steelhead fish species protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Read more.