HASH IT OUT: Lawmakers intend to get the FAA reauthorization buttoned up in the coming weeks. But there’s been some scuffling over estimates by the Transportation Security Administration about how much it would cost to enact a provision from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that would give lawmakers and other officials protective security as they travel through airports. Slipping through? The cost — ranging anywhere from $11 million up to half a billion depending on who provides the escort and other related criteria — isn’t the only factor some lawmakers have concerns about, Oriana reports. From the TSA estimates and analysis provided to the House Homeland Security Committee Democratic office, TSA is interpreting that "specialized screening" to mean lawmakers, judges and others who receive the extra security as warranted, don't always have to go through traditional screening like baggage or body scanners — only showing IDs. Some lawmakers, mostly Democrats, say Congress shouldn’t get special treatment or place undue burden on TSA, which already has a central mission to protect the traveling public. To recap, Cruz's language, which was included in the version of the bill marked up by the Senate Commerce Committee (S.1939) earlier this year, would require TSA to either provide or arrange for another law enforcement body to escort political VIPs. The language specifies that those under escort would have to have been under threat at some point in time. Oriana has more here. WAITING ON THE SENATE TO CHANGE: With the FAA’s authorization set to expire May 10, frustrations are boiling up with some members of the House. ‘LOTS OF FRUSTRATION’: “I'm not going to point fingers, but it's not the House,” Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., said of the hold up on H.R. 3935 and S. 1939. Graves told POLITICO the House has “more than done its job in this case” and that the May 10 deadline “was a very doable schedule based upon any reasonable standards of negotiation.” NOT READY TO BUDGE ON MAY 10: “I am absolutely, absolutely not ready to budge on the May 10 deadline at this point,” Graves said. “As far as I'm concerned, right now, if the Senate wants to force the FAA into an unauthorized agency that's going to be on them.” — On Saturday, the Senate announced a motion to proceed for H.R. 3935, establishing a placeholder for whenever lawmakers decide to take it up. — Lawmakers for months have wanted a resolution for the FAA and the national airspace system it supports, which is under strain amid a spate of air traffic control staffing shortages and airplane near-misses. Speaking of: Virginia's and Maryland’s Senate delegations are seizing on the near-miss at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport last week when Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways planes almost collided while on the tarmac. The lawmakers are once again making their case for dropping any expansion of beyond-perimeter slots at the airport. (The Senate’s FAA bill would allow five extra round-trip flights per day. As MT readers know, Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine in tandem with Maryland Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen don’t want the extra flights added and have said any extra congestion could also jeopardize safety. However, other lawmakers and some airlines want the boost). ‘Will make it worse’: Oriana caught up with Kaine on Friday, who said that his office has been in close contact with the FAA on the issue.. “What the FAA is saying is that any increase in operations into Reagan National right now will take an airport that is already significant in its delay…and will make matters worse,” he said. “And when you have an airport that's this busy, and it's all essentially focused on the single runway, you just run the risk of danger.” The FAA in a statement said it will respond to Kaine directly, and did not address his comments. “In the face of what the FAA is telling us, and in the face of instances [of the near-miss], there's no reason that Congress should say, ‘Well we don't care about any of that, [just] increase operations,’” Kaine said. He added that he will continue to speak to Commerce Committee chair Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and ranking member Cruz before the FAA bill is finalized. CONTROLLER REST EXTENDED: The FAA announced Friday that air traffic controllers, whose workforce has been undermined by fatigue and stress, will now have 10 hours of rest before beginning a shift — 12 hours if it’s a midnight one. The move came as a result of an independent expert-panel study into air traffic controller fatigue, released Friday, Oriana writes. NOT SO FAST: The National Air Traffic Controllers Association on Friday chastised the FAA for essentially moving too fast, saying the FAA hasn’t “modeled these changes to determine what unintended consequences they may have to the already strained air traffic control staffing coverage." NTSB PRAISES: NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, however, was out with quick praise for the action, saying in a statement that her agency has been “calling for action on controller fatigue for more than 18 years.” “I am pleased to see today’s action by Administrator Whitaker, although much more work remains to be done,” she said. STOP SKIPPING: Two California state lawmakers are fed up with those who pay a premium to skip airport security lines and are doing something about it. A first in the nation bill, introduced by a Democrat and supported by a Republican, would boot companies like CLEAR from California airports unless they obtain their own dedicated security lane. Currently, CLEAR customers pay $189 a year to verify their identities at airport kiosks so they can jump the long TSA lines. “The least you can expect when you have to go through the security line at the airport is that you don’t suffer the indignity of somebody pushing you out of the way to let the rich person pass you,” Josh Newman, the Democratic lawmaker who authored the bill, told POLITICO's Eric He. And Janet Nguyen, a Republican, is supporting the bill because she said the service results in “a haves vs. have nots where those who can afford it jump in front of the rest of us.” Several airlines, including Delta, United and JetBlue, oppose the bill and argue if they lost the money CLEAR generates for them, they might have to hike their flight prices.
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