Overview
- The proposal would tap a dormant post‑9/11 flight insurance fund holding about $2.6 billion, with draws stopping if the balance falls below $1 billion.
- Transportation Committee staff estimate the remaining funds could sustain FAA salaries and core functions for roughly four to six weeks during a funding lapse.
- Sponsors include Chairman Sam Graves, Democrats Rick Larsen and Andre Carson, and Republican Troy Nehls, who leads the House aviation subcommittee.
- Witnesses told senators the shutdown coincided with taxiway close calls, daily shifts in staffing shortages, resignations and trainee attrition, and they reported a controller suicide.
- Lawmakers sought the safety data behind the FAA order cutting flights at 40 airports during the shutdown, while industry groups urged shutdown-proof protections and cited millions of disrupted travelers and halted certification work, including about 600 paused hires.