By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. House Republicans are proposing $15 billion in new funding for air traffic control reform and a new $200 fee on electric cars as part of wide-range tax reform bill under consideration.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday will take up the proposal Wednesday from Representative Sam Graves, who heads the panel. The proposal includes new funding through 2029 for replacing aging facilities including air traffic control towers, radar systems and telecommunications infrastructure as well as $1 billion for air traffic control hiring.
In March 2024, then-president Joe Biden proposed to spend $8 billion over five years to replace or modernize more than 20 aging air traffic control facilities and 377 critical radar systems. A quarter of all FAA facilities are 50 years old or older and aging systems have repeatedly sparked delays, including major issues at Newark on Monday.
The bill also proposes a new $200 electric vehicle fee because most revenue for federally funded road repairs is collected through diesel and gasoline taxes, which EV drivers do not pay. The bill would also propose a $100 fee on hybrids and $20 federal annual registration on all vehicles starting in 2031.
Those fees would raise at least $50 billion over ten years for highway repairs.
Some states charge fees for electric vehicles to cover road repair costs. Congress for the past three decades has opted not to hike fuel taxes to pay for rising road repair costs. Some Republican senators in February proposed a $1,000 tax on EVs for road repair costs.
Since 2008, more than $275 billion has been shifted from the general fund to pay for road repairs.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy plans to ask Congress for tens of billions of dollars for a multi-year effort to revamp Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control infrastructure and boost hiring.
A persistent shortage of controllers has delayed flights and, at many facilities, controllers are working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks. The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels.
The January 29 collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines that killed 67 people and other safety incidents have sparked calls for reform.
A coalition of aviation groups representing airlines, manufacturers and unions on Tuesday called Graves’ proposal “a much needed downpayment on achieving these benefits for the Americans who fly and ship goods every day.”
(Reporting by David ShepardsonEditing by Peter Graff)
