With the five-year highway-transit FAST Act in place, the main congressional infrastructure issue for early 2016 is a bill to reauthorize Federal Aviation Administration programs for the next several years. In that legislation, construction firms want Congress to boost two prime infrastructure funding sources: Passenger Facility Charges (PFCs) and the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program (AIP) construction grants.
An FAA bill leads the 2016 agendas for the House Transportation and Infrastructure and Senate commerce committees, but the panels’ leaders have yet to introduce proposals. Lawmakers must act by March 31, when a stopgap authorization expires.