On Wednesday, lawmakers in the U.S. House unveiled a comprehensive government spending package that would fully fund federal agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) through the end of fiscal year 2026.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, covers multiple departments and is designed to prevent a government shutdown when temporary funding expires January 30.
If approved, the legislation would provide the FAA budget with $22.2 billion, an increase of $1.2 billion over FY 2025 levels. The budget includes a $235 million boost for the Air Traffic Organization, $824 million for facilities and equipment, and funding to hire 2,500 new air traffic controllers, addressing ongoing staffing shortages that have challenged the National Airspace System. The bill also repurposes more than $368 million from the 2021 infrastructure law for the Airport Improvement Program.
The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) praised the legislation as an important step toward securing FY 2026 funding, while saying it continues to review the bill’s funding levels and directives.
The House is expected to vote on the measure this week before sending it to the Senate.
Does this bill include anything to attract better qualified candidates for those controller jobs to address the staggering washout rate in training?
Is the DEI hire mentality and people pushing it dead and Buried? Otherwise it’s a useless waste of funds. Another idea, hire GA pilots that are IR. The way things were before the PATCO fiasco.
If they turn the money over to the same people who have either created the problems that exist today, failed to address them, or denied they were problems, the results will be the same as they have been. That includes DEI, NextGen wasting billions and producing very little value in return, increasing management and administration positions, and a myriad of other bad decisions. Not to mention the difference between hiring 2,500 controllers or hiring 2,500 candidates to train to become controllers and getting about 1,250 controllers, not accounting for retirements and resignations in the current workforce along the way. Simply throwing money at the problems will not resolve them, although it will take money but invested wisely for once.