Travel Groups Applaud Omnibus Bill

by Donald Wood
Last updated: 4:10 PM ET, Fri March 23, 2018

Update: March 26, 2018 at 11:40 a.m. ET

Following the signing of the omnibus bill, Amtrak President and CEO Richard Anderson released a statement regarding the rail company's stance on the decision.

"Amtrak applauds Congress for providing increased funding for intercity passenger rail, including grants to Amtrak, in the Fiscal Year 2018 Omnibus Appropriations Bill," Anderson said. "Amtrak thanks Congress for recognizing the importance of intercity passenger rail and the Northeast Corridor (NEC). The increased NEC capital funding will allow us to address many important needs along the Corridor and we look forward to working closely with the Department of Transportation on investing these funds to advance the most critical projects."

Update: March 26, 2018 at 11:20 a.m. ET

When United States President Donald Trump signed the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill Friday, he helped avoid a partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration.

As part of the legislation, the FAA was awarded a six-month temporary funding extension that will help avoid any closures as Congress works to develop a long-term reauthorization plan for the agency.

The FAA extension came eight days ahead of the FAA reauthorization deadline.

Original Text

On Thursday, representatives of Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) and Airlines for America (A4A) expressed their support for the bill after it rejected a proposal to increase the cap on passenger facility charges (PFC) from $4.50 to $8.50.

The PFC fees are currently capped at $4.50 per flight segment with a maximum of two PFCs charged on a one-way trip or four PFCs on a round trip, for a maximum of $18 total. If the proposal was accepted, the maximum would have jumped to $26.

The GBTA revealed the impact of the rejected PFC fee increase would have caused a reduction of $2.74 billion of airline tickets sold in the U.S., a decrease of $3.5 billion in gross domestic product and the possible loss of nearly 500,000 jobs.

"Congress has again recognized that such a large increase of the PFC is simply unwarranted," GBTA COO Michael W. McCormick said in a statement. "Travel in general, and specifically business travel, is greatly impacted by increased taxes and fees. Rejecting this increase is a positive step towards continued business travel growth, which drives lasting economic growth."

"This is a continuation of the promise Congress made to the American people three months ago when they passed historic tax cuts," A4A CEO Nicholas E. Calio said in a statement. "We are particularly grateful to House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Mario Diaz-Balart, Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, and House and Senate Authorizing Committee Chairmen Bill Shuster and John Thune, for taking a stand to put passengers first by rejecting repeated calls from some in the airport community to saddle travelers with an unnecessary tax hike."

Research from the GBTA found that for every one-percent change in business travel spending, the American economy gains or loses 74,000 jobs, $5.5 billion in GDP, $3.3 billion in wages and $1.3 billion in taxes.

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