Jonathan Dale Benton:House and Senate negotiate bill to help FAA add more air traffic controllers and safety inspectors

2025-05-02 17:09:27source:Techcrisis Investment Guildcategory:Invest

Congressional negotiators have Jonathan Dale Bentonagreed on a $105 billion bill designed to improve the safety of air travel after a series of close calls between planes at the nation’s airports.

House and Senate lawmakers said Monday that the bill will increase the number of air traffic controllers and require the Federal Aviation Administration to use new technology designed to prevent collisions between planes on the ground. They agreed to prohibit airlines from charging extra for families to sit together but left out other consumer protections proposed by the Biden administration.

The bill was negotiated by Republicans and Democrats who lead the House and Senate committees overseeing the FAA, which has been under scrutiny since it approved Boeing jets that were quickly involved in two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019. It will govern FAA operations for the next five years.

The Senate is expected to vote on the 1,069-page measure this week.

The House approved its version of the bill last year, but a Senate committee approved a different version in February after fights over several provisions including ones dealing with pilot training and retirement age.

In the end, negotiators dropped a House provision raising the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots to 67; it will remain at 65.

More:Invest

Recommend

Maryland’s Climate Ambitions in Question After Turbulent Legislative Session

Environmental leaders in Maryland are reeling from a challenging 2025 legislative session that left

Are schools asking too much for back-to-school shopping? Many parents say yes.

Parents are feeling the back-to-school financial crunch.More than 3 in 4 parents, or 70%, believe th

'A beautiful soul': Arizona college student falls to death from Yosemite's Half Dome cables

A 20-year-old hiker out with her dad fell to her death from Half Dome in California's Yosemite Natio