Transportation Appropriations Likely to Be Part of Omnibus Spending Bill
Change to pilot age limit depends on bill’s passage.
With the end of the year quickly approaching, U.S. Senate leaders have decided against bringing the Transportation Appropriations conference report to the floor for a vote and instead have agreed to expedite the process by rolling it into an omnibus spending package with 10 other unfinished Fiscal 2008 spending bills. The measure would require approval by both the House and the Senate.
The Transportation Appropriations conference report that includes language increasing the mandatory retirement age of airline pilots to 65 was approved by the House of Representatives on November 14 by a 270-147vote. The Senate scuttled plans to vote on the conference report before the Thanksgiving recess after President Bush threatened to veto the bill.
Bush is making similar threats to veto any omnibus spending bill that does not meet his overall funding level. Democrats have proposed spending $23 billion more than Bush but have shaved $10.6 billion from their original plan in an effort to either win over the president or to lure enough congressional Republicans to trump a veto threat.
Much of the federal government is currently operating under a stopgap spending bill known as a continuing resolution (CR), which expires December 14. Congress will probably enact another short-term CR, lasting about a week, to December 21, if the appropriations work is not completed by December 14.
Negotiations between the White House and Congress will ultimately decide whether an agreement on an omnibus spending package can be reached before the end of the year. If a deal can be completed and the president signs the legislation, it will trigger a change to the upper age limit. If a deal cannot be reached, Congress will be forced to pass another CR—funding the government through the early part of next year while allowing negotiations to resume when Congress reconvenes in mid-January 2008.
