ASA Supports FY24 Transportation Infrastructure Funding

ASA, along with the Transportation Construction Coalition, sent support letters to the House and Senate Appropriation Committee Leadership urging the timely completion of Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 transportation appropriations at levels authorized in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).  The second year of the IIJA is underway, and real-world improvements to safety, commute times, and freight movement are being seen nationwide. Over 35,000 road, bridge and safety projects have received IIJA support in the 18 months since the law’s enactment with much more to come. State departments of transportation and transit agencies depend on Congress appropriating to the levels authorized in the IIJA for core highway and public transit programs, providing the certainty the IIJA gives to advance long-term projects.

Additionally, we call on Congress to increase investment in aviation-related construction programs in any reauthorization of the federal aviation programs. We greatly appreciate the $25 billion in airport upgrades over five years included in IIJA. These resources will facilitate improvements for airport terminals and runways across the country. While helpful, more investment is needed to handle the expected increase in passenger levels from 800 million in 2023 to 1.4 billion by 2043. The Airports Council International-North America estimates airports will need $151 billion from 2023 to 2027.  We urge the House and Senate to raise or eliminate the cap on the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) and increase Airport Improvement Program (AIP) investment levels in any aviation program reauthorization legislation to help address the $30 billion in annual airport capital investment needs. These investments can help reduce congestion on the runway and ensure more on-time flights. The PFC has been capped at $4.50 per enplanement since 2000, and AIP investment capped at $3.35 billion per year since 2012. Smaller airports have been disproportionately impacted by this as they have fewer opportunities to raise revenue and as a result, rely heavily on AIP to fund important taxiway and runway projects. We urge Congress to uncap the PFC and increase AIP funding levels to modernize the nation’s airport infrastructure facilities.