FAA keeps flying during shutdown—using aviation tax revenue, not Congress.
H.R. 5451 — Aviation Funding Stability Act of 2025 · Filed by Steve Cohen (D-TN) · 75 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 18, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill allows the FAA to continue operating during a government shutdown by drawing from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (a dedicated aviation tax revenue fund) instead of requiring a new appropriation. The FAA can spend at the prior year's rate for up to 30 days or until Congress passes a budget, whichever comes first. This keeps air traffic control, safety inspections, and airport grants running without interruption during shutdown standoffs.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to prevent FAA shutdown furloughs by authorizing continued spending from a dedicated trust fund during appropriation lapses. This is a structural fix to preserve essential safety operations, not a subsidy or deregulation.
What the text implies
- Removes leverage Congress has historically used to force FAA budget negotiations—shutdowns no longer force FAA furloughs, potentially reducing pressure to pass timely appropriations.
- Trust Fund spending authority continues into the next fiscal year if a shutdown extends past 30 days (subsection e), creating indefinite spending authority without new appropriation.
- The 30-day cap is a soft limit; if Congress passes a continuing resolution before day 30, FAA spending continues under that CR, potentially extending shutdown-era spending levels beyond the intended temporary period.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Citizens retain critical aviation safety services (air traffic control, runway inspections, safety oversight) during government shutdowns, eliminating the disruption and safety risk of FAA furloughs. The bill uses dedicated aviation tax revenue already collected for this purpose, not general taxpayer funds.
Named in the bill
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Airport and Airway Trust Fund, Internal Revenue Code Section 9502, House Committee on Ways and Means
Where it stands
75 cosponsors: 75 Democrats.
- Sep 18, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 18, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means and House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
11 lobbying clients named this bill on 13 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $6,866,388 in lobbying spend. A filing names 13 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 92% of bills with at least one filing.
Steve Cohen, the sponsor, reported $315,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle. $10,000 of that came from 1 PAC tied to these lobbying clients.
- Fedex Corporation — $2,930,000 on 1 filing
- Delta Air Lines Inc — $1,460,000 on 1 filing
- American Association of Airport Executives — $1,172,100 on 1 filing
- Airports Council International -- North America — $775,201 on 1 filing
- Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association — $240,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 24, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (4,262 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 24, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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