FAA keeps flying during shutdown using insurance fund as backup
H.R. 6086 — Aviation Funding Solvency Act · Filed by Sam Graves (R-MO) · 29 cosponsors · Introduced Nov 18, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill allows the FAA to use money from its Aviation Insurance Revolving Fund to keep operating during a government shutdown, drawing down the fund balance above $1 billion to pay for ongoing FAA programs and employee salaries. It also extends the FAA's authority to provide war risk insurance for commercial aircraft.
Why we flagged it
The bill is a shutdown-contingency mechanism that preserves essential federal aviation safety functions by authorizing use of an existing insurance fund as a backstop appropriation source, not a permanent policy change or subsidy.
- Section 3 amends war risk insurance authority (44310 USC) with incomplete text; appears substantively unrelated to shutdown funding mechanism.
What the text implies
- The $1 billion floor on the Aviation Insurance Revolving Fund becomes a de facto minimum reserve, potentially constraining the FAA's ability to issue war risk insurance during normal operations if the fund approaches that threshold.
- Charging shutdown-period expenditures back to regular appropriations once enacted may create accounting complexity and potential disputes over which fiscal year bears the cost.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
commercial aviation industry (war risk insurance backstop); airlines (continuity of FAA oversight and air traffic control during shutdowns)