Congress funds $5B airport-access infrastructure program for states and cities
S. 1966 — Don't Miss Your Flight Act · Filed by Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Jun 5, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
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What it does
This bill creates a $5 billion federal grant program (2027–2031) for surface transportation projects that connect to airports—highways, bridges, public transit, and rail within 5 miles of public airports. States, tribes, and local governments can apply. At least 50% of funds must go to large hub airports and 30% to medium hub airports. Applicants can count certain federal loans and airport fees toward their local cost-share.
Why we flagged it
The bill establishes a straightforward federal grant program for surface transportation projects near airports. It is a direct appropriation and allocation mechanism with clear eligibility criteria and funding distribution rules.
What the text implies
- The 5-mile radius around airports may capture projects in surrounding communities that benefit from airport access but are not primarily airport-dependent, potentially spreading funds beyond core airport connectivity.
- Mandatory allocation to large and medium hub airports (80% combined) may leave smaller regional airports with limited funding despite serving underconnected areas.
- Eligible entities can count TIFIA loans and passenger facility charges toward non-Federal cost-share, potentially allowing airports to leverage existing debt or user fees to unlock federal grants, which may increase long-term airport debt burdens.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill funds public infrastructure improvements that reduce congestion and expand transportation capacity near airports, benefiting travelers and communities. The mandatory allocation to large and medium hub airports ensures funds reach high-traffic corridors where congestion relief has broad public impact.
Who stands to gain
- state transportation departments
- local governments and transit agencies
- Indian tribes with airport infrastructure
- construction and engineering firms (indirect, as project contractors)
Named in the bill
Secretary of Transportation, States, Indian Tribes, Local governments, Public airports, Large hub airports, Medium hub airports, Highway Trust Fund, TIFIA program, Passenger facility charges
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Jun 5, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jun 5, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
8 lobbying clients named this bill on 11 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $4,020,928 in lobbying spend. A filing names 16 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 88% of bills with at least one filing.
Tammy Duckworth, the sponsor, reported $145,182 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle. $-2,500 of that came from 1 PAC tied to these lobbying clients.
- American Association of Airport Executives — $1,172,100 on 1 filing
- International Brotherhood of Teamsters — $813,627 on 2 filings
- Airports Council International -- North America — $775,201 on 1 filing
- Southwest Airlines — $760,000 on 2 filings
- National Air Traffic Controllers Association — $360,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 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 (3,582 characters) on Sep 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,522 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 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-21.
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