Rich Neal: “Today we are debating a very serious piece of legislation. This legislation reinstates Federal aviation taxes which…”

“Today we are debating a very serious piece of legislation. This legislation reinstates Federal aviation taxes which expired at the end of the year. Due to our failure to reach a budget agreement and only the willingness to enact short-term extensions, we are now faced with this serious situation. The House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Finance Committee, acting in a bipartisan manner, moved quickly on this legislation, and we have indeed offered what I think is a correction. But unfortunately there are those who will have people believe that this is a tax increase. This is an extension of a tax that expired because of the Congress' inability to promptly renew the tax. I do not think any of us here are in favor of raising taxes, and what we must remember is that this is not a new tax. Revenue from these taxes are placed in the airport and airway trust fund, and I underscore the term trust fund. The fund provides 100 percent of the Federal funding for airport improvements, facilities, equipment, research, engineering, planning, and development projects and about 75 percent of the Federal Aviation Administration's operating funds.”