Wyden Seeks Life for Stalled Tax Bill With FAA Legislation

Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is pushing for inclusion of a House-passed tax bill on the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill that lawmakers in his chamber will take up soon.

The top Senate Democratic tax writer will file an amendment to the aviation bill language that includes the tax bill, his office said Friday. Many tax watchers had identified the FAA bill as a theoretical landing spot for the tax measure that’s stalled in the Senate, though just proposing the amendment doesn’t mean it will be attached or even get a vote.

• Negotiators recently revealed their 1,068-page aviation bill, and Wyden’s amendment is one of dozens that was filed on the bill.
• Lawmakers have so far been unsuccessful in narrowing the number of amendments on the FAA bill that would get votes to move the legislation quickly before its May 10 expiration. The FAA has tax provisions of its own, but they’ve been largely uncontroversial.
• The FAA bill has encountered hiccups—and several stopgap extensions—of its own, suggesting that even if the tax bill amendment were to get a vote, lawmakers may vote it down because adding the tax bill, which has strong Senate GOP opposition, could also stall the FAA bill.