By Alex Daugherty

With help from Oriana Pawlyk 

— The federal government remains open and FAA’s authorization did not lapse, but big decisions will need to be made before the end of the year.

— The United Auto Workers expand its strike, though some talks have progressed.

— New York City’s infrastructure was soaked by flash flooding that took down subways and airports.  

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NEW DEADLINES: Congress managed to avoid a shutdown on Saturday, along with a lapse in the FAA’s authorization, but the weekend work merely delays some big decisions for a few months. The Senate now has until the end of the year to hash out disagreements over commercial pilot training requirements that have kept the chamber’s five-year reauthorization Bill, S. 1939 (118), in limbo since June. Oriana has more on the transportation angles in a drama-filled day on Capitol Hill.

House Transportation Committee leaders Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) got their preferred shorter extension (the FAA wanted six months) and they argued that the Senate needs to act. Continual short-term extensions, which were commonplace for years before the 2018 FAA reauthorization, “will be detrimental to the FAA, airport infrastructure improvements, and the aviation industry,” Larsen and Graves said in a statement.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said Saturday evening that the traveling public “deserve an FAA reauthorization bill that will give the agency the steady authority and the tools and resources necessary to be the global leader in aviation safety.” While there’s no end in sight to the Senate’s pilot training dispute, Cantwell’s committee will hear from President Joe Biden’s FAA administrator nominee, Mike Whitaker, this week. Getting a Senate-confirmed administrator in place would give the FAA more stability and the Biden administration a public face for major issues like an uptick in near misses and a surge in air travel.

But, for now, FAA employees will show up to work. Air traffic controllers and TSA baggage screeners will get paid. And a potential authorization lapse that would have cost the agency $54 million each day in lost taxes was avoided. We’ll need to see what the political fallout of the last-minute shutdown deal means for Congress, particularly for Speaker Kevin McCarthy, but it’s possible we could find ourselves in a similar situation next month when government funding is scheduled to run out. And the holiday season could bring more headaches, too, if a long-term FAA bill turns into a long shot.

Our Congress team has more on McCarthy’s stunning reversal (complete with a fire alarm) and the Senate acting quickly to avert a shutdown.

MORE WALKOUTS: UAW President Shawn Fain said Friday 7,000 workers will walk out at a Ford facility in Chicago and a GM plant in Lansing, Mich., Olivia Olander and Nick Niedzwiadek report, marking another expansion of the two-week-old strike. The union spared Stellantis from this round of expanded work stoppages, with Fain citing some progress in talks.

The strike expansion will add further pressure on the car companies and comes days after both Biden and former President Donald Trump traveled to Michigan to court the support of blue-collar workers, a key political constituency ahead of the 2024 elections. About 25,000 of the UAW’s nearly 150,000 members are now on strike, keeping the door open to a more extensive walkout or a full-on strike of all UAW workers at all three major Detroit carmakers.

Fain said Friday that Stellanits “made significant progress on the 2009 cost-of-living allowance, the right to not cross a picket line, as well as the right to strike over product commitments, plant closures and outsourcing moratoriums.”

THUD FIGHT? The House is now in town for the next two weeks to consider appropriations bills, including THUD, which is currently on the schedule for floor consideration the week of Oct. 9. A bipartisan group of House members is urging the House not to include proposed Amtrak funding cuts for intercity passenger rail and the Northeast Corridor. The THUD spending bill as of now would cut the Amtrak’s budget by $1.5 billion.

Eight Republicans, enough to flip the chamber or derail a spending bill vote, signed on to a recent letter from Reps. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio), Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) arguing that the proposed cuts “will undermine necessary state-of-good repair work, inhibit progress on other capital projects, and runs counter to the interests of millions of our constituents who rely on efficient and reliable rail services.” One appropriations bill, Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration, went down last week, due in part to objections from the center of the House GOP caucus.

R.I.P., SENATOR FEINSTEIN: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who died Friday at the age of 90, was one of Capitol Hill’s biggest proponents (along with then-fellow California Sen. Barbara Boxer) of implementing positive train control, pushing the issue for years after the NTSB recommended it. She particularly was moved by the 2008 Chatsworth Metrolink crash that killed 25 people. Positive train control was finally fully implemented in 2020.

SLIGHT SIGH OF RELIEF: Sports leagues that were awaiting an extension of counter-drone authorities can breathe easier until mid-November. As part of the continuing resolution bill passed by both chambers Saturday, the DHS and DOJ still have the ability to protect facilities that house large gathering events from errant or malicious drones through Nov. 18. But leagues like the NFL and NASCAR are still keeping a watchful eye on what Congress does next.

Inching in: Separate from the DHS authority, the House-passed FAA reauthorization act would allow the FAA to grant flight waivers to aircraft to fly within an area covered by a temporary flight restriction on a case-by-case basis (within three-quarters of a mile of a stadium or other event space, to be exact) — something that makes the leagues a bit nervous.

“We strongly oppose the weakening of temporary flight restrictions put in place after 9/11 to clear American airspace around major events,” NFL spokesperson Tim Schlittner told POLITICO on Friday. “This is a moment to do more, not less, to protect our fans,” he said.

The skies ahead: The Senate is still working through its version of the FAA bill, though lawmakers would require aircraft-like drones to comply with all airspace and flight restrictions as it stands. Meanwhile, DHS hopes to expand authorities with its own proposal — if lawmakers sign-off — that would reauthorize those rules, and more, through 2030.

GET THE TRAIN MOVING: While New Jersey Democratic Reps. Rob Menendez and Bill Pascrell remain steadfastly opposed to New York’s congestion pricing plan, they argued Friday that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority should extend New York City’s 7 Subway line to New Jersey, throwing a bone to New Jersey commuters.

“We strongly urge the MTA and New York City to provide additional trans-Hudson rail services to commuters through the expansion of the 7 Train,” Menendez and Pascrell wrote in a letter to the MTA. “While we disagree with the MTA’s decision to move forward with the [congestion pricing] program, we look forward to engaging in a productive dialogue that will both benefit New Jersey residents and further the plan’s stated goal of getting cars off the road.”

The lawmakers pointed to a 2013 study that evaluated extending the 7 Train via a two-track tunnel under the Hudson River to Secaucus, N.J., allowing for an estimated rider capacity of 128,000 people per day.

WHEN IT RAINS ... : Torrential flooding led to a state of emergency in New York on Friday, temporarily closing parts of LaGuardia International Airport while inundating roads, subways and rail lines. At one point, more than 4 inches of rain fell within one hour in Brooklyn (similar to a thunderstorm earlier this year in South Florida that shuttered Fort Lauderdale International Airport). About half of the city’s subway system was either partially or fully suspended.

And the response from elected officials drew criticism, Joe Anuta reports, particularly toward New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who did not publicly discuss the storm at all ahead of the Friday morning press conference. Gov. Kathy Hochul was on the airwaves Thursday evening ahead of the storm while Adams attended a reelection fundraiser. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday he will seek federal disaster funding for New York, Anthony Adragna reports.

— “Boeing CEO says travel demand recovery is ‘more resilient’ than he imagined.” CNBC.

— “Awful airports have one common feature: ‘Too many stakeholders.’” Bloomberg.

— “How about a trip that's all airports, no flying?” The Wall Street Journal.

— “Gaetz vows to move to boot McCarthy this week.” POLITICO.

Nothing on our radar!

Did we miss an event? Let MT know at [email protected].

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