Hearing Report: Lawmakers Call for More Infrastructure Funding
May 19, 2026
During a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation today, DOT Secretary Sean Duffy defended the administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget request, discussed air traffic control modernization, and tangled with Democrats over his involvement in the “Great American Road Trip,” a YouTube series sponsored by various companies.
IIJA Funding: Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) and other Democratic lawmakers called for more infrastructure funding to fill the gap caused by the upcoming end of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The measure expires at the end of September, and Murray pointed out that without Congressional action, “communities across the country are going to immediately lose access to about $37 billion in transportation funding.”
With no new funding being made available under IIJA for airports after FY26, AAAE has been urging Congress to extend the three IIJA airport programs in FY27. We have argued that without an extension, federal investments in airports would drop precipitously by about $4 billion, leaving a critical void in funding projects that enhance safety, upgrade aging facilities, and improve the travel experience for passengers.
ATC Modernization: Democrats and Republicans voiced support for the administration’s ongoing efforts to modernize the air traffic control system. Secretary Duffy told lawmakers that FAA has replaced almost 50 percent of copper wire with fiber optic cable, converted 278 radio sites, and transitioned 17 air traffic control towers to electronic flight strips.
Essential Air Service: Not surprisingly, several lawmakers including Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) and Transportation Subcommittee Chair Cindy Hyde-Smith voiced support for the Essential Air Service program. The administration’s FY27 budget request is proposing to cut discretionary EAS funding by approximately $372 million. Congress rejected a similar proposal by the administration to cut EAS in FY26.
Terminal Development: The FAA reauthorization bill, which Congress passed in 2024, increased the cap on the amount of discretionary funds that non-hub and certain small hub airports can use for terminal projects from $20 million to $30 million. However, Senator John Hoeven (R-ND) told Secretary Duffy that FAA says the cap is cumulative, creating a “problem for some of our fastest growing airports in these smaller markets.” Hoeven called for flexibility to help smaller airports move forward with costly terminal projects.
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