Kansas senator Pat Roberts spoke on the Senate floor about legislation renewing funding for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that will improve air safety and benefit the Kansas economy.

As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, Roberts fought against a proposal to place a user fee on general aviation; user fees were struck from the compromise agreement. The bipartisan agreement was reached by the Senate Finance and Commerce committees on reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration and  Airport and Airway Trust Fund.

About 40,000 employees in Wichita and surrounding counties make their living building planes, manufacturing parts and
servicing aviation. The aviation industry directly and indirectly supports more than 140,000 jobs in Kansas, and will soon contribute roughly $9 billion annually to the state's economy. Kansas is home to nearly 3,200 aviation and manufacturing businesses, including Cessna, Hawker-Beechcraft, Bombardier-Learjet, Boeing, Spirit AeroSystems, Garmin and Honeywell.

Roberts says General Aviation has been called to increase its contribution to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund to help pay for the modernization of our Air Traffic Control system, and, GA has agreed to help pay for the necessary increases to move aviation infrastructure into next generation technology.

The agreement reached between the Finance and Commerce committees would allow AvGas to remain at its current rate,
but would increase the Jet A fuel tax from 21.8 cents to 36 cents per gallon on general aviation flights. This raises an additional $250 million dedicated to updating Air Traffic Control technology that will increase safety and decrease congestion.