Pete Aguilar Grills FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau About Delays In Airport Infrastructure Grant Approvals

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During Wednesday’s House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) questioned Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau about airport infrastructure project delays.

Transcript

00:00Thank you Administrator. I wanted to ask I understand and I know there have been

00:07questions about staffing Administrator. I understand the FAA has continued

00:11processing airport applications for federal grants but review times have

00:17increased as the agency loses staffing expertise at its headquarters and

00:21district offices. This is troublesome for many airports as these airports work to

00:27keep their construction projects on schedule as you as you understand. How

00:32has DOGE's efforts to downsize the FAA impacted the agency's grant review time

00:38and processing to date? Thank you for the question. I I don't believe that any DOGE

00:46activities which have not directly related to any FAA activities have had

00:51any impacts on the grant specifically. I would say that when we first came in

00:56there was a backlog a serious backlog of grant announcements that we had to

01:00work through. I would say that as I look at kind of my sheet here we're looking at

01:051.7 billion here and getting out in over 465 grants. So we have we've kind of got

01:12our momentum going back but it with respect to DOGE specifically I would say

01:17there were no impacts. You don't you don't think a loss of headcount has had any

01:21effort in in the timing and the delays of implementing the grants? I don't believe

01:29there was a loss in headcount that impacted grants just to be specific to the

01:33question. We could we could run through the headcount losses that you that you've

01:37had but you're so you're saying at the district level or at the HQ level you

01:42don't believe any of the loss of headcount has had a direct impact on

01:46processing and implementing grants? No sir I think the delay has been related to

01:52kind of the backlog and us working through it. I don't believe it had to do

01:55with any change in the staffing. How is the downsizing impacted the FAA's ability

02:03to approve airport projects in a timely manner? So I think I think the opportunity

02:11really is to go from what we'll call traditional or paper-based types of

02:15processing and using a more streamlined process. One of the things we're looking

02:19at specific to airport grants is the use of AI much like we do in the safety realm

02:24now we're looking at processing grants and using categorical exclusions for

02:29instance when we talk about specific projects as it relates to environmental

02:32issues. So we're we're we're using a number of different tools that we have

02:36today that we probably didn't have a year ago to in order to expedite that but I go

02:40again I go back to it is not about the change in the workforce specifically it's

02:45more along the lines of building out a more efficient process going forward.

02:49And we'd love to be partners in building an efficient process I think that's what

02:53the chairman and the ranking member have have indicated they are they are

02:58focused on and they we want to be willing partners here. I think what's

03:01frustrating is when actions happen or grants don't get out and we just see the

03:07impacts and results not just of safety concerns but of actual dollars getting

03:14out on the streets back homes closer to our district. But since you mentioned

03:19projects since we're talking about projects the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024

03:26included provisions to speed up airport infrastructure projects by reducing

03:30regulatory overreach and land use approvals. You talked about categorical exemptions and

03:35streamlining the process for approving these projects with local user fees. Can

03:40you give an update on the FAA's progress and simplifying airport land use

03:44approvals and launching fully streamlined passenger facility charge approval process?

03:48Yeah again I appreciate that question simply because we have because of what

03:54will what we described earlier is kind of backlogs we have looked at the

03:58opportunity in addition to what reauthorization has directed for our our staff

04:05to be able to kind of look for like opportunities whether it's on the west

04:10coast or the east coast and be able to streamline that specific to environmental

04:15issue that is obviously a little bit more challenging but one of the ways we are

04:18doing that is in fact using the categorical exclusions to expedite the

04:23projects out there because I understand getting that money out there

04:25particularly in a in a important building season is it is as critical to the

04:31local communities. When will the locals see that see that benefit when will they see

04:35the the projects and when I see when will they see the delays cease? I think the

04:42delays have have begun to decrease significantly and I think they will

04:47continue to see more money coming out again in the next few weeks we're going to

04:50see hundreds of millions of dollars coming out to through those grants. I've got a

04:55local issue we'll put a we'll put it into the record for you to get back to us on

05:00San Bernardino International Airport as a federal contract tower and we've had

05:05some some language that we secured in the RIOTH and we'd love your attention to

05:10this and your help with this we'll send it to the record as well. Thank you Mr.

05:12Chairman. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Joyce. Thank you Chairman. Mr.

05:17Mr. Oshio thank you for being here today. I'd like to follow up on my

05:21distinguished colleague Mr. Aguiar's comments there and

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