{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://cohen.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-cohen-hails-applauds-passage-faa-reauthorization", "Congressman Cohen Hails Passage of FAA Reauthorization", "2018-09-26", "2018", "2018-09", "Democrat", "House", "TN", "Steve Cohen", "C001068", "cohen.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON  Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Aviation Subcommittee, hailed passage of his Seat Egress in Air Travel (SEAT) Act and three other measures he introduced that were made a part of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill that passed the House today on a vote of 398 to 23 and is expected to be considered in the Senate soon. See my remarks on the House floor here.\nThe SEAT Act provision requires the FAA to establish minimum seat size anddistances between rows of seats to meet the 90-second emergency airplane evacuation time currently mandated by federal regulation.\nCongressman Cohenintroduced the bipartisan, bicameral SEAT Act,H.R. 1467, with Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois) and was joined by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), Charles Schumer (D-New York), Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts), Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) and Dianne Feinstein (D-California.) (S. 596.) Congressman Cohen offered the legislation asan amendmentduring the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's consideration of FAA reauthorization legislation last year. The amendment was adopted by voice vote, prior to fullHouse passagein April.\nThe FAA reauthorization bill passed Wednesday also includes a measure Congressman Cohen offered in conjunction with Representative Rodney Davis (R-Illinois) and Representative Sam Graves (R-Missouri), based on H.R. 2024, to ensure that discriminatory taxes on certain services at airports be spent on airport improvements, not as revenue for other purposes. This measure is good for consumers and good for our airports. This effort has been endorsed by the National Consumers League and the National Urban League.\nIt also includes the bipartisan measure S. 1971, the Pilots Record Improvement Enhancement Act, that the Congressman introduced as an amendment with Rep. Mark Woodall (R-Georgia) and Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) and David Perdue (R-Georgia) to the FAA reauthorization, ensuring that the FAA has access to Department of Motor Vehicles records to assure that pilots who have had their driving privileges suspended or revoked for such offenses as drunken driving are not permitted to pilot planes.\nThe bill also includes Representative Cohen's amendment to give the public a seat at the table and requires that the FAA follow established rulemaking processes in the agency's effort to implement one-engine inoperative standards that would break over 70 years of precedent. Such changes without public input could severely endanger economic growth and the construction of needed cellular towers, wind turbines, and important infrastructure.\nCongressman Cohen said:\nI am proud that several measures I offered are in this bill. Consumers and their safety are too often overlooked in these bills. Safety should be our primary concern. Tightly cramped seating on aircraft is a safety issue, and will now be taken seriously.The SEAT Act will ensure that shrinking seats on airplanes are evaluated in the interest of the safety of the flying public. Similarly, our bill regarding the automobile driving records of pilots is a common sense safety measure. Additionally, another amendment I offered would ensure taxes on certain services at airports are spent on airport improvements only, not as revenue for other purposes. I commend my colleagues for recognizing the need for these measures and including them in the FAA reauthorization package.\nHowever, I was disappointed that the bipartisan, bicameral Fair Fees amendmentI offeredduring House consideration of the FAA reauthorization legislationthat was included in the Senate Committee-passedFAA reauthorizationbill, was struck from the bill we considered today. Americans continue to be burdened with ever increasing baggage and cancellation fees while airlines making record-breaking profits continue to pad their bottom lines.\nThe Fair fees provision, sponsored by Representative Cohen, Representative Walter Jones (R-North Carolina) and SenatorsEdward Markey (D-Massachusetts) and Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) wouldhave protected consumers from unreasonable fees by having the FAA assess whether airline fees for changed or cancelled flights, baggage or other services are reasonable and proportional to the cost of the services provided. Thebipartisan, bicameralquartetwroteto 11 airlines after United Airlines and Jet Blue raised baggage fees earlier this month. American Airlines and Delta have since followed suit.\nThe five-year reauthorization of FAA programs came after five extensions prior to Sunday's September 30 deadline. Key Houseand Senate negotiators reached an agreement lastFriday eveningand released the text of H.R. 302, a consensus bill that includes nearly $1.7 billion in federal disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Florence.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://cohen.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-cohen-hails-applauds-passage-faa-reauthorization"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.898644957691431, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}