The election of Donald Trump isn't likely to have a
significant impact on what is anticipated to be a renewed effort by the House
Transportation Committee in 2017 to privatize the nation's air traffic control
(ATC) system, analysts say.
The reelection of committee chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.)
all but assures that privatization will once again be put on the table.
"He has no reason not to go for broke," said Jeff
Davis, a senior fellow at the Eno Center for Transportation, who noted that
Shuster would be serving his final term at the helm of the committee. He defeated
Art Halvorson on Tuesday to win a ninth congressional term.
As part of the debate over FAA reauthorization this spring,
the House Transportation Committee passed a bill calling for management of ATC
to be shifted from the FAA to a nonprofit corporation overseen by a board of
stakeholders.
Supporters of the measure argued that it would speed
implementation of NextGen, the GPS-based technology that is replacing the
radar-based system currently in use in the U.S., while removing ATC from the
uncertainty of the highly politicized appropriations process in Congress.
But Senate Republicans left privatization out of their FAA
bill, and the idea also faced opposition from congressional Democrats as well
as Republicans on the crucial House Appropriations Committee.
Opponents say that the process of reorganizing how the ATC
is administered would delay the implementation of NextGen and increase costs.
Congress eventually passed a much less sweeping FAA
reauthorization measure in July, which is set to expire next September.
Kenneth Button, a transportation economist and public policy
professor at the George Mason School of Policy, Government and International
Affairs, said that in a meeting he attended this summer to discuss the
transportation policies of the presidential candidates, he learned that Trump
didn't have specific proposals aside from a plan to spend lots of money.
But he doesn't think Trump would prevent privatization.
"Why would he?" Button said.
And with the ATC privatization model proffered by Shuster
having already proven effective in Canada, he sees room for bipartisan
compromise.
"The general public is fed up," Button said,
noting that members of Congress might be eager to show that they can work
together, especially after voters elected a political outsider to the White
House.
Davis, however, is less bullish on the prospects for ATC
privatization in 2017. Tuesday's
election, which left Republicans in control of the House and Senate, but with a
Senate majority that is not filibuster-proof, did little to change the
fundamental math on the issue, he said.