The House of Representatives Wednesday voted to cut all funding for Federal Aviation Administration employees' salaries from the fiscal 2000 Transportation Appropriations bill.
In a legislative maneuver designed to help conservatives reduce the FAA's budget, Rep. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., got the House to eliminate $5.9 billion in funding for the FAA from the $44.5 billion spending bill.
In eliminating the section that pays FAA salaries, Coburn cited a procedural rule that money cannot be appropriated if it has not first been authorized. The FAA authorization bill (H.R. 1000) has been approved by the House and Senate, but President Clinton has not yet signed it into law.
FAA salaries will be restored when the House and Senate meet in conference over the transportation bill (H.R. 2084) later this year. The Senate has not yet voted on the bill.