Getting There: House passes bill to improve air travel after nixing more long-distance flights to D.C.

Jul. 23—WASHINGTON — Few people spend as much time commuting through the air as members of Congress from Western states.

Lawmakers stay in the D.C. area when Congress is in session — sleeping in their offices, shared houses, rented apartments or their own homes — but they typically fly in on Mondays and leave on Thursdays. While that lets them spend more time in the states and districts they represent, it also makes them intimately familiar with the stresses of regular cross-country travel.

"Traveling for work and being away from your family isn't easy for anyone," Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, said in a statement. "Members of Congress are no different, but it can be especially challenging for those of us going back and forth between Washingtons."

Before boarding their flights back home for the weekend, House lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to pass a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration for the next five years and make changes aimed at improving air travel. But that vote only came after the narrow defeat of a contentious amendment to add more long-distance flights to and from the airport just outside D.C. , following weeks of intense lobbying from both sides of the debate.

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia, just across the Potomac River from the capital, is the preferred way home for most members of Congress. But because of its limited capacity — its single runway is the nation's busiest — in 1966 the federal government restricted direct flights to and from Reagan National to within a 650-mile radius.

Congress later expanded that perimeter to 1,250 miles and created limited exemptions for 40 flights per day — about 6% of the airport's total flights, according to a 2020 report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. In addition to the perimeter rule, "slot" restrictions limit how many flights can come and go each day.

With the exception of two daily Alaska Airlines flights to and from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, catching a direct flight between the Northwest and the nation's capital means driving about 45 minutes to Dulles International Airport in Virginia, or an hour to Baltimore-Washington International Airport. And that's when traffic isn't so bad — a rare occurrence in the D.C. region.

For lawmakers who live far from major cities like Seattle, the commute can be even worse. Rep. Dan Newhouse, who lives in Sunnyside, said he usually flies to Denver or Salt Lake City en route to Pasco, since flights to Yakima have been cut back in recent years.

Rep. Mike Simpson, who lives in Idaho Falls, said he typically also flies through Salt Lake City or Denver. Having such a long commute, he said in an interview, "makes it tough on people from the West, but then we get to live in the West. So there's an upside to it, too."

"All the members east of the Mississippi have at one time or another said to me, 'Oh man, I don't envy you guys. That's such a long flight,' " Simpson said. "Well, yeah, that's the problem. I know more members from the intermountain states and so forth that have probably left Congress because they're just tired of travel than for any other reason."

Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, quipped in an interview, "If you die in Boise, Idaho — whether you're going to heaven or hell — you're going to connect through Denver or Salt Lake or Chicago or Minneapolis."

"My doors are always open to Idahoans visiting Washington, D.C.," Risch said in a statement, "but because of outdated regulations, far too many people lack direct, affordable access to the nation's capital. Congress should remove this antiquated rule and boost free market competition so people across the country can more easily reach our capital city."

A spokeswoman for Sen. Mike Crapo, Melanie Lawhorn, said Idaho's senior GOP senator also favors adding more flights between D.C. and the West.

After the House passed the FAA reauthorization bill Thursday, it goes to the Senate, where the matter of extra flights in and out of Reagan National could be revived. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who chairs the Senate panel that will take up the bill, didn't respond to questions about her position on that issue.

Her fellow Washington Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray, declined to say where she stands on the additional flights but said she makes the most of long hours in the air, using the time to catch up on work after busy days in the Senate.

"I fly home nearly every single weekend — of course I want to be home in the better Washington, but it's also part of how I hear from the people I represent in the Senate," Murray said in a statement. "I take the stories and concerns I hear about, whether at the grocery store or anywhere else, back to the other Washington with me. These kinds of conversations here at home absolutely help inform my work and help me be a better senator."

With no direct flights to Spokane from any of the three D.C.-area airports, McMorris Rodgers said it typically takes her eight hours to travel to and from the Capitol.

"There are quite a few early mornings, plenty of long layovers, and more late nights than I can count to make it all work — but that's part of being a working mom with the tremendous honor of representing the people of Eastern Washington," she said in a statement. "You can bet I'll always do whatever it takes to get to D.C. in time for votes and back home for the kids' games on the weekends."

All that made the amendment vote unusually personal for House lawmakers, although they emphasized in statements and interviews that their decisions were based on what they thought was best for their constituents, not personal preference. In the end, the amendment failed by a vote of 205-229, with six members not voting.

While most Republicans voted in favor of adding more long-haul flights and most Democrats opposed the measure, it was far from a party-line vote. Fifty-five Republicans voted no, enough to defeat the amendment despite the support of 38 Democrats.

Rep. Russ Fulcher, who represents North Idaho, voted in favor along with McMorris Rodgers, Newhouse and Simpson. Fulcher, who lives in Meridian, said in an interview that adding more flight options between Idaho and Reagan National would be a "game-changer" for him personally but wouldn't be the deciding factor in his vote.

"Personally, I'd like to see it, because it's a convenience for us," he said. "I have two options: Delta through Minneapolis and Atlanta or United through Denver and Chicago. There's nothing direct."

In the weeks leading up to the amendment vote, groups for and against adding more flights each staged a lobbying blitz at the Capitol. The bipartisan proposal would have added 14 new exemptions — seven round-trip flights — outside the perimeter each day.

The Capital Access Alliance, which includes business and tourism groups from outside the current perimeter, argued that adding more direct flights to and from Reagan National would reduce airfares, create jobs and connect up to 1 million more nonstop passengers to the D.C. area each year.

Opposition came from the Coalition to Protect America's Regional Airports, composed largely of groups from within the perimeter, including the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which runs both Reagan National and Dulles International. They argued the additional flights would worsen delays, traffic and noise around the small airport, which already serves more passengers than it was designed to handle.

The final vote fell as much along regional lines as along party lines, with Republicans and Democrats from Virginia united in opposition to adding flights, while 18 of California's 40 House Democrats broke with the majority of their party to support the idea.

Perhaps most telling, however, are where two air travel giants stand on the issue: Chicago-based United Airlines, which operates 70% of flights at nearby Dulles, opposed the changes. Atlanta-based Delta Airlines, which could benefit from more long-haul trips from Reagan National to help it compete with United, pushed Congress to add flights.

All eight of Washington's House Democrats opposed the extra flights. A spokesman for Rep. Rick Larsen of Everett, the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, explained his reasoning in an email.

"While Rep. Larsen recognizes the desire for more scheduled air service options, the supply of runway at DCA will not keep pace with the growing demand for service," spokesman Joe Tutino said, using the three-letter airport code for Reagan National. "As Rick has said, the flying public deserves a dependable aviation system, and altering these rules threatens that reliability."

Rep. Kim Schrier, a Democrat whose district stretches from Wenatchee to the Seattle suburbs, echoed those concerns about congestion and safety in a statement, while adding that a lawmaker's travel doesn't end when they touch down on the tarmac.

"I am constantly on the road for the people of the Eighth," Schrier said, referring to her 10,000-square-mile congressional district that spans the Cascade Mountains. "While this is an incredible amount of travel, I use the flying time to get a lot of work done. It is important to me and my constituents that I show up everywhere in the district to listen, learn, and connect so I can go to bat for this district in Congress."

Even without adding flights at Reagan National, the FAA reauthorization bill includes several changes that could affect air travelers. It includes new safety measures, protections for passengers with disabilities and refund and reimbursement requirements for airlines.

The legislation comes at a time when recent delays, cancellations and near-collisions on runways have called attention to problems with the nation's air travel system. It authorizes funding to modernize airport infrastructure and the FAA's technology, following a computer system outage that grounded flights across the country in January.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, led by Cantwell, is expected to take up the bill this week.

Work to watch for

Wall Street between Second and Third avenues downtown will be closed beginning Monday through Aug. 11 for underground utility work.

Hamilton Street between Jackson Avenue and North Foothills Drive in the Logan neighborhood will be reduced to one lane in either direction on Monday to fix a water main leak.

Upriver Drive between Ralph Street and Carlisle Avenue will close Monday for relocation of a sewer line. The Centennial Trail will also be closed in the area. Detours will be in place for motorists and pedestrians.

Orion Donovan Smith's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.