S. 697 · 119th Congress

Air Traffic Control Workforce Development Act of 2025

Introduced on Feb 24, 2025 by John Hoeven (R-ND). 11 cosponsors, 6 of them from another party. Latest action (Feb 24, 2025): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Stage
Introduced
Introduced
Feb 24, 2025
Cosponsors
11
6 from the other party
Policy area
Transportation and Public Works
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. 2Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

A bill to amend title 49, United States Code, to provide for air traffic control training improvements, and for other purposes.

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in Senate, Feb 24, 2025). Public domain.

Air Traffic Control Workforce Development Act of 2025

This bill expands and modifies Air Traffic Control (ATC) workforce training and programs.

The bill provides statutory authority for the Enhanced Air Traffic-Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-CTI) program. As background, standard AT-CTI institutions of higher education offer nonengineering aviation degrees that teach basic courses in ATC and aviation administration, and graduates complete training at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Academy. Students at Enhanced AT-CTI schools are provided with equivalent FAA Academy ATC training and may be placed directly into an ATC facility.

The bill establishes a grant program for schools participating in the Enhanced AT-CTI program and provides for a faculty annuity supplement for ATC instructors at participating institution of higher education.

The FAA must convene an aviation rulemaking committee to review and provide recommendations on the (1) curricula of the FAA Academy, AT-CTI program, and Enhanced AT-CTI program; and (2) Air Traffic Skills Assessment exam. Based on the committee's recommendations, the FAA must initiate a rulemaking or make policy and guidance updates, with an exception.

The bill authorizes funding through FY2031 for the procurement and placement at ATC facilities of Tower Simulator Systems, which are used to train air traffic controllers on airport tower operations.

The bill also requires

  • DOT to establish ATC recruitment and retention incentive programs,
  • the FAA to support the development of mental health services training related to conditions for ATCs, and
  • the FAA to submit a report to Congress on the status of the Airspace Non-cooperative Surveillance Radar program.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

John HoevenR-NDSponsor

Democrats · 6

Republicans · 5

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Feb 24, 2025Introduced in Senate
  2. Feb 24, 2025 · SenateRead twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF AIRPORT EXECUTIVES12 reports
    $6.3M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF AIRPORT EXECUTIVES INC$12.3K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  2. Air Transport Association of America, Inc. (d/b/a Airlines for America)6 reports
    $7.6M reported (all issues)
  3. Rhode Island Airport Corporation5 reports
    $100K reported (all issues)
  4. UNITED AIRLINES, INC.5 reports
    $7.1M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: UNITED AIRLINES, INC.$11.9M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  5. SOUTHWEST AIRLINES PILOTS ASSOCIATION4 reports
    $630K reported (all issues)
  6. HAWAIIAN AIRLINES, INC.3 reports
    $510K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: HAWAIIAN AIRLINES, INC$619.5K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  7. NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION3 reports
    $1.1M reported (all issues)
  8. NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSOCIATION3 reports
  9. NJASAP)3 reports
    $30K reported (all issues)
  10. Southwest Airlines Pilots Assn.)3 reports
    $30K reported (all issues)
  11. AIRPORTS COUNCIL INTERNATIONAL-NORTH AMERICA1 report
    $714.5K reported (all issues)

Reports filed in 2025, 2026.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 10, 2026 · loaded Oct 10, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 10, 2026 · loaded Oct 10, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.