Congress extends FAA bill's deadline

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WIVB) - Congress has extended the deadline for a new FAA bill requiring tougher safety standards for regional airline pilots.

Families of Flight 3407 have lobbied hard for the bill, which requires 800 hours of training for commercial airline pilots. A final conference version of the bill has been held up by a dispute over unions at Fed-Ex.

Sen. Chuck Schumer said, "And the issue that's gotten in the way is whether Fed-Ex should be unionized or not. I've made a strong pitch that whatever side comes out on top on that, it shouldn't hold up the bill, and I think we've reached an agreement that that's the case."

Senator Schumer says the Fed-Ex issue will get a separate vote in the Senate.