5 Reasons To Care About New FAA Law

(CNN) -- Did you hear that? It's a door busting open in Washington, unblocking a huge backlog of airline issues that will directly affect America's millions of air travelers.

For the first time since 2007, after 23 extensions, Congress has finally passed a long-term funding bill for the FAA. It costs $63 billion and will last through 2015. President Obama is expected to sign it into law.

For the millions who fly commercial airlines yearly in the United States, here are five reasons why you should care:

1. Airline tarmac delay rules to be the law of the land

Many of the tarmac delay rules for commercial airlines -- like reporting flight delays and cancellations and providing passengers with adequate food, water and ventilation in planes stuck on the tarmac -- will be more than just rules. They'll be the law of the land, backed with the full enforcement and authority of the federal government.

Somehow, not included in the legislation is the three-hour limit on the amount of time planes can remain on the tarmac before they must return to the gate. It's still a regulation. "There's a concern it might lead to more flight cancellations or delays, so it may need more study before it becomes law," said Charlie Leocha of the nonprofit Consumer Travel Alliance.

Consumer advocate group FlyersRights.org blames the exclusion on politics. "House Republicans, in the end, sided with their friends the airlines by forcing removal of the [three-hour tarmac delay limit] in the newly codified law for airline passengers, with total disregard for what's best for the flying public," wrote executive director Kate Hanni in an email to CNN.

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