Well this is nice to hear:
http://blogs.denverpost.com/...
A bipartisan proposal crafted in part by Democrat Sen. Mark Udall that will give the U.S. Department of Transportation flexibility to maintain federal spending cuts — yet not furlough critical workers — passed unanimously in the U.S. Senate late Thursday.
Under sequestration, which is $82 billion in automatic spending cuts to domestic and military programs, the Federal Aviation Administration was poised to furlough some critical employees, like air traffic controllers. This was causing snarls at airports and flight delays.
The measure, led by Udall and Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, gives freedom to the Transportation Secretary to make cuts to less critical programs. - Denver Post, 4/25/13
Here's a little background info:
http://www.rollcall.com/...
Before leaving town for a week-long recess, the chamber passed a bill that allows funding transfers from airport projects to offset the cost of keeping air traffic controllers working and airplanes flying. Not getting something through the Senate before jetting off themselves would have left senators in both parties exposed to criticism from angry travelers and a slew of disgruntled industry groups.
With the agreement coming together after most senators had already made plans to leave town, leaders passed the bill with no debate and no objections.
The Senate move kicks the issue to the House, potentially pinning blame on that chamber’s GOP majority if the measure doesn’t pass on Friday. The House has a procedure in place for calling up the Senate deal, and House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., has expressed openness to such a move provided it does not increase actual spending.
“We don’t have to spend one more penny,” Shuster said, preferring a measure that would “direct the FAA to use the flexibility we believe it already has.”
Technically, the House may opt to take up an identical bill that originates in the House to avoid a pesky constitutional question about Senate-based revenue legislation. In any case, the last minute Senate deal followed negotiations that included Democratic Sens. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Mark Udall of Colorado, along with Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and John Thune of South Dakota.
In a statement Rockefeller said, “Tonight we worked together in the Senate to avoid total gridlock in our aviation system and avert the real harm that rampant delays would cause to our economy and jobs. By plugging a hole in the budget and providing the FAA with crucial funds to operate the air traffic control system, we will eliminate flight delays due to inadequate staffing and keep America moving. This does not fix all of the problems the FAA faces because of budget cuts, especially for contract towers in rural communities. And it does nothing for other essential government operations and employees that also desperately need relief. But it’s a start, and I’m committed to keep working on more solutions.”
Collins and Udall had unveiled their own bill earlier Thursday, the latest in a series of shots designed to give the Transportation Department the tools and resources to move money around in order to avoid further furloughs of key FAA personnel, including air traffic controllers. - Roll Call, 4/25/13
Both organized labor and the airlines have been pushing for congress to stop the sequester cuts and closing air towers:
http://skift.com/...
The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, a union that represents FAA employees, reported a number of incidents it said were due to the furloughs.
In one case, it said several flights headed for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York were diverted on Wednesday when a piece of equipment failed. “While the policy for this equipment is immediate restoral, due to sequestration and furloughs it was changed to next-day restoral,” the union said.
It added it was “learning of additional impacts nationwide, including open watches, increased restoration times, delays resulting from insufficient funding for parts and equipment, modernization delays, missed or deferred preventative maintenance, and reduced redundancy.”
The airlines, too, were pressing Congress to restore the FAA to full staffing. In an interview Wednesday, Robert Isom, chief operations officer of US Airways, likened the furloughs to a “wildcat regulatory action.”
He added, “In the airline business, you try to eliminate uncertainty. Some factors you can’t control, like weather. It (the FAA issue) is worse than the weather.” - SKIFT, 4/25/13
Udall is confident that the House will pass a bill intended to ease flight delays by ending furloughs of air-traffic controllers:
http://www.upi.com/...
"I know the House and its leadership in both caucuses will understand the importance of doing this for our economy," Udall said in a conference call after the Senate unanimously approved a measure to let the Transportation Department move as much as $253 million from other parts of the department budget to the Federal Aviation Administration to reduce the number of controller furloughs.
The House was expected to take up the measure as early as Friday, and the White House has promised to consider any bill it receives.
If the bill wins House approval and is immediately signed into law by President Barack Obama, the furloughed controllers could return to work as early as Saturday, officials said. - UPI, 4/26/13
Please call your congressman and tell them to stop the flight delays caused by the sequester:
http://house.gov/...