Congress passes bill to end FAA furloughs, air traffic controllers back to work on Monday
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is bringing back to duty some 13,000 furloughed air traffic controllers by Sunday pursuant to a new law allowing it to shift funds to avoid forced leave on the said workers.
The agency said Saturday that airport service will normalize by Sunday evening, when regular staffing levels on air traffic facilities return following the passage of the Reducing Flight Delays Act.
2010 photo/Lasse Fuss
The Senate passed the law on Thursday and the House of Representatives passed it via 361-41 vote on Friday. President Barack Obama is expected to sign it into law on Monday.
Last week, the FAA ordered the furlough of air traffic controllers to abide by the $85 billion budget cuts that took effect on March 1 — sequestration.
The budget cut, known as sequester required federal agencies to implement equal spending reductions across their budget, is being blamed for the furloughs and delays at airports.
“There are some in the Obama administration who thought inflicting pain on the public would give the president more leverage to avoid making necessary spending cuts, and to impose more tax hikes on the American people,” said Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Bill Shuster.
President Obama on Saturday blamed Republicans – first for the cuts, known as sequester, and for the legislation that passed Friday with bipartisan support and that the president is prepared to sign.
“Republicans claimed victory when the sequester first took effect, and now they’ve decided it was a bad idea all along,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.
Urging the public to write Congress to solve the issue, 19,000 people sent letters to Congress opposing the furlough of air traffic controllers.
