Sequester Theatrics from the FAA

[Geee]

National Review:

Is the Obama administration trying to maximize the pain of sequestration?

As the Federal Aviation Administration prepares to furlough more than 20,000 employees and shutter nearly 150 air-traffic-control towers across the country, the answer is up in the air. Tales of turmoil at some of the nation’s busiest airports are beginning to surface, causing some to wonder whether public perceptions of sequestration may soon begin to favor the administration. The FAA has insisted these cutbacks are unavoidable, but the administration has a clear political interest in maximizing the public’s outrage, so critics aren’t buying it.

The airline industry has complained that it is caught in the middle of the political fight over sequestration and that the FAA risks interrupting services more than necessary. One industry insider tells National Review Online that the airlines are being used as a “political football” in this debate and suggests that the FAA’s cuts don’t “really have to be done in this way.”

Major airlines, as well as the industry’s leading trade organization, Airlines for America, have drafted legal memos arguing that the FAA can and should exercise greater flexibility in implementing sequestration cuts.

[clearvision]

Back at you Obama...

 

 

In response to the federal government's plan to close control towers at 13 small Texas airports, the Texas Department of Transportation announced today it will pick up the slack.

 

The department announced Thursday that it intends to fund continued service of air traffic controllers at the 13 towers when federal funding stops as a result of nationwide budget cuts.

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