House GOP Spending Cuts Would ‘Wreak Havoc’ on US Air System, FAA Says
- Proposed slashed domestic budget would halt controller hiring
- DOT Secretary Buttigieg calls Republican plan ‘backward’
Air traffic controllers work at the Frederick Municipal Airport control tower in Frederick, Maryland.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
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Steep spending cuts contained in a House Republican budget bill would dramatically exacerbate a shortage of US air-traffic controllers that has already led to a reduction in flights to New York this summer, officials said Friday.
The Federal Aviation Administration would be forced to halt hiring and training of new controllers, furlough thousands of other employees and stop work on an air-traffic computer system, agency Acting Administrator Billy Nolen said in a letter to lawmakers. The situation “would wreak havoc on summer air travel,” he said.