# Full FAA ATC Staffing to be Restored



## PRR 60 (Apr 26, 2013)

Who says Congress can’t move quickly on anything? Who says partisan politics has gridlocked Washington? With sufficient motivation (as in an incensed traveling public calling and sending nasty messages and blaming everyone), even Congress can get something done quickly.

Less than a week after sequester-generated staffing cuts resulted in either several hundred (per FAA) or several thousand (per FlightStats.com) delays a day, Congress has passed a bill allowing the FAA to shift funds between accounts to restore full staffing to the Air Traffic Control system. The bill passed the Senate unanimously Thursday (4/25). It passed the House today 361-41. A spokesperson for President Obama has stated the President will sign the bill.

Our four-day national nightmare is nearly over.

Reuters


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## CHamilton (Apr 26, 2013)

I'm probably going to regret posting this, even on a rail forum, but this piece expressed something I've been thinking about.

The Senate Just Passed A Bill To End The Airport Flight Delays — Here's Why Obama Should Veto It


> The Senate just passed the ‘‘Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013."
> 
> The bill will attempt to eradicate the flight delays of the past week, which were caused by the sequester-related budget cuts, by allowing the FAA to allocate money as it sees fit, rather than having to cut all departments equally (which was causing staffing reductions among air-traffic controllers).
> Assuming it passes the House, Obama should veto it.
> ...


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## Ryan (Apr 26, 2013)

Utterly stupid.

Fix the problem, not the symptoms.


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## jis (Apr 26, 2013)

Ryan said:


> Utterly stupid.
> Fix the problem, not the symptoms.


Although fixing the symptoms when the problem appears intractable or unfathomable seems to be a natural human reaction. More than half of medicine seems to operate on that premise.... minimize further damage and alleviate pain, and if you can figure out what the root cause is, and if you can figure out how to fix it without killing the patient then try to fix it.


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## Ryan (Apr 26, 2013)

While true, this isn't some medical mystery that's leaving us with no choice but to treat the symptoms.

A far better solution would be to lock all 537 of them in a room and not let them out until there's a budget agreement.

After a few days start reducing the amount of food that's sent in to them.

After a few weeks, start reducing the amount of water that's provided to them.

We'll have a budget deal that gets rid of this crap in record time.


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## CHamilton (Apr 26, 2013)

Ryan, I agree. Maybe the "emergency" canned beef stew that Amtrak serves would do 

Meanwhile, I see that your congressman is upset.



> Congress Cares More About Airport Delays Than Poor People, and Steny Hoyer Is Pissed
> 
> With airport delays mounting because of sequester cuts, the Senate voted last night (on a voice vote, so there is no record of support or opposition) to give the FAA the ability to pay its air traffic controllers by moving some money around, thus sparing the nation's elite — including, not coincidentally, members of Congress — from the inconvenience of sitting in a chair with a magazine for longer than they have become accustomed. That one problem having been solved, Congress plans to go on vacation, leaving the rest of the sequester cuts — including to programs like Head Start, Meals on Wheels, and unemployment insurance — in place.
> On the floor of the House today, Maryland's Steny Hoyer was kind of pissed about this.


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## Ryan (Apr 26, 2013)

(I'm in Sarbanes the Junior's district - he voted "no" as well)


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## AmtrakBlue (Apr 26, 2013)

How many days has Congress actually worked this year? With today's technology there's less reason for them have to go back to their home districts to keep in touch with their constituents.


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## jis (Apr 26, 2013)

Ryan said:


> While true, this isn't some medical mystery that's leaving us with no choice but to treat the symptoms.


Vdry often it is not the medical mystery that causes nothing effective to be done, but the patient and family's reluctance to do anything about it. The situation is similar here. If a nation collectively chooses to do whatever it does, well....



> A far better solution would be to lock all 537 of them in a room and not let them out until there's a budget agreement.
> After a few days start reducing the amount of food that's sent in to them.
> 
> After a few weeks, start reducing the amount of water that's provided to them.


True but who is going to decide to enforce this and how, without throwing the constitution out the window?
We'll have a budget deal that gets rid of this crap in record time.


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## Anderson (Apr 26, 2013)

AmtrakBlue said:


> How many days has Congress actually worked this year? With today's technology there's less reason for them have to go back to their home districts to keep in touch with their constituents.


By the same token, I could argue that there's also less reason for them to have to actually go _to_ Washington for a lot of things. It's not hard to envision a situation where Congresscritters teleconference in for hearings and voting (which I suspect is going to need to remain in-person for the most part) is consolidated to a day or two per week (or only done on alternating weeks outside of an emergency).


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## CHamilton (Apr 30, 2013)

The Pampered World of Congressional Air Travel


> On Friday, the Internet erupted in fury over Congress’s vote to reverse the automatic cuts that were causing air-traffic controllers to be furloughed, delaying hundreds of flights...Critics pointed out that it was appalling for Congress to undo the sequester cuts that inconvenienced travelers while leaving in place the cuts to such programs as Head Start and Meals on Wheels that affect tens of thousands of poor people, many of them children and seniors. The obvious conclusion is that Congress cares much more about the problems of rich air travelers (who are regular voters) and will act quickly to solve them.
> 
> 
> This criticism is entirely valid and correct—but it doesn’t go nearly far enough. The group that Congress is helping the most by lifting the FAA sequester isn’t business flyers. No, lawmakers are helping themselves. There is no more pampered class of air traveler than members of Congress.
> ...


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