Murray Calls Administration’s Proposed FAA Budget Cuts “Reckless”

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking Democrat on the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, today responded to the Bush Administration’s proposed sixteen percent cut in spending on air-traffic control equipment and facilities. The proposed $471 million cut in the Federal Aviation Administration’s facilities and equipment budget — first reported in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal — would scale back projects aimed at making air travel safer and more efficient, and would cut jobs for aviation workers.

Murray statement on proposed FAA cutbacks:

“It would be reckless and irresponsible to require the FAA to walk away from its efforts to modernize our aging air-traffic control equipment. There is no question that certain FAA modernization efforts have suffered from poor program management. But the solution to that problem is improved management – not eliminating funding and forcing millions of air travelers to depend on older, antiquated equipment to guarantee their safety.”