Congress must own responsibility and ‘get to work’ on needed FAA upgrades: Sheehy
Senator Tim Sheehy (R-MT) has called on Congress to take obligation for necessary upgrades to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). He emphasized the urgent need for improvements in air travel infrastructure,particularly highlighted by recent operational outages at Newark Liberty International Airport.Sheehy,a former commercial pilot,expressed concern that delays in upgrades are negatively impacting air travel safety and efficiency,referencing a tragic collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport earlier this year.
He proposed solutions that include streamlining the hiring process for air traffic controllers and increasing their salary standards to attract more qualified candidates. Sheehy’s remarks come in the wake of Transportation secretary Sean Duffy’s plan to update Newark’s airport infrastructure, suggesting that the Biden administration has failed to maintain essential improvements. With summer travel approaching, Sheehy warned that the lack of sufficient air traffic controllers coudl lead to significant disruptions at airports, as seen with recent flight delays and cancellations.
Sheehy says Congress must own responsibility for needed FAA upgrades: ‘Time to get to work’
Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) urged his fellow congressional lawmakers to “get to work” on providing the Federal Aviation Administration with necessary upgrades, suggesting Congress must own some responsibility for not getting these changes implemented sooner.
The state of air travel in the United States has come under great scrutiny in recent months, with outages at Newark Liberty International Airport getting most of the attention. Sheehy, a former commercial pilot, vowed that Congress would address this issue under President Donald Trump’s watch, claiming Congress’s delay in providing FAA upgrades is now “coming back to bite us.”
“And as you said, hopefully, we don’t have a tragedy. We just had a tragedy a few months ago, as you know, right here in D.C.,” Sheehy stated on Fox News’s The Story with Martha MacCallum, referring to the fatal collision that occurred at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in January. “So it’s time to upgrade. What does that mean? That means a faster pipeline for air traffic controllers.”
Sheehy also pointed to a need for increasing salary standards for air traffic controllers. He described how a Capitol police officer, who was previously an air traffic controller in the U.S. Air Force, chose not to become a civilian air traffic controller and instead work in the Capitol police force due to the pay discrepancy. As such, the Montana senator urged for these issues to be addressed, suggesting there are “some pretty easy fixes.”
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Sheehy’s call to action for Congress comes after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy unveiled a plan to update the Newark airport’s infrastructure, suggesting the Biden administration was to blame for not maintaining this. The secretary also expressed the need for three new telecommunication connections between New York City and Philadelphia to provide greater speed and reliability.
On Tuesday, Duffy hinted that summer travels could hit a snag at airports due to the lack of needed air traffic controllers. Newark airport saw over 110 delays and around 80 cancellations on Tuesday alone.
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