This week, the Obama administration furloughed 14,500 air traffic controllers -- staffers will lose two days of work per month -- ostensibly to comply with the 2011 Budget Control Act's $85 billion in sequester cuts this year. The Federal Aviation Administration's share is $637 million. So expect delays at the airport. That's the idea, but it didn't have to be.
The Obama administration has chosen to hold airline travel hostage in its never-ending effort to extort further tax increases from the GOP.
The administration argues that its hands are tied. By law, the FAA must cut spending across the board. Many lawmakers and industry leaders disagree, as air traffic controllers are "essential employees." But to make absolutely sure, GOP senators have proposed legislation to allow the administration to prioritize cuts. For weeks, the White House has wanted no part of that.
White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters Tuesday that the FAA cuts must be across-the-board. "It was designed to be bad policy," Carney said. If Congress doesn't like that, he argued, let members postpone the sequester cuts or raise taxes.
To Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., the furloughs present "a dangerous political stunt that could jeopardize the safety and security of air travelers." Coburn has a list of cuts for nonessential spending, which the FAA could make in lieu of the air traffic controller furloughs. His list includes cutting 15 percent from the FAA's consulting, supply and travel budgets and reducing or eliminating improvement programs.
Read more: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/04/25/extortion_in_the_skies_118121.html#ixzz2RUUwkr00
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