LaHood: Time for GOP to "wake up" to avoid "calamity" at airports
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood briefs reporters regarding the sequester, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, at the White House in Washington. / AP Photo/Charles Dharapak
Updated at 3:10 p.m. ET
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today warned of the "enormous impact" the looming sequester budget cuts will have on air travel in America, given that his department will have to cut nearly $1 billion from its budget, with more than $600 million coming from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
As the one former Republican congressman in President Obama's cabinet, LaHood put the responsibility squarely on Republicans to step up and work with Democrats to find a way to avert the cuts, slated to kick in on March 1.
"What I'm trying to do is to wake up members of the Congress on the Republican side to the idea that they need to come to the table... so we don't have this kind of calamity in air service in America," he said. "So that we're not just taking a meat axe to one part of FAA."
LaHood: GOP must "step up" on sequester to prevent air traffic "calamity"
LaHood warns travel delays will anger Americans
Cutting $1 billion from the Transportation Department would affect dozens of programs, LaHood said. For instance, the vast majority of the FAA's nearly 47,000 employees will face furloughs, he said -- and the largest number of FAA employees are air traffic controllers.
The Transportation Department is beginning discussions with unions today to close more than 100 air towers with fewer than 150,000 flight operations a year, such as towers in Hilton Head, S.C., and San Marcos, Texas. It's also discussing eliminating overnight shifts in more than 60 towers.
"We're going to reduce the number of controllers, which will reduce their ability to guide planes in and out of airports," LaHood explained.
Flights to major cities like New York and Chicago could experience delays up to 90 minutes during peak hours, he said. Furthermore, with fewer employees on staff to efficiently deal with issues such as runway repairs, there could be even more delays. Customers would likely see these impacts around April 1 -- 30 days after the cuts go into effect.
"These are harmful cuts with real-world consequences that'll cost jobs and hurt our economy," LaHood said.
Following LaHood's remarks, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association released a statement with even more ominous predictions.
"Once towers are closed, the airports they serve may be next," NATCA president Paul Rinaldi said. "Additionally, we believe the delay estimates provided by the FAA are conservative and the potential for disruptions could be much higher. Every one of these actions by the FAA will have an impact far beyond inconveniencing travelers. Local economies will be diminished, military exercises will be cancelled and jobs will be lost. There's no telling how long these effects will be felt because many of these service reductions may not be reversed."
LaHood stressed today that "obviously, as always safety, is our top priority." That said, he added that he expects customers to be very angry.
"Nobody likes a delay. Nobody likes waiting in line," he said. "If we can't get our hamburger within five minutes... you know what happens. They start calling their member of Congress."
Most members of Congress agree the sequester cuts should be averted, but they've been incapable of agreeing how to do so. Democrats want to replace the cuts with a plan that includes some new tax revenue and spending cuts. Republicans, however, say they refuse to raise any new tax revenue, after agreeing to some new revenues during the "fiscal cliff" debate.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said it's "factually incorrect" to say both parties are unwilling to compromise -- Democrats, he pointed out, are willing to make significant spending cuts while the GOP is obstinately against any new tax revenue.
LaHood, who repeatedly pointed out he served as a Republican in Congress for 14 years, said, "I think Republicans need to step up here... I'm telling them to come to the table and start talking to Democrats to figure out how do we solve this."
He said he's talked to about half a dozen Republican congressional offices about the impact the sequester will have on the Transportation Department, and their response is "not good. They get it."
The secretary said it was "nonsense" to suggest he was exaggerating the impact of the sequester.
"It's going to be very painful for the flying public," he said.
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Hey Boehner, what's it like, driving the short bus everyday?
HA!
Now it is no better than the GOP.
I was talking about the....... 7 day creators... Who deny evolution in schools... The dudes who say things like legitimate rape. A womans body can "shut down"
azzwipes that are against any kind of contraception but shoot holes in any kind of care for the kids that result.
**** heads like that.
IDK what kind of dope you been smokin.
Socialism and national socialism do not work.
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You must not have had any affiliation with the military since the mid-80's.
The military, being a government within a government, is a socialist's wet dream.
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We have a 1T deficit and they cannot cut a mere 85B? I say cut it by 1T!!!!! Balance the damn budget by cutting entitlements.
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What do you even mean by cutting entitlements?
What does that even mean?
Try telling the newly self-crowned "oppressed minority" that their SS checks are going to reduced by 36% and Medicare will no longer fund prescription meds.
See how many old, white guys suddenly become Democrats.
SBROCALI replies:
"(whine, whine, whine)...& yes Dems created the sequester & yes Obama approved/signed off on it, not Republicans!"LMAO!.... so, what SBROCALI is saying is that President Obama did a better job of leading all of those House Republi-cons to vote Blah,Blah snore fest!!!!!!!!!!!
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I've heard smarter things from a schizophrenic with Tourette's.
Don't argue with idiots, they will just lower you to their level then beat you with experience.
Fact is republicans hate government and they do everything they can to undermine and destroy it. So electing republicans to public office is like hiring a babysitter that hates babies. Nothing good can come from it.
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Rip Van Winkle is that you? You have obviously been asleep for 50 years, repubics have grown the government just as much if not more that the democraps have. They both worship at the altar of the welfare-warfare state.
Sabotage as much of government as they can, and then blame PRESIDENT Barack Obama Jr. for it!
Of course, the majority of Americans reject this, but Repukelican'ts are not smart enough to realize that.
Sadly, LaHood is too optimistic to realize this? Why ask Repukelican'ts to do anything about this??