Today, Congresswoman Janice Han (CA-44) voted against legislation containing a controversial proposal to privatize our nation's air traffic control (ATC) system during the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee markup of H.R. 4441, the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act.
The AIRR Act, a six-year reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), would pull the Air Traffic Organization that has served the flying public well for decades out of the FAA and would hand over responsibility for the air traffic control system to a private, not-for-profit board, dominated by industry interests and businesses.
"It is irresponsible to jeopardize the flying public by putting their safety in the hands of a corporate board whose primary concern is balance sheets," said Congresswoman Hahn. "We can't gamble with aviation safety. It's time for Congress to put safety first."
The plan to privatize air traffic control would hand a public asset worth tens of billions of dollars over to a private corporation -- for free. Privatizing air traffic control raises both constitutional as well as national security and safety implications while creating new taxes that could ultimately result in increased cost for passengers.
"Any major changes to our air traffic system, part of the biggest and most complex airspace in the world, must be met with extreme caution moving forward. Congress needs to address real problems plaguing FAA without turning over responsibility for safety to industry interests. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to fix the real problems facing the FAA," continued Congresswoman Hahn.
The Congresswoman did offer two amendments in an attempt to improve the underlying legislation which passed along party lines. You can find details on those amendments here and here.