Sanford on FAA Reauthorization

Statement

Today, Representative Mark Sanford issued the following statement after the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill yesterday, which would separate our nation's air-traffic control system from the FAA:

"Our nation's air traffic control system is long overdue for an influx of ideas and innovation from outside the government bureaucracy. For decades, the federal government has tried to upgrade our air traffic control system, but what once started as a $40 billion modernization project back in the 1980s has ballooned to $120 billion following a long record of federal mismanagement and inefficiency. Despite decades of efforts, the technology coordinating today's flights dates back to WWII.

"I have long believed that that which only government can do, government should do. But that which can be accomplished by the private sector should be left to the private sector. Accordingly, there are a host of examples worldwide of air traffic control systems being handled privately, and I believe the same would work in the US.

"Today's markup also included a couple items my office pushed, including an effort to make airfares more transparent and another to assess and provide more clarity on flight sharing, which were both successfully included in the base bill."

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