Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013

Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I am delighted that the Senate will pass a bipartisan bill to resolve a serious problem confronting the American traveling public and our economy. I thank the majority leader, Senator Reid, the minority leader, the Republican leader, Senator McConnell, and all the staff who have worked so hard to make this happen.

I am very pleased to be joined in sponsoring this bill by many of our colleagues, including Senator Rockefeller, Senator Thune, Senator Mark Udall, Senator Risch, Senator Roberts, Senator Isakson, Senator McCaskill, Senator Hagan, the Presiding Officer, Senator Toomey, Senator Chambliss, Senator Murkowski, Senator Warner, Senator Begich, Senator Nelson, and Senator Heller.

As the ranking member of the Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee, I have been very concerned about the serious delays that have been caused by the FAA furloughs of air traffic controllers. In fact, Secretary of Transportation LaHood and FAA Administrator Huerta met with me this morning to discuss this problem and our proposed solution.

The Collins-Rockefeller-Thune-Udall bill would restore the funding for these essential air traffic controller positions, and that should prevent the onerous delays that were occurring and were only going to get worse as the traveling season reached its peak this summer. That would have had a ripple effect throughout the hospitality industry in particular and caused job losses that we can ill afford.

I just wish to point out that there literally have been thousands of flights delayed since the furloughs went into effect, and I am so happy we were able to work together across the aisle in a bipartisan way to resolve this problem.

The FAA recently began furloughing 47,000 employees this past Sunday, which includes nearly 15,000 air traffic controllers. This is essentially 10 percent of its workforce, which equates to one furlough day per bi-weekly pay period, for a maximum of 11 days through September 30th.

The challenges the FAA faces this fiscal year are daunting; not only is the agency operating under a continuing resolution but sequestration compounds the problem. It is important that sequestration is implemented in a way that ensures safety and minimizes the impact on the traveling public as well as jobs in the hospitality and airline industries. FAA recently announced its plans to achieve savings by implementing furloughs of air traffic controllers.

These cuts have already caused widespread delays to the air transportation system and were expected to get worse. It is estimated that as many as 6,700 flights would be delayed each day, more than double the worst day of flight delays last year. This reduction in staffing of air traffic controllers has been the primary cause of one out of every three delays since the furloughs began.

In fact, on Monday alone, there were 2,660 delays, of which 1,200 were due to the furloughs, and 2,000 delays on Tuesday, of which 1,025 due to the reduced staff. What was even more troubling is that soon we will be approaching the summer peak travel season. Some airports may experience delays of up to three hours during peak travel times.

The FAA acknowledges that these service reductions will adversely affect commercial, corporate, and general aviation operators. The FAA expects that as airlines estimate the potential impacts of these furloughs, they will be forced to change their schedules, cancel flights, and lay off employees.

Our bill, The Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013, would provide the Secretary of Transportation the flexibility to transfer certain funds to prevent furloughs of essential employees at the FAA. It would give the Secretary the authority to transfer an amount not to exceed $253 million to prevent essential employees at the FAA, such as air traffic controllers, from being furloughed in order to reduce flight delays while maintaining a safe and efficient national airspace system.

My bill would accomplish this goal by allowing a one-time shift of unused monies in the Airport Improvement Program to Operations. I first raised the idea of using AIP carryover balances as a solution at the policy lunch on Tuesday, and many of my colleagues indicated interest in this approach. Our bill has been vetted by the General Counsel offices at both the FAA and the Secretary's office. Secretary LaHood told me this morning that it is an effective, workable solution.

The transfer would come largely from carryover balances within the Airport Improvement Program (AIP). To be clear: this is the discretionary portion of the program and in no way affects the entitlement funds airports are guaranteed to receive. The program has sufficient funding to support this effort. Historically, AIP carryover balances range between $400-450 million and has not been below $300 million in the last decade. In fact, last year there was approximately $700 million of these carryover balances.

Over the past several years, the aviation industry has faced tough economic hardships. I recognize that aviation plays a critical role in driving economic growth, jobs and investment across the country. The Airport Improvement Program is a very important program which supports infrastructure at our nation's airports.

This bill should be recognized as a one-time solution in order to avert the serious national impacts that have resulted from the decisions made by the FAA.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I am grateful to both the Majority and Minority Leaders.

I thank them for their cooperation in making this happen. It is nice to know that when we work together, we really can solve problems.

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