Washington, D.C. — The following are opening remarks, as prepared for delivery, from Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Rick Larsen (D-WA) and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Aviation Steve Cohen (D-TN), during today’s hearing titled, “America Builds: Air Traffic Control System Infrastructure and Staffing.”
Video of Ranking Members Larsen’s and Cohen’s opening statements can be found here and here.
More information on the hearing can be found here.
Ranking Member Larsen:
Thank you, Chairman Nehls, for holding today’s hearing to examine ways to improve the nation’s air traffic control (ATC) infrastructure and staffing.
I want to thank the witnesses, as well, for joining us. Representing aviation labor, general aviation, U.S. airlines and aviation experts, you each play a critical role in ensuring the safety of the flying public.
The tragic mid-air collision near Washington National Airport, the incident at Chicago Midway Airport and recent runway incursions prove a stark reality—the U.S. aviation system is incredibly strained.
As this Committee continues to keep the victims and their families—some of whom are here today—in our thoughts, it reminds me of the importance of our work and what is at stake if we fail to address the challenges that continue to plague the national airspace system (NAS).
Nearly one year into implementation of the 2024 FAA Reauthorization law and a few weeks into a new Administration, this Committee is at a critical juncture for U.S. aviation as the Administration wastes valuable time and resources.
We must invest in safety enhancements to the FAA’s aging ATC infrastructure.
We must grow and support our skilled aviation safety workforce and reject the reckless actions by this Administration to undermine and demoralize them. We need these folks showing up to work every day focused on their work, not on whether they’ll be able to go to work the next day.
The overwhelmingly bipartisan 2024 FAA Reauthorization law is a blueprint for the safety reforms needed to improve the ATC system.
These solutions were well-reasoned, hard fought and present the best path forward toward improving the safety of the NAS.
The FAA’s primary responsibility is to facilitate the safe operation of the NAS—which relies heavily on the expertise of the FAA’s workforce.
Whether it’s air traffic controllers directing aircraft across the country, technical operations specialists installing advanced runway equipment at U.S. airports or program assistants supporting various teams at the agency, they all are critical to achieving the safety mission at the FAA.
Aviation experts have long raised concerns about the understaffing of the FAA’s safety critical roles. For instance, the independent NAS Safety Review Team found that these workforce gaps “further erod[e] the margin of safety and increas[e] risk.”
It is alarming, then, that at such a tenuous time for U.S. aviation, the Administration has decided to purge hundreds of FAA employees.
These are not just “a handful of junior hires” as some have callously claimed; they are talented individuals who have dedicated their lives to aviation safety and careers in service to their country.
Mr. Chairman, I’d like to enter into the record a letter from myself, Ranking Member Cohen, Ranking Member Connolly and our T&I Democratic colleagues to Secretary Duffy demanding answers on these senseless firings and the unproductive “what did you do last week?” emails, and how the Department will prevent these actions from jeopardizing aviation safety.
The Reauthorization law recognizes the importance of this safety workforce by requiring the agency to annually hire the maximum number of controllers from the ATC training academy, update antiquated staffing models for controllers, safety inspectors and other critical safety positions and expand the agency’s training resources.
Now, I want to recognize the Administration took positive steps last week to accelerate controller hiring, but these efforts will be in vain if the indiscriminate firing of FAA safety employees continues.
The FAA’s safety mission also depends on complex ATC systems that provide navigation and surveillance services for more than 45,000 flights every day.
However, many of the FAA’s ATC facilities and equipment (F&E) have exceeded their expected service life cycle, which is made worse by inadequate funding requests over several Administrations for the FAA’s F&E budget, a point the Chairman made eloquently in his opening statement.
Despite increasing appropriations in recent years, the FAA's FY2024 budgetary estimates show it needs $4.5 billion for F&E, with that funding need quickly approaching $6 billion in a few years.
The nation’s ATC infrastructure can no longer rely on archaic technology—like floppy disks and aging radar systems—to keep our skies safe.
That’s why the 2024 Reauthorization directs the FAA to accelerate the replacement of any outdated, insufficient, unsafe or unstable legacy systems. The law also requires the FAA to prioritize the deployment of runway safety systems and innovative air traffic management technologies.
The FAA Reauthorization law lays out the policies that DOT can implement now to bolster our air traffic control system and help ensure our skies remain safe for the traveling public.
I am open to new ideas to modernize the system—the primary reason we’re all here today—having consultants with no experience in the industry and clear conflicts of interest tell us what we already know is unhelpful.
Show us your work, show us your results, and we’ll judge the quality of it.
Recently, a broad coalition of aviation stakeholders—some of whom are here today—released recommendations to modernize the FAA’s ATC infrastructure. I look forward to hearing more details about these proposals.
As this Committee works to strengthen our ATC system, we must ensure that aviation safety is not dictated by special consultants but experts in aviation safety.
While we all can agree that the status quo of the NAS is not sustainable—we agree on that, which is why we wrote the FAA Reauthorization law and put in the work plan for the FAA to deal with it—we should focus on forward-looking consensus recommendations.
That is why I am pleased to see that in a recent letter sent to this Committee, the majority of the aviation industry are “not pursuing privatization of U.S. [ATC] services,” rightly deeming it a “distraction from needed investments and reforms.”
In the past, this Committee debated the issue of privatization, only to see it fail to even receive a vote on the House floor. All the while, critical progress on actually improving our ATC system was stalled or delayed.
We’ve seen that movie before, and I’m glad the industry has decided against a sequel.
To build a safe, innovative and efficient American ATC system, the path forward is clear—swiftly implement the Reauthorization law, fully staff the FAA and invest in deploying safety critical technology.
I look forward to hearing from today’s panel on how Congress, the FAA and the aviation industry can work together to make that happen.
Ranking Member Cohen:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss our air traffic control system and the dedicated professionals who keep our skies safe.
Now more than ever, this is a particularly important topic that deserves our full attention.
The flying public deserves a strong, modern and well-staffed air traffic control system.
However, today, that system is under strain.
We do not have enough air traffic controllers, and we do not have enough technicians maintaining critical infrastructure.
The recent and tragic midair collision at DCA is just the latest grim reminder that safety cannot be taken for granted.
We have seen too many close calls—runway incursions, midair near misses, in addition to other tragic accidents that should serve as a wake-up call.
These incidents are not just flukes.
They are symptoms of an overburdened system and a workforce stretched too thin.
The bipartisan 2024 FAA Reauthorization law, which this Committee worked hard to pass, took important steps toward improving safety and staffing.
It directs the FAA to maximize hiring from the agency’s Air Traffic Control Academy and requires new staffing models for safety critical personnel to ensure we meet future demand.
It also strengthens oversight of safety inspectors and ensures the FAA has the resources to prevent near-misses and runway incursions.
While these new provisions are important, their implementation is even more critical.
I welcome the recent announcement by Transportation Secretary Duffy to “supercharge” the hiring of air traffic controllers, including a 30% increase in starting salaries.
However, instead of unleashing DOGE and Elon Musk’s 19-year-old cronies, this Administration should follow through on the mandates we have already set.
We cannot afford reckless disruptions to the dedicated safety workforce that keeps the system running.
The Trump Administration’s unjustified firings of talented FAA employees, including NATCA and PASS members—the very professionals responsible for maintaining critical air traffic control equipment—was a dangerous and unnecessary move.
These firings have consequences, and one of them is a diminished ability to ensure safe, reliable air travel.
Even worse, there are some who think we should hand over the FAA to a billionaire with a history of disregarding safety protocols.
Let me be clear: this is not the time for Elon Musk or anyone else to play fast and loose with aviation safety.
The FAA is the aviation expert and main airspace regulator that exists to protect the flying public, not solely to serve at the whims of private industry.
Along those same lines, we must also reject any attempts to privatize our air traffic control system. We must focus on policies that will actually strengthen our ATC system and have broad support amongst industry and labor.
Congress has provided clear, bipartisan instructions for strengthening aviation safety.
These laws must be implemented, not ignored.
As we will hear today, we must hire more controllers. We must ensure proper staffing for safety-critical positions. And we must never let political games or misguided corporate ambitions get in the way of keeping our airspace safe.
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