Common sense furloughed
April 30, 2013
By U.S. Congressman Raul Labrador

While Congress last week passed last-minute legislation to avert the air-traffic controller furloughs, it appears common sense about budgeting and saving at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was also furloughed.

I voted for this legislation because the FAA needs to get its spending priorities in order. Still, I find it hard to believe the FAA could not have found savings beforehand.

The sequester required the FAA to cut its budget by $637 million in a more than $15 billion budget.

It is astounding that a 5% savings at the FAA was responsible for up to 40% of flight delays this week. Surely, the FAA could have reprioritized some funding without bringing our national aviation system to its knees in the first place. Just look at this chart to see how their budget has increased over the last few years as the number of daily domestic flights has declined.

In a press briefing on Tuesday, White House Spokesman Jay Carney responded to the nationwide flight delays: "Now, if Congress has another idea about how to alleviate the challenges that sequester has caused for the FAA and for American travelers, we are open to looking at that."

A good place this administration could start for an "idea" would be questioning the FAA's history of cost overruns and then looking to trim the millions it has spent on other things.

Consider this: The FAA will have more money to spend in 2013 than what the president requested in his budget. In the last 7 years, the FAA has spent millions on conferences for its employees. Infrastructure upgrades have had cost overruns of roughly $4 billion combined. A March letter from the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Ranking Member John Thune and House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood pointed out $2.7 billion in non-personnel operations costs. Quite a number of possible areas ripe for belt-tightening at the FAA.

Realizing budget cuts were on the horizon since November 2011, this administration had ample time to examine the FAA for duplication, waste and excess and then cut the low priority items.

Families and businesses in this economy have had to increase their thrift and frugality. Washington, D.C. must also exercise the common sense to practice its own.