Cabinet Heads Must Take Responsibility for Their Own Mismanagement of Funds
***NEW RESOURCE*** The Ground Stop: A Crisis of Mismanagement
Cash Grab, the Trump Administration Only Has Itself to Blame as $9 Billion Remains Unspent
WASHINGTON – House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee Ranking Member James E. Clyburn (D-SC-06) released funding facts questioning the mismanagement of resources at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) under Secretary Duffy’s tenure.
“First and foremost, I am proud of the dedication and professionalism of our nation’s air traffic controllers and every worker involved in keeping the country’s airspace and travelers safe. They have been failed by the Secretary of Transportation,” DeLauro said. “Americans and their families across the entire country watched with confusion, frustration, and fear on Friday as the Trump administration halted thousands of flights carrying passengers, critical medication and supplies, and our nation’s goods. The cause of this nationwide crisis remains largely unexplained after the performance we witnessed from Secretary Duffy and Secretary Mullin. Instead of laying out the facts, Secretary Duffy commanded the public’s attention to demand a $50 billion ransom without a real plan to deliver. Secretary Duffy and the Federal Aviation Administration have received historical and monumental investments over the last two years, over $12.5 billion of which was provided without meaningful guardrails or accountability requirements and largely remains unspent. No federal leader should be free to do their work without Congressional oversight. Congress has shown its willingness to modernize the FAA’s systems and support its workforce as part of annual bipartisan legislation, but we need a competent partner at the Department of Transportation to carry this out in a sustainable, transparent manner. Right now, it is clear that we lack such a partner.”
“Modernizing the FAA’s air traffic system is critical, that is not debatable. However, this Administration seems to be forging ahead with broad deployments, without the confidence of Congress, the FAA workforce, or the flying public,” Clyburn said. “Congress, and this Committee, have demonstrated their willingness to be bipartisan partners to provide the resources the FAA needs to maintain and advance aviation safety. As the lead Democrat on the Transportation and Housing Subcommittee, I support adequate investments in technologies and systems that increase safety and efficiency in the National Airspace System, but it cannot and must not be at the expense of public transparency and accountability. Recent events are not the result of a lack of funding or support from this Congress. They result from leadership decisions that continue to put politics and private interests above the public's interests. If more taxpayer dollars are desired, the Secretary must submit his justifications to this Committee and the nation's taxpayers.”
The timeline shows the monumental financial resources that Congress has provided to support the FAA over the last two years and contrasts those Congressional investments with the questionable, unclear progress Secretary Duffy has made in using those funds, $9.1 billion of which remains unspent.
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