Letter Sent To DOT Chair Ray LaHood Reiterating Their Call For Detailed Supporting Data

House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) (pictured, right) and Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Ranking Member John Thune (R-SD) (pictured, left) have again called on the Administration to provide any details about its plans to meet the spending reductions for the FAA under the sequester.

On Friday, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced the Department would have to implement furloughs of the vast majority of its 47,000 FAA employees and predicted significant delays in the U.S. aviation system.  However, to date, the Administration has not released any data to support this dramatic conclusion, despite repeated requests from Congress.

"Since August of 2012, Congress has attempted to gather information from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regarding spending plans under the current continuing resolution and in preparation for the possibility of a budget sequestration that may take effect on March 1 of this year," the Senator and the Congressman said in a letter sent to LaHood on Monday. "To date, those requests for information have gone unanswered. Given the Administration and the Department’s recent statements on a possible sequestration’s effects on the traveling public, it is imperative that the information we have continuously sought be provided as soon as possible.
 
"Therefore, we are formally requesting that Department of Transportation and FAA provide to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate the following information:

• The FAA’s spending plan for operating under the current continuing resolution. This plan should have been produced by the agency in October of 2012;
• The FAA’s spending plan for the Operations account by object class by month at the continuing resolution level for the full fiscal year; and
• The FAA’s spending plan for the Operations account by object class by month at the sequester level for the full fiscal year.

 
"We ask that you provide the requested documents and information immediately."

FMI: http://transportation.house.gov, http://commerce.senate.gov